And my sister, my Lindsey, left me in her memories, where I was m... by Alice Sebold

And my sister, my Lindsey, left me in her memories, where I was meant to be.

Alice Sebold

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Categorized in : Memories My Sister Were Meant To Be

I was the girl he had chosen to kiss. He wanted, somehow to set me free. He didn't want to burn my photo or toss it away, but he didn't want to look at me anymore, either.

kissing girl looks

He took the hat from my mouth. ''Tell me you love me'', he said.... by Alice Sebold

He took the hat from my mouth. ''Tell me you love me'', he said. Gently I did. The end came anyway

lovely-bones hats mouths

Hold still," my father would say, while I held the ship in the bottle and he burned away the strings he'd raised the mast with and set the clipper ship free on its blue putty sea. And I would wait for him, recognizing the tension of that moment when the world in the bottle depended, solely, on me.

sea blue father

There was our father, the heart we knew held all of us. Held us heavily and desperately, the doors of his heart opening and closing with the rapidity of stops on an instrument, the quiet felt closures, the ghostly fingering, practice and practice and then, incredibly, sound and melody and warmth.

practice heart father

The damage can fester under layers of time and change, and an ignorant, thoughtless remark can easily reopen the wound.

time-and-change ignorant damage

And in a small house five miles away was a man who held my mud-encrusted charm bracelet out to his wife. Look what I found at the old industrial park," he said. "A construction guy said they were bulldozing the whole lot. They're afraid of sink holes like that one that swallowed the cars." His wife poured him some water from the sink as he fingered the tiny bike and the ballet shoe, the flower basket and the thimble. He held out the muddy bracelet as she set down his glass. This little girl's grown up by now," she said. Almost. Not quite. I wish you all a long and happy life.

girl flower happy-life

When the music stopped, it could have been forever since we'd begun. My grandfather took a step back, and the light grew yellow at his back. 'I'm going,' he said. 'Where?' I asked. 'Don't worry, sweetheart. You're so close.' He turned and walked away, disappearing rapidly into spots and dust. Infinity.

dust light yellow

Please don't let Daddy die Susie," he whispered. "I need him. by Alice Sebold

Please don't let Daddy die Susie," he whispered. "I need him.

i-need-him daddy needs

Sometimes you cry, Susie, even when someone you love has been gon... by Alice Sebold

Sometimes you cry, Susie, even when someone you love has been gone a long time.

someone-you-love gone long

At the tips of the feathers there is air and at their base: blood. I hold up bones; I wish like broken glass they could court light....still I try to place these pieces back together, to set them firm, to make murdered girls live again.

girl air blood

And there she was, alone and walking out in the cornfield while everyone else I cared for sat together in one room. She would always feel me and think of me. I could see that, but there was no longer anything I could do. Ruth had been a girl haunted and now she would be a woman haunted. First by accident and now by choice. All of it, the story of my life and death, was hers if she chose tot ell it, even to one person at a time.

life-and-death girl thinking

The living deserve attention, too by Alice Sebold

The living deserve attention, too

deserve attention

I left my mark on that man. by Alice Sebold

I left my mark on that man.

left mark men

I live in a world where two truths coexist: where both hell and h... by Alice Sebold

I live in a world where two truths coexist: where both hell and hope lie in the palm of my hand

two lying hands

As she brought prospective buyers through, the realtor said it was an oil stain, but it was me, seeping out of the bag.

stains bags oil

The stains could be seen only in the sunlight, so Ruth was never really aware of them until later, when she would stop at an outdoor cafe for a cup of coffee, and look down at her skirt and see the dark traces of spilled vodka or whiskey. The alcohol had the effect of making the black cloth blacker. This amused her; she had noted in her journal: 'booze affects material as it does people'.

coffee dark people

My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourte... by Alice Sebold

My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered.

salmon names firsts

The earth has a mouth?” Buckley asked. A big round mouth but with no lips,” my father said. Jack,” my mother said, laughing, “stop it. Do you know I caught him outside growling at the snapdragons?

mother laughing father

The moon is whole all the time, but we can’t always see it. What we see is an almost moon or not-quite moon. The rest is hiding just out of view, but there’s only one moon, so we follow it in the sky. We plan our lives based on its rhythms and tides.

moon views sky

Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble and grand. The word my grandfather uses is comfort. So there are cakes and pillows and colors galore, but underneath this more obvious patchwork quilt are places like a quiet room where you can go and hold someone's hand and not have to say anything. Give no story. Make no claim. Where you can live at the edge of your skin for as long as you wish.

quilts humble hands