With the cure, relationships are all the same, and rules and expectations are defined. Without the cure, relationships must be reinvented every day, languages constantly decoded and deciphered. Freedom is exhausting.

This is the language of the world before—a world of chaos and confusion and happiness and despair—before the blitz turned streets to grids, cities to prisons, and hearts to dust.

Holy mother of Lord Cocoa Puffs

Until, one day, she wasn’t.

I've been so used to thinking of what the borders are keeping out that I haven't considered that they're also penning us in.

I love you. Remember. They cannot take it

It's like there's a filter set up in my brain, except instead of making things better, it twists everything around so what comes out of my mouth is totally wrong, totally different from what I was thinking.