Pull yourself together. People among the living still need your help, and I haven't given you permission to quit.

— Ann Aguirre

Realistically, it's a risk, I suppose, but in this day and age, you almost have to choose between freedom, which can devolve into chaos, and security, which can become a pair of shackles.

— Ann Aguirre

So I make no effort to hide my pain. I don’t ever put it all on display like this—but for today and all the rest of the days of the trial, I must. My every flinch, every flicker of pain, will be magnified a hundred times over, then dissected by the pundits and talking heads. But I’m told it’s necessary; the world needs to see me vulnerable and wounded. I cannot appear not to care or to lack remorse, but that removes a crucial component of my self-defense mechanism and leaves me bleeding for all the world to see. I suppose that’s rather the point.

— Ann Aguirre

Survival feels like cowardice.

— Ann Aguirre

The strong survive.

— Ann Aguirre

This guilt is a joke, and it’s exhausting to watch you martyr yourself.

— Ann Aguirre

We're broken in complementary ways, thus rendering our damage comprehensible to each other.

— Ann Aguirre

We stand a professional distance apart, as if I can’t feel his pain screaming in my head. Mine amplifies his; they share a joint sound—that of glass breaking—until they swell to a crescendo that deafens.

— Ann Aguirre

What you said about the sweetest pain? That fits us.

— Ann Aguirre

You can lie to yourself about all kinds of things. Until you can't, anymore. Until reality pounds a hole through your fantasy castle and the reality check must be cashed in.

— Ann Aguirre