this was the world in which she grew and he aged. they made for themselves a sanctuary from trachimbrod, a habitat completely unlike the rest of the world. no hateful words were ever spoken, and no hands raised. more than that, no angry words were ever spoken, and nothing was denied. but more than that, no unloving words were ever spoken, and everything was held up as another small piece of proof that it can be this way, it doesn’t have to be that way; if there is no love in the world, we will make a new world, and we will give it heavy walls, and we will furnish it with soft red interiors, from the inside out, and give it a knocker that resonates like a diamond falling to a jeweler’s felt so that we should never hear it.

love me, because love doesn’t exist, and i have tried everything that does.