The Things We Cannot Say Novels & Stories

“Thеrе has tо be mоrе we can dо.” “Wе can’t. We hаvе tо wаіt.” “I can’t bеlіеvе thіѕ. Wе саn’t lеаvе her here іf Neon dоеѕn’t еngаgе іn a transaction. Thаt’ѕ juѕt wеll іt’ѕ сrаzу. Is thеrе аnуthіng wе саn dо at аll?”

Sorry that I'm in love with a man who doesn't love me back. "Lola." His voice is careful. "Are you okay? You've seemed... off. For days now." "I'm fine." "You're not fine. Talk to me. Please." "I can't." "Why not?" "Because." I set down my fork. Can't eat anymore. Can't pretend anymore. "Because if I start talking, I won't be able to stop. And I'll say things that will ruin everything." Ocean leans forward. "What things?" "Ocean, please—"

They cannot un-exist us. And somewhere far away, in the silent corridors of the Council, alarms blinked and analysts whispered, realizing for the first time: the system could no longer contain what refused to be contained.

Rather than use our words, our bodies have been the ones fighting for something I can’t comprehend. The string had snapped. We are nothing but strangers that just can’t stop having sex.

"You're always trying to save a penny here and there, but has it made you rich? Your penny-pinching almost hurt someone! How could you do this? Why didn't you just hurt yourself instead of my son? "If my son is harmed, you shouldn't even bother living!"

"You taught me that, actually. Years ago. You told me the worst thing a person could do was look at something true and choose not to say it because saying it was inconvenient." Something broke very slightly in Martin's expression. Just at the edges. "I did say that," he said.

They're hiding something from me, I can always tell. "I thought you said we could be open and honest with each other," I say, calling them out. "Claire, you have to understand, sometimes in life there are things we can't tell you, not because we don't trust you, we do, but some stories are not ours to share," Mum explains vaguely

didn’t soften it. “System failure.” The words hit hard because that meant we don’t just break. everything does. My breath hitched because now this wasn’t just about us. this was about everything we’re holding together. Zayden’s eyes darkened because now he saw the real problem. the one they didn’t consider. “We can’t hold all of it,” he said. The words sharp because now this was clear absolute. “This will kill us.” I didn’t answer immediately because I knew. already knew. from the moment we chose this.

“I can’t do that, Lyra.” I stared at him. “What do you mean you can’t do that?” “Because it doesn’t work that way.” “Then make it work!” I snapped. “You’re clearly capable of impossible things, so fix it!” “I can’t. It can't be undone. You have to learn to be okay with this.”

"My own sister chose a boy over her family." Voices from the crowd. Not taking sides — just the noise of people reacting, the ambient sound of an audience processing something dramatic. I opened my mouth. I closed it. I had nothing. Not because there was nothing true to say — there was plenty true to say and I knew exactly what it was. But saying any of the true things in this corridor in front of this crowd with those phones recording would require me to say other things that were not mine to say, and those other things would reach people they could not reach, and Knox had asked me to keep his secret and I had sworn to keep it and I was standing in a corridor with Charlotte dismantling ever