“It’s an odd thing to be shown what is true. To be so unsettled by it that it sits on your skin without seeping in; it sits there as this grimy substance that you can’t wash away but you also can’t absorb. And, meanwhile, you’re being told that it is not true. That this revealed reality is, in fact, unreal.

You don’t believe this for a second. (Even if your mind wanders toward the sirens calling, your skin tells a different story). But cognitive exhaustion takes its toll. So many defenses up. So much longer to go before you can imagine taking them down.”