It's a faint feeling, but you intuit that it's definitive, irreversible.
-- Narrator (A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound)

Importance: In the short story "A Light, Swift, and Monstrous Sound," the second person narrator's sense of balance and order is disrupted when her upstairs neighbor Menéndez throws himself to his death on her patio on New Year's Day. For the majority of the narrative, the narrator is incensed that Menéndez chose her patio as the place to commit suicide. However, by the story's end, she begins to realize that Menéndez's death has in fact altered her manner of seeing the world. She is unsure of the event's exact influence over her mind and life, but in this moment is able to see its profundity and weight.

Feel a secret pleasure, but don't acknowledge it, because you're going through a period of grief and rage.
-- Narrator (Candy Pink)

Importance: In the short story "Candy Pink," the narrator is attempting to recover...