Kerri Maniscalco

“Roses have both petals and thorns, my dark flower. You needn’t believe something weak because it appears delicate. Show the world your bravery.”

What might we have done differently if we’d known the end was so near?

My heart belongs only to you.”

I couldn’t tell if I wanted to kiss him or kill him

“It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood.”

—MACBETH, ACT 3, SCENE 4

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

“Oh? Where in a medical dictionary does it say a woman cannot handle such things? What is a man’s soul made of that a woman’s is not?” I teased. “I had no idea my innards were composed of cotton and kittens, while yours were filled with steel and steam-driven parts.”

Science never abandoned me the way religion had that night.

Science never abandoned me the way religion had that night.

Forsaking the Holy Father was considered a sin, and I did it repeatedly. Each time my blade met with flesh, I sinned more and welcomed it.

God no longer held dominion over my soul.

“Roses have both petals and thorns, my dark flower. You needn’t believe something weak because it appears delicate. Show the world your bravery.”

Halfway through the alley, a pebble knocked out of place behind me. I whirled to see… nothing.

No scythe-wielding murderer or drunken bar patron. Only an empty black space between buildings. Must have been a rat crawling through rubbish.