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"

‘Well, I really value my independence, too!’ I say, though this is of course a lie of absolutely epic proportions, because what am I supposed to do with independence? You know what ‘independence’ is? ‘Independence’ is staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night with your fingernails digging into the palms of your hand. ‘Independence’ is realising that the only person you’ve spoken to all day is the man in the off-licence. ‘Independence’ is a value meal in the basement of Burger King on a Saturday afternoon. When Alice talks about ‘independence’ she means something completely different. ‘Independence’ is the luxury of all those people who are too confident, and busy, and popular, and attractive to be just plain old ‘lonely’.


And make no mistake, lonely is absolutely the worst thing to be… tell someone you’re lonely and of course they’ll seem sympathetic, but look very carefully and you’ll see one hand snaking behind their back, groping for the door handle, ready to make a run for it, as if loneliness itself were contageous. Because being lonely is just so banal, so shaming, so plain and dull and ugly.

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— starter for ten, david nicholls
Jan 04. 0 Notes.

Notes