Orchard of Skeletons Quotes

“Maybe the flies knew we were leaving. Maybe they were happy for us.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“I saw something sticking out of Sloan’s leg after he fell. I didn’t know what it was and didn’t want to ask. Maybe I thought we were the same inside as we are on the outside, a bit like a carrot or something like that.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“I picked up a fallen branch and struck a tree with it. Apples fell from the tree. The rope around one of the skeletons gave way and it fell to the ground. It lay there, crumpled and bent in ridiculous angles. I wondered if the person who the skeleton used to live inside would be embarrassed if he or she could see themselves now. I looked around the area but didn’t see any ghosts. Why would I see a ghost? They didn’t exist. Still, I looked a second time.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“They only heard Abel’s screams. That’s why Finch didn’t stop sawing when Macy coughed. Abel’s terror was a sound I will never forget. That, and the rip saw cutting through his bones.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“Maybe my legs are moving toward the house because that’s what they want to do rather than me wanting to go there.”
I walked toward the house.
Macy’s legs followed.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“Finch turned around. The slap of his bare feet on the bare floorboards as he walked to the door reminded me of the heartbeat of someone beaten down by life. Finch wasn’t beaten down yet, but his feet thought he was.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“I kept the speed at a steady hundred. We didn’t need to go any faster. When you are ugly you don’t need to go any faster than one hundred miles an hour. All you need to do is find someone as ugly as yourself and take them to the beach. That way, there are no expectations, and without expectations, no disappointment. And that’s as close to love anyone who is ugly should ever get.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“Despite wanting me to end her life, after a short while, Mrs Sloan fought back with surprising strength for such a small woman. Being close to death changed people, I guess, like drinking alcohol or someone saying your handwriting is beautiful changes you.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“Macy said I was different, but I’m only different when I’m drunk. Strange thoughts come into my head then. Thoughts that don’t belong inside an ugly person’s head.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“These skeletons are not like the ones in the bunker,” Macy said. “These are beautiful and not strange at all. Can we take one down and put it in the car with us? It would be good company. And probably talk to me more than you do.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“There was a different smell in the hall. I knew it well enough. Festering death is pungent, but that says nothing about how bad it smells. It saturates the air you breathe with a sickening sweetness that makes you feel like retching until that sweetness is a faded memory. It is an entity that does not belong inside your body.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“I didn’t have time to teach her anything other than how to talk more interestingly and, maybe, how to dream.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“Do you see anything when you dream or are your dreams as empty as your eyes?”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“Can Isaac eat my foot if we have to cut it off? He could make a soup from it, so we don’t waste it. You know what he’s like about not wasting food.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons

“The culling bunker is from the old-world, a long time in the past. Babies don’t spread the infection anymore. Maybe they never did.”
― Eli Wilde, Orchard of Skeletons