Angel Falls

“Then again, maybe she isn’t crying at all, maybe it is her soul, leaking from her body in droplets that no one will ever see.”

Narrated from Mikaela’s perspective as she loses consciousness, this quote uses the metaphor of a “leaking” soul to convey the fluid nature of this involuntary separation of mind from body. The image of invisible “droplets” establishes her internal, unseen trauma and foreshadows the narrative’s exploration of identity. This moment of introspection sets a somber, metaphysical tone for the medical crisis that will drive the plot.

“Courage, Liam thought to himself, wasn’t a hot, blistering emotion […] It was a quiet thing, ice-cold more often than not; the last tiny piece you found when you thought that everything was gone.”

This quote provides insight into Liam’s character, defining his version of strength as quiet endurance. The contrast between a “hot, blistering emotion” and an “ice-cold” resolve characterizes Liam’s pragmatic sense of resolution in the face of his family’s shared struggle. This definition of courage foreshadows the immense emotional stamina that he will require as he and his children are forced to use the Family Crisis as a Catalyst for Growth.

“The smoke detector went off, buzzzzzzz. Liam reached for the phone and knocked the wok with his hip. Greasy chicken and burning oil and smoke flew everywhere.”

This scene uses chaotic sensory details—the onomatopoetic description of the alarm, the image of flying food, and the sharp sting of burning oil—to paint a physical picture that mirrors the emotional chaos of the family’s collapse. Liam’s disastrous attempt to cook a simple meal indicates his fundamental inability to fill Mikaela’s domestic role, and it is clear that the family is unraveling in her absence.