Releasing 10

Over the next few days, Lizzie becomes even more detached from everything around her. She doesn’t go to school and loses large stretches of time.

One afternoon, Hugh comes over to Lizzie’s house to get his phone charger. She tries to get him to talk to her, but he refuses. Instead, she kisses him, and then begins to touch his body. Standing in the doorway to her bedroom, she pleasures him with her hand until he orgasms. She can see his “shame,” which causes her to be overwhelmed by guilt at “purposefully inflict[ing] pain on” him (628).

Lizzie goes into the bathroom. She stares at herself in the mirror as she hears Hugh leave. She then gets a razor blade and cuts her thigh.

When Lizzie returns to school, Hugh does his best to ignore her. He can tell that she is continuing to have sex with Pierce. He tells himself that her “hypersexuality” is a symptom of mental illness, but he is “too hurt” to forgive her (631).

Lizzie has sex with Pierce in the bathroom. She thinks of these encounters as a form of medicine that helps with her urges. In the mirror, she barely recognizes the person she sees—but she also doesn’t care.