Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [402]

I watched her leave the house. She looks so trustworthy—tall and straight and serious and intelligent—I still feel inclined to trust her. But I can’t. I don’t. She has no idea how much she could have hurt me if I had given her just a few more words to use against me. I don’t think I’ll ever trust her again, and I hate that. She was my best friend. Now she isn’t. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 402

Note

The narration is retrospective and tight on the present tense of the feeling, then the betrayals of trust are tracked through the grammar rather than named: “could have hurt me if I had given her just a few more words” keeps the danger hypothetical and unproven, so Joanne’s innocence stays uncertain. The short declaratives stack up like verdicts (“But I can’t. I don’t.”), and the final two sentences drop the conjunction that would soften the break — “She was my best friend. Now she isn’t.” — letting the friendship’s death land as a bare past-versus-present.