Koala Reads

"Bai Xuanhe lowered his head and, by the light of the moon, examined his scarred, broken fingers. Those marks were a map of a heavy past he never spoke of. People had asked before—once, twice—but they’d all been dealt with."

"When he thought about what those hands had done, what they’d been stained with, an urge rose up in him to push the child beside him away. There was a high embankment not far ahead; one shove and all the trouble would fall away."

"Then he remembered the child cupping his hand and blowing lightly on the wounds, saying it would stop hurting if he did. Strange thing: after that day the pain had actually eased."