My Wrists Split (Metaphor)
Although Cadence has tried to follow her mother's lead and erase all memory of the father who walked out on them, Cadence loses her emotional armor when Gat mentions him. Cadence says, "Every time Gat said these things, so casual and truthful, so oblivious—my veins opened. My wrists split. I bled down my palms." In this metaphor, Cadence emphasizes her sense of being emotionally overwhelmed by comparing the feeling to all her blood suddenly draining from her wrists.
Turns the World to Dust (Metaphor)
After a moment of tension, Cadence finds solace in her romantic connection with Gat. Cadence comments: "His fingers twine in mine and I’m dizzy and he’s holding me up and everything is clear and everything is grand, again. Our kiss turns the world to dust. There is only us and nothing else matters." In this metaphor, Cadence speaks of the world turning "to dust" to illustrate how the love she feels for Gat has the power to make all other concerns disintegrate, as if the rest of the world has ceased to exist.
A Giant Wields a Rusty Saw (Metaphor)
In Chapter 41, Cadence begins her narration with an alarming claim: "A giant wields a rusty saw. He gloats and hums as he works, slicing through my forehead and into the mind behind it." With context, the reader understands that Cadence is using metaphorical language to describe the severe headaches she suffers from as a consequence of her accident. By employing such a visceral metaphor, Lockhart helps the reader better understand just how painful Cadence's brain injury is.
Shot Me In the Chest (Metaphor)
When recounting how her father walked out her and her mother, Cadence says, "Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed." In this extended metaphor, Cadence uses hyperbolic language to describe the heartbreak and betrayal she felt as she watched her father drive off to begin his new life. A cartoonish but illustrative fantasy, Cadence likens her despair to being shot with a bullet that opens her chest so wide her heart tumbles out.
Heart Spasmed Like a Trout (Simile)
While her father drives away to live with a woman other than her mother, Cadence lies in the front-yard flowerbed and sobs. Taking her earlier metaphor further, Cadence speaks of the heart that tumbled out of her chest as "spasm[ing] among the peonies like a trout." In this simile, Cadence compares her detached heart to a fish out of water, twitching and flopping uselessly.
