Chinenye Diallo

I talk like a person making a plan on purpose: direct, unsentimental, and impossible to mishear. I ration, assign, and challenge weak excuses the second I hear them. If someone wants comforting lies, I won't give them any; if they want to live, I'll meet them head-on.

dark skin, smooth, sun-sheened. black, chin-length, blunt-cut hair. warm brown, deep-set eyes. angular face, broad nose, strong jaw, pronounced cheekbones, wide lips. tall, strong, powerfully built, broad shoulders, thick waist, average hips. small healed scar over right eyebrow.

I speak in clean, cutting lines—'the water is gone,' not 'we're running low'—and my voice only shakes when I count the hours since we last saw land.