While there are sexual overtones to their conversation, it mainly has to do with control, submission and dominance. So begins the exchange of power between both women. When she tells Zoe about this, Zoe ups the game by telling her to go without wearing underwear for the rest of the week. This doesn’t trouble Agnes, she feels liberated. She does that, and due to the conservative nature of her workplace, is given a warning. She has to report in and tell her what she did to deserve them peepers.Īgnes’ first task to deserve her eyes is to buy a blood-red dress and matching lipstick and wear these to work. Zoe then tells Agnes that she’d like to hold Agnes accountable for ‘deserving her eyes’ each day. The meaning initially is don’t take your eyes/life for granted, as it can be taken away from you at any time.
Keep this statement in mind because the story takes a real turn thanks to this. Zoe tells Agnes about (macabre incident #2) – Zoe’s father used to have a saying when she was little, he’d ask her, ‘What have you done today to deserve your eyes?’. In their next IM conversation, Zoe tells Agnes that she has broken up with her girlfriend and didn’t want to disturb Agnes with this information to spare her feelings. Over the next few days, Agnes shows increasing signs of wanting to get to know Zoe more, both of them keep thinking about each other. Later that night, Agnes and Zoe have their first IM conversation. She tells Zoe that her actions have changed her life…she was contemplating ending things if the money didn’t come in. Agnes is beyond grateful and accepts a sum of $1000 in her account. She also shares her handle for Instant Messenger, should Agnes like to talk further. Zoe writes back saying that she would be happy to wire the monthly rent payment to Agnes, and tells her to keep the apple peeler as well, not to sell it. The apple peeler is the last thing her mother gave her before she stopped speaking to her, and although she is loathe to sell it, she has no choice because she needs the money to make the month’s rent. She is struggling to make ends meet as she works as a secretary and doesn’t earn enough. Agnes explains that her parents disowned her when she told them she was gay. She asks Agnes why she wants to sell the apple peeler in the first place, given that it’s a family heirloom. Zoe, another user of the platform, writes back to Agnes expressing interest in the apple peeler, and tells her she’d love to buy it as a gift for her grandfather. Agnes’ great-grandfather has no choice but to relent and goes with his wife to buy the apple peeler, which is then passed down from mother to child till it reaches Agnes. Apparently, her great-grandmother’s husband refused to let her buy the coveted apple peeler in the 1800s, and she ‘accidentally’ gave him an apple with a sewing needle stuck inside. She sweetly narrates a story of how the apple peeler came into the possession of her grandmother, and mentions that she is looking for genuine buyers who can pay for the antique. The story begins innocently enough – Agnes is using a queer community forum to advertise the sale of her grandmother’s beloved apple peeler (of all things), and invites buyers to send her a message. We then dive into the novel and the first few attempts at communication between Agnes and Zoe. We now have the stage set – Agnes has died, and Zoe is a person of interest. Due to Zoe Cross’ questionable involvement in the death of Agnes, certain pieces of communication are omitted or redacted.Īs a reader, this works very well to pique our curiosity. The novella documents the virtual conversations between Agnes and Zoe Cross, a lady she meets online.
The book begins with a note from the author, stating that there are edits and corrections in this story, caused by the untimely demise of 24-year old Agnes Petrella (our protagonist). Let’s now take a look at what Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is all about. Along with being a playwright, screenwriter and a prolific author of horror and dark fiction, LaRocca is also a member of the Horror Writers’ Association. He resides in Boston, Massachusetts with his partner. La Rocca now identifies as non-binary and prefers the pronouns ‘he/they’. Published in 2021, this is LaRocca’s first work of fiction which has gone viral in so short a span of time.
Things have gotten worse since we last spoke audiobook free series#
It depicts a series of interactions which take place between the two central characters of the story, Agnes Petrella and Zoe Cross, and their choices in life which ultimately lead to the most surprising conclusion. Eric LaRocca’s Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is an epistolary novella, written in the form of emails and Instant Messages instead of letters. I’m not kidding, this is literally what the blurb says on the back of the book.
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