Erika Murphy quotes from The Leftovers

Erika Murphy

He's trying to help? This man is crazy. He killed a goat on October 14 Before any of us knew what happened and he was locked up in jail where he should have stayed. But then all y'all decided that Jerry must have saved us, that Jerry knew something. He sacrificed something to protect us. So now he's a holy man and he gets to walk around here Killing goats whenever he feels like it just in case? Babe, can you calm down, please? No, you let him do it, too. If there aren't any miracles in Miracle, then why does he get a pass? Cecilia, you were trying on your wedding dress when it happened, huh? So now you put it on every day and you take pictures with the tourists, huh? Number 13 on the audio tour. Well, maybe you were the one that saved us. Maybe, huh? We are the 9,261 and we are spared. We're spared. We're not spared. We're not safe. All this shit we're walking around here doing, it doesn't matter. It doesn't work. My daughter is gone. So no. No, Jerry. She departed.

Erika Murphy

Who is this?

Nora Durst

This is Lily.

Erika Murphy

Well, hello, Lily. She's adorable.

Nora Durst

Thank you.

[to Jill] Is she adopted or did your mom fuck a black dude?

Erika Murphy

Evie!

Well, I was in prison.

Kevin Garvey

Oh, yeah? Well, how long were you there for?

Six years, 119 days.

Erika Murphy

They think you're kidding.

Oh, sorry, no. I really was. Travis County Unit. Go ahead. Go ahead and ask.

What?

What I did. It's what everybody wants to know.

Nora Durst

Oh, that's none of our business.

Kevin Garvey

What'd you do?

Huh. Attempted murder.

Kevin Garvey

What happened?

Well, didn't try hard enough.

Erika Murphy

I was gonna leave John. You're surprised because we seem so happy. My Grandmother was born here. She lived here all her life. She used to tell us kids this place is chosen. The Good Lord pointed His finger down on the final day of creation "You. The Jarden of Eden." We didn't believe her, but she said there was a way to prove it, a way to make your wishes come true. You take a bird, you put it in a box and you bury it. Anywhere in the woods is fine. And you wait. You wait three days, you come back, dig it up, and if it's alive, right then is when you make your wish. Little girls believe all sorts of things, but I knew pretend when I heard it. Birds living in the ground for three days is pretend. Making wishes is pretend. The Good Lord is pretend. And then on October 14, people went away from everywhere except here. That was real. That happened. My Grandma had been dead for 10 years, but she was right. This place was chosen. And about a month ago, I was walking out to my car and I saw it. A sparrow right by the driver's side door lying there like it was trying to get me to help it. It was dehydrated. Almost dead. You think I nursed it back to health, Nora? Depending on the size of the box, a bird can survive 20 hours. Anything over 30 hours is medically impossible. And like I said, this bird, it didn't have anything left. So I waited the three days. I jogged out to the woods, I dug up the box, and I made my wish before I opened it. I wished that my kids would be okay if I left. Because they had no idea I needed to go. No idea what it's like to pretend. Michael, he has his faith. He'd be fine. But Evie, she wouldn't understand. It would break her heart. So I wished that she'd be okay without me. I opened up the box, the bird flew out. And the next night my daughter was gone.

Nora Durst

Well, Erika, that's just...that's quite a stretch. Your logic, I'm sorry, it's a little all over the place, don't you think?

Erika Murphy

Well, what do you think?

Nora Durst

You wanted to leave your husband. Okay, so why didn't he go? Why didn't you? disappeared three years ago. Did you wish them away, too? Because that's a lot of birds to bury, Erika. That's a flock of epic proportions. I get it. I felt the same as you. I, I felt responsible for losing my children. I thought it was my fault. But I moved past it. I evolved. Because that's pathetic. Terrible things happen in this world. And the only comfort we get is that we didn't cause them. So I'm sorry, but Erika, this had nothing to do with you.

Erika Murphy

Did they depart or did they die?

Nora Durst

What?

Erika Murphy

Your children. You said you lost them. Did they depart or did they die?

Nora Durst

They departed.