Does It Hurt?

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of rape, sexual assault, incest, pedophilia, and situations of dubious consent.

Sawyer Bennett spots a distant relative at the airport while waiting to board a flight to Indonesia. Sawyer panics, noting that she is trying to flee the country without getting caught. The woman makes a phone call and yells to Sawyer, but Sawyer leaves, buys an outfit at the gift shop, and purchases a new plane ticket to Australia. Sawyer makes it to her new flight as they are closing the doors, and she fears that air traffic control might realize she is a fugitive.

Sawyer struggles to smoke a cigarette on the beach in Port Valen, Australia, with a man she slept with casually. Sawyer goes to a store for a pregnancy test and a new pack of cigarettes, noting how she knows the cigarettes are bad for her and hoping they kill her. She worries about being pregnant, but she acknowledges that her late menstruation may be due to stress. Sawyer thinks she is “unforgivable,” comparing herself to the ocean and cigarettes. At a bus stop, Sawyer debates driving her van, Senile Suzy, but she decides against it because she does not have a license.