and the dark thing inside sprang free ... uncoiled with enough force to break the world in half ... and lilly before me , lips slightly parted , and me pressing my hands hard against her cheeks , her skull as delicate as a bird 's , and in me the darkness , the abyss , the nullity , the crushing singularity , the unalloyed madness of my perfect sanity , and he had said it , the one who had ripped off the human face to expose the tragic farce beneath , for which he had earned the deliciously ironic sobriquet ripper , he had said it : your eyes have come open .