A Thousand Broken Pieces (A Thousand Boy Kisses #2)

by Tillie Cole

I wasn’t blessed with the skill of talking out loud. I struggled to put words to the turbulent feelings stirring inside me. I was better on my own. Being around people for too long drained me; too many of them made me close in on myself.

I wanted to hurt. It was the only time I was reminded that I was still alive.

Losing someone you loved—the club no one ever wanted to be in, but one we would all be forced to join at some point in our lives. No one would escape it. It was simply a matter of when.

“Some people are only in our lives for a short time, but the mark they leave on us is a cherished tattoo.”

This moment was a respite. We were breathing the same air, and we were sharing our pent-up pain. Sharing our secrets in the safety of the cocoon we had created.

it was hard to be around someone who was so consumed by anger, hard to truly let them in.

I wondered if it felt liberating to just place your pain in the hands of people who supported you. To pass it over to others in bite-size chunks so that your burden was lessened, and life would seem just that little bit less unkind.

“If someone judges you for how long it’s taking you to move past a loved one’s death, be happy for them, because it means they’ve never experienced it.”

But if life had taught me anything, it’s that it can change on a dime. It was nice for the universe to show me that it wasn’t always for the worse.

I can live in the darkness if you are one of the stars.

“Sometimes, people don’t let their loved ones know how much they are hurting because they don’t want to bring them pain too.”

“Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever feel anything to its entirety again. Anger was the only thing that ever made me feel something. Maybe that’s why I held on to it for so long. Maybe, even though it was toxic, it was better than nothing.”

Grief makes you feel isolated and alone. But the truth is, it’s the least lonely state to be in.”

Because when you have lost something so precious, when something priceless comes along, you embrace it with both hands. And you never let it go.

“We all know that depression is a nasty, destructive mood disorder. But the problem is, many people skirt over just how debilitating it can be.” Guilt, swift and strong, wrapped around my heart. Simon sighed. “Let me ask you this, Cael.” I hung off his every word. “If Cillian had had a terminal illness, if he’d had a long battle with, let’s say, cancer, would you be angry at him for dying?”

“depression, for some, can be so difficult to live with that it is a terminal illness.”

“What…what if he’s not in a better place?” My heart squeezed at that thought. What if he never got to wherever we go?

I’d come to understand that we showed our worst to those we love best.

“You don’t want your love for her to be lessened by sorrow. You don’t want her to have to share you with residual darkness. Come with me, let us help you, and then give her your entire—healthy—heart. Give her you entirely.”