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

by Tillie Cole

“I have come to understand that death, for the sick, is not so hard to endure. For us, eventually our pain ends, we go to a better place. But for those left behind, their pain only magnifies.”

Rob had short red hair, freckles, and piercing green eyes. He was a walking autumnal color palette.

I lifted my head and immediately caught Savannah smiling at something Jade, one of the other girls, was saying to her. The minute I saw that smile, something inside of me calmed. A wave of peace crashed over me.

Grief was walking through a minefield with no protection or guide.

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

When we are hurting and the world feels like it is caving in on us, we need people around us to hold us up.

We are nothing without love.

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.”

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

“Death is the best lesson in life. Death teaches us to live, for the short amount of time we are here. Death teaches us to live with all our heart and soul, day by day, minute by treasured minute.”

You couldn’t lose someone you loved so much and ever return to the person you were before. Loss changed you. But you could heal. You could repair your fractured spirit with golden lacquer and hold on to life. That life wouldn’t look the same ever again. But it didn’t mean that it wouldn’t be worthwhile. That it wouldn’t be beautiful. Perhaps loss taught a person to love life more. Because you understood what it was like to lose that life. You wouldn’t take it for granted anymore.

Life, I thought…it really was a beautiful thing.