All the Missing Pieces

by Catherine Cowles

“It wasn’t that light-your-soul-on-fire love. It was comfortable love,”

“You deserve that burn-everything-to-the-ground love.”

That was the thing these monsters didn’t realize. They thought they were only ending one life, but it was so many more. The ripple effect of cruel violence that would live on for generations to come, all of us still breathing branded by it.

Your whole view of the world shifts, like the twist of a kaleidoscope. You can’t look at things the same way because you aren’t the same person.”

Because the moment you woke up and realized that you’d changed was the same one when you realized nothing would ever be the same. “It’s your choice how it changes you.”

You find where the hurt and sick is and cut it out. It means reopening the wound, but it also means healing.”

Loss and hurt could turn you bitter, or it could make you appreciate love and life that much more.