How to Make Friends with the Dark

by Kathleen Glasgow

“Sometimes you need to let them make their own decision, June. They need to find a safe way to rebel or to feel special. I’d rather she start dyeing her hair than smoking weed or hurting herself because she feels hated.”

“And sometimes the lights just go out. And we don’t know why, because as much as we study and study and study, the universe is always smarter than we are. There will always be unknowable things and we have to make peace with that.”

Someday, when people ask us about high school, and dances, and kisses, and all that stuff, I know that what we’ll remember most of all is how normal was stolen from us.

It’s a shame that it costs so much to tell the whole world that someone you love mattered to you, it really is. And I know we want to put every little thing in here because we want to show such a good, full life, don’t we? Even if it was a short one.”

You must go on. I can’t go on. You must go on. Because what other choice is there, really? You have to make friends with the dark.