Everyone Thinks My Best Friend Went Missing. I Know What Really Happened.

By Thought Catalog,

I paused for dramatic effect. Kevin didn’t say anything. He didn’t move. I went on.

“What they didn’t know was that he was sick. He had some sort of blood disease, or maybe cancer. Whatever it was was eating him away. He was getting skinnier, looking worse all the time. And then came the car accident. That’s what started it, they think.”

Kevin rolled over in his sleeping bag and stared at me. It felt good to have his attention. I went on like I hadn’t noticed.

“Someone brought in their daughter who’d been killed in a car wreck. The undertaker worked on her for days and finally told the family that she was too mangled in the accident to fix properly. He suggested a closed casket funeral, and the family agreed.” I paused again.

“And?” he asked.

About the author

Thought Catalog

Trace the scars life has left you. It will remind you that at one point, you fought for something. You believed.

Trace the scars life has left you. It will remind you that at one point, you fought for something. You believed.

“You are the only person who gets to decide if you are happy or not—do not put your happiness into the hands of other people. Do not make it contingent on their acceptance of you or their feelings for you. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if someone dislikes you or if someone doesn’t want to be with you. All that matters is that you are happy with the person you are becoming. All that matters is that you like yourself, that you are proud of what you are putting out into the world. You are in charge of your joy, of your worth. You get to be your own validation. Please don’t ever forget that.” — Bianca Sparacino

Excerpted from The Strength In Our Scars by Bianca Sparacino.

Trace the scars life has left you. It will remind you that at one point, you fought for something. You believed.

Trace the scars life has left you. It will remind you that at one point, you fought for something. You believed.

“You are the only person who gets to decide if you are happy or not—do not put your happiness into the hands of other people. Do not make it contingent on their acceptance of you or their feelings for you. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if someone dislikes you or if someone doesn’t want to be with you. All that matters is that you are happy with the person you are becoming. All that matters is that you like yourself, that you are proud of what you are putting out into the world. You are in charge of your joy, of your worth. You get to be your own validation. Please don’t ever forget that.” — Bianca Sparacino

Excerpted from The Strength In Our Scars by Bianca Sparacino.

More From Thought Catalog