Colby Bettley > Quotes

“The pain grounded me. I rocked myself, allowing my mind to regain the smallest ounce of control. The stinging didn’t come close to the agony of everything else I felt, but it came almost as a welcome relief.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“...dread was filling up like a pool in my stomach, and I feared I would drown in it.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“I was bereft trying to imagine what it would be like to kiss someone else, never to feel the burning desire I felt when Rhett was so close to me.”
― Colby Bettley, Christmas at the Grotto

“Being seventeen in a modern world was tough enough without the introduction of so many different social media platforms. I often wished I had been born in a time before technology was such a devastatingly huge part of our everyday lives. I didn’t totally hate it—what teenager really wanted to live without their phone, after all—but every time I opened an app, I was reminded of just how much I didn’t fit in with the rest of the world. The false hair; faces caked in makeup; photos edited with ten different filters — everyone looked the same, and I didn’t look anything like them. I didn’t like drinking, partying or social gatherings; I was boring in their eyes and, if I was honest, in my own eyes too.

It was cruel, really, for people to be subjected to such falseness.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“I dressed myself as quickly as possible, noticing a few new stretch marks on my waist. My fingertips traced the zig-zag lines and my stomach twisted in knots.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“I finally looked at my reflection in the mirror. I tilted my head to the side and stared at myself. It was a bizarre feeling to not quite recognise my own reflection, but recently I hardly recognised anything about myself. It’s why I had gone to the salon the previous day. I wanted the mirror to reflect what I saw. Someone haunted by darkness and struggling to fit in with the world.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“If only sleep came as easy to me as hating myself did.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“Can you just wheesht for once?”
― Colby Bettley, Christmas at the Grotto

“I wished I could see her all year round, just because seeing her made my day a little bit brighter, if I was being honest with myself.”
― Colby Bettley, Christmas at the Grotto

“I was lost to my emotions for the first time in my entire life.”
― Colby Bettley, Christmas at the Grotto

“She slipped her arm through mine as we walked through the school gates. “I’ll always have your back, Emmie.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“After all, if life was so terrible, how had I found my perfect match?”
― Colby Bettley, Christmas at the Grotto

“A boy entered.

He was skinny and tall; he might’ve already been over six feet. His curly blonde hair bounced around his ears as he sauntered in, and a pair of statement black horn-rimmed glasses perfectly framed his blue eyes.

The whole class watched him in awe as he whispered back and forth with the teacher. I ran my eyes over his outfit, a small smile forming as I noticed he was wearing a bright blue checkered shirt tucked into skinny denim jeans.

He likes to stand out, I thought to myself as a blush formed on my cheeks.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“His lips pulled in a devious smirk before he spun me around and pushed me gently against the wall. I huffed out a breath as he put his hands on either side of my head, leaning his face down to mine. He was looking at me like I was prey, and I felt my pulse quicken at the proximity of his lips to mine.

I bit my lip and looked at him with a matched hunger.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“The only way to survive was on my own because people always let you down.”
― Colby Bettley, Christmas at the Grotto

“I couldn’t fathom why I couldn’t process things like other people, instead I had to hurt myself just to get through the day.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“…she didn't deserve for her happiness to be tainted - even for a second - by my misery and misfortune.”
― Colby Bettley, Christmas at the Grotto

“Pain erupted from every part of me, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, rage and grief and loathing laced in every decibel.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“Without my dad around, I felt so alone and wondered when I would start to feel loved again. I had hoped and prayed so hard for a miracle to bring him back to me, to fix my life, to make things go back to how they used to be. And when that didn’t happen, it broke my heart, and I learned that miracles didn’t exist.

I had felt alone ever since.”
― Colby Bettley, Ugly Words

“If I had ever made a Christmas wish, she was the present I had asked for - even if I didn't know it at the time.”
― Colby Bettley, Christmas at the Grotto