Young Love

         They began dating when they were fairly young; young love no one thinks it will last but the two people experiencing their first romantic notions. That's not to say that you can't love someone at that age. Love is a funny thing; it can sneak up on you when you least expect it, hide from you in plain sight, and vanish into thin air in a single beat of a heart. It can be fire that burns everything that it touches. It can be a bucket of ice water, throwing you in to a state of shock without a moment's notice. It will rip the ground from beneath your feet. It will take your breath away.
         They loved each other, these two young people thrown into adult reality before they were finished being children. They bonded over shared hurt and abandonment. They taught each other how to cope with the world. Promising never to hurt each other as they had been hurt in the past; and for a time they kept those promises. They made each other stronger, better. In the short span of their time together they lived more than some twice their age had yet to manage. They experienced great love and terrible loss.
         It was the loss that slowly torn them apart before dropping them into darkness. It was the type of loss that leaves a scar that no one around them will ever be able to see but they would always feel. A loss that had begun as a different sort of loss altogether, they had both still been coping with the first loss - the loss of childhood - to the point that when they were told the news the initial shook was mixed with relief, which bred guilt. After that anger and blame fueled them. It was in those moments when turning away hurt as much as looking each other in the eye did that they knew they had loved each other.
         They met as two angry children trying to find their footing in a harsh world. Thinking their parents had broken them beyond repair. They learned the lessons of lust, love, grief and loss. They learned how easily the fine line between love and hate can be broken; the two spilling into one. They parted deeper in their own darkness than they believed themselves ever capable of digging out or for that matter desiring too.
         Now they walk the same halls day in and day out; doing their best to pretend they never knew each other at all. Some dark nights though, when no matter how deep in their vices they bury themselves they both feel drawn to the same place. Those nights when no amount of numbness can rid her of phantom kicks, no amount of oblivion can make him forget that she is the only place he ever felt at home. Those nights they meet in a sea of stones to remember the lesson they learned of life and death.