10/10/11

No One's Gonna Love You
By Felipe Valencia


The first thing you have to know about this story is that it isn't for the faint of heart. It also isn't so much made up, as it is inspired by true events. In any case the writer has taken some liberties of a creative sort to add some spice to this story. So without further ado, Open Act I and enter: two star-crossed lovers. As you can imagine one was a boy and the other a girl and due to unforeseen circumstances, these two had to part ways prematurely. This came very hard to both of them as it seemed like they hardly had any time together. But as far as star crossed lovers go, they couldn't complain. The moment the boy's eyes lost sight of her, he turned around to find his world had lost it's color. He couldn't remember the world as it was before she was in it and he felt a distinct pain running down the left side of his body numbing him, making him double over in pain. Speaking aloud he said "This is what it must feel like to have your heart broken. This is what it must feel like to miss the person closest to that place." For even though they still loved each other very much, being away from this girl was agony. The boy just had no idea how much that meant.

Over the course of months, yes months, (imagine how hard that must be) they attempted to keep in contact. It helped ease the loneliness in their hearts and for a time it made it bearable. But as you probably already know dear reader, nothing compares to the Original. A couple of days into these affectionate letters, the boy expressed how much he missed the girl. He wrote "I thought I knew what it was to miss you, now I know I was wrong. This is what it really must mean to miss you because I miss you loads more than the day before that and tons more than the day before that" (as anyone who has any inkling of the English language knows well, tons is a lot more than loads.) "This is what it must mean to have a broken heart." Heart wrenching pain? Maybe. But complete and utter agony? Not quite yet.

They continued their correspondence, each showing the other the people they met, the things they had learned and the places they had come to call home. It was a great attempt to remain in each other’s lives, but of course it wasn't the same, the same as being together and apart from all those other things, apart from the world. This fact dawned slowly but surely on the both of them and an ocean of sadness began to swallow him whole. When it finally did he sent these words across that ocean "I thought I knew what it meant to miss you, but now I know I wasn't even close. I can't stand the thought of being away from you, but that is all I think about. I won't let go at any price. I didn't miss you before. I thought I did, but I didn't. Now I really do. I miss you more than I know how, more than I thought I ever could. I miss you more than ever. We always said we'd meet again someday…"

Let's fast-forward. It's a couple of years later and the two lovers have become a bit more distant. Don't get them wrong, it wasn't their fault. At some point the pain became too much to bear and, again, slowly but surely they both shied away from all the hurt. The letters still came though and they both tried their best to mend things, keep them as they were always meant to be, but it was hard to say the least. It was fair to say that by now, they had both moved on to some extent. They had learned to love and let go. It had broken them of course and they did their best to pick up the pieces, but they never seemed quite right after that. They came to find people who they could trust, someone to share what was left of their hearts, but it wasn't the same. They never felt that spark, that warmth in their chests or even the pain that reminded them so clearly that they were still alive. More to himself than anyone else, the boy whispered late at night "I've said it countless times before, I miss you. I miss you. I miss you, but the second after I say it, I miss you more and then the second after that I miss you even more. You've stolen my heart or maybe it's left of its own accord. I thought I knew what it meant to have my heart shattered, but I was wrong. This must be it...." Complete and utter agony? Yea, you can cross that off his bucket list.

Stop! That is definitely what your brain must be screaming out now dear reader. You wanted a story with a happy ending, where, despite the appropriate sobriquet "star crossed lovers", these two would reunite and ride off into the sunset. I warned you and I'll repeat it again "If you wanted a story where the princess is rescued, please kindly direct yourself to the closest collection of Disney fairy tales in your vicinity. They are quite nice and their happy endings are the best in the business. Life isn't fair and the guy doesn't always get the girl. So please, by all means stop reading. If, however, you choose to remain, which I still very much hope you do dear reader, then allow me to entice you by reminding you that it's not over yet."

By now, it must seem a life time ago that this boy and girl parted and to them it was exactly that. They had both done their best to work with what life had thrust upon them, but life is a fickle thing and there was still something in store for them. Imagine their surprise when the boy, who by now was no longer a boy, walked back into that girl's (who, as you probably guessed, was also no longer a girl) life. They stared at each other star-struck. It seemed something out of a dream and almost instinctively their bodies urged them to turn and run away. Again, don't get them wrong, but to each of them moving on from the other was the most difficult and painful thing they had ever done. Many would argue these two had died long ago, and in some sense of the word they had. It was natural that they would want to avoid all that pain rushing back in and destroying them both once more. A few more awkward and silent moments passed by as thoughts, memories, and emotions all rushed in and the two battled to keep them and their feet in place. Then timidly, still wary that this was all just an elaborate trick, the two eased closer. The boy's mind was racing and he said "I loved you, I was sure of it, I loved you then and I love you still. Yet that can't be because what I'm feeling now doesn't even register on the same scale it must be that this is love. The kind of encompassing love that grows with time. I never knew what it meant to love till now." or that's what he meant to say, but when he opened his mouth, nothing really quite came out and then the girl, who by then was not a girl, shyly opened those lips, the beautiful ones that always locked perfectly onto his, and mumbled "Hey there, Stranger".

Hold uuuuuuup! That's it?! This is what I've been killing myself for?! This was your great story?! I can imagine you screaming your frustration at me quite well dear reader, but what did you expect? I never promised a happy ending. At any rate, I'll still explain myself. You see, this story is one that even I, the author, have no ending for because I don't know myself how it did end or if even this was how it went. I don't even presume to believe that it has ended. They say it's always darkest before the dawn. Maybe that applies here too, but what do I know, huh?


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I was born on July 28th 1993 in San Jose, Costa Rica. At the age of three, I moved to the city of Bethesda, Maryland. Afterwards, I moved to Quito, Ecuador for three years and, finally, to Berlin, Germany; the city I have come to call home for six years. I enjoy listening to all kinds of music, drawing, and writing, on occasion, more than anything. I graduated from high-school this past summer and now I plan on pursuing a degree in architecture. However, if that doesn't work, I wouldn't mind becoming a writer.