• “There was no spell to cure a broken heart that did not also destroy that heart’s capacity for love forever.” -Cassandra Clare.

An ice block froze her heart; it stopped beating. Instead of living she just existed in this universe as a tiny speck of oxygen and flesh. No movement, no love. No passion ran through her veins;no blood pumped hot under her skin. Just an empty shell now. She cannot love. She couldn’t love ice cream, or the warm autumn wind, or the the touch of another person. She was frozen in time; a constant, single moment of pure nothing. It hurt, the frozen wind on your cheeks intensifies when the blizzard is happening inside your own body.

 

• Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor.

And now, a word from our sponsor.

Your hands are red. Razors rip into your fingertips; you feel your skin become rough with slits and holes.

The smell of iron; your fingers torn to shreds. A monster, green with sharp spikes. it is angry and hungry, but a beloved pet. You fish your hands through its cage, under the leather collar tight on its throat. The bruising and slicing of tendons.

You hear a growl, a sharp beeping. You still reach; there is nothing but pain.

The teeth rush forward, biting at your knuckles. you lurch back, swearing. Something urges you back into that hell. You hurt even more. Blood sinking into your fingerprints and smearing upon the beast’s flesh.

You cannot stop, pain.

How much can you withstand?

Tears prick but none fall; you still reach but to no avail. You know this pain, it occurs every day.

Capital One, what’s in your wallet?