• tab LOVE is getting dizzy because your breath has caught in your throat and you can’t breathe. It is when you are numb to everything except the pain inside your head and stomach because of the one you lost. Love tastes like salty tears and bloody saliva in your mouth from attempting to ease the pain a little by biting hard enough to inflict physical pain. It tastes like the bile in your throat after getting so upset that you threw up. You aren’t able to eat for days because you aren’t hungry: You’re too depressed because someone you still care about is gone forever. It is scentless – you’re nose is too stuffed up from crying over him. It feels like an earthquake, the sobs shaking your entire body as your vision turns dark. When you’re in love, a giant hand is squeezing your heart until it pops. It’s when you have to put your arms around yourself to keep yourself together; you fear that if you don’t, all the little pieces left will burst apart. Love looks like someone sitting in a corner, rolled up in a ball by herself, knees drawn up, face hidden behind a mask of long, dark hair. It looks like puffy eyes and cheeks on a face forming a silent scream of excruciating pain. Love sounds like the memories playing in your head, haunting you with the echoes of happiness. It sounds like the haunting words he once said to you, “I promise I won’t leave. You are my life now.” You cry out to God, asking why – how – this happened. And why it happened to you.

    tab LOVE is a pounding heart and stuttering mouth – you’re nervous and don’t know what to do or say. Love feels like weak knees and a fluttering stomach. It feels like absolute peace in your head because all other thoughts have ceased except thoughts of that moment. He is finally back, and it feels like a warm hug after a long time apart. His clothes smell like love: That scent that will never change. It looks like a boy tipping a girl’s chin up, to look deep into her eyes when he assures her that everything will be okay. Love looks like two people sneaking glances at each other from across the room during Mr. Brady’s English 1 class. Wet eyes and a peaceful smile after a first kiss looks like love. It tastes like chocolate after he’s eaten a Brownie Batter Blizzard from Dairy Queen. Love sounds like a hushed phone conversation late at night when you’re trying not to wake your parents up because you shouldn’t still be awake. It sounds like reassuring words whispered in your ear, “I’ll always be here for you. I promise.” Love sounds like a prayer as you lie awake at night saying “thank you” to God.