“Well,” she said, “I guess this is good bye.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the little box that she kept it in. “Here. You’ll probably be needing this.” She opened the box and examined its contents. It was completely empty with the exception of a satirical little spider web in the corner. “Oh,” she could feel new tears welling up again in her eyes, “I see you took it back a while ago. My mistake. Please…if you could…return mine? I need it back if I’m ever going to recover from this.” He stared at her with eyes nearly devoid of emotion. How long ago had he taken back his heart, she wondered. And when he had, how had she failed to notice?

Fishing in his back pocket he pulled out the gossamer little box that he’d kept hers in. It was still beating hard in his hand. She knew that when it was back in her chest it would only thump dully, like a clock. It would no longer flutter like the wings of birds and butterflies. As she stretched out her hand to take the pretty little box he dropped it. She watched in horror as her little heart box hit the ground. She heard and felt, with a sharp pain in her chest, her heart break into a thousand little slivers. Whimpering and crouching into a kneeling position she looked up at him. “Why?” She moved to pick up the little box but her hand was blocked by the heel of his shoe crunching on the remains. Oh it hurt so badly that she thought she was going to die. She felt humiliated and raw. This pain made life unbearable and she wanted so badly to end, to die, or to just stop, but still she found her hand trying to recover the little box and its shattered contents; but again she was too slow. He knelt, scooped up a handful of the little red gems, stuck them in his pocket again, and spoke.

“I’ll hold onto these. Just in case I ever feel the need to rekindle what we had. Just in case I need a back up.” It would be years before those pieces of her love died, or at least changed into the little flames of hate that brewed inside. In the meantime, she’d have to repair what little was left of her heart if she ever wanted a real relationship again. She wondered if anyone could love someone with such a fragmented heart.