All The Heartbreaks ( A short story)

• Image designed by me using FlyerMaker *

What are humans without love, the romantic type specifically?
My answer to that question is "Better, unbroken and healthier humans.
You might ask me why I think so and I have a lot of reasons why. I have seen a lot of my loved ones and acquaintances get damaged because of love. I have seen a lot of people love and be loved and still get hurt. I used to think love was meant to heal, to make people happy, to make people the best versions of their selves but it does the opposite. So, what's the point of love? I would rather go without it.

I remember when my dad left my mom. It was a cold, muggy night and I, my sister and my mum were huddled on the couch together watching a rerun of the TV series, Pretty Little Liars. We were waiting for dad to come home. He was unusually late. Suddenly, our front door opened and dad stepped in. He had this unwelcoming stance; all set shoulders and tense jaw. He did not talk or spare a glance at any of us. He just went up the stairs. I turned to look at mom and i could see fear and something else in her eyes; sadness. She told us to stay in the parlor while she checked up on dad, but we followed after her without her knowing. When we got to their room, the door was closed. We could hear dad yelling and mum begging him to stay. My sister looked at me and I looked at her; exchanging silent words. The door burst open cutting off our silent conversation. Dad was carrying his traveling suitcase; the one he used for business trips. So, I thought mum didn't want him to go on a business trip but I think I was just in denial.

I asked him, "Dad, are you traveling?" He looked at me with cold eyes. There was no warmth in them. He walked past us without saying anything. Mom came out of the room trying to wipe off tears that wouldn't stop spilling. My sister wrapped her arm around my mum's shoulder and I did the same. The loud sound of the door slamming rattled the house and the realization dawned on us. He was not coming back. Mom broke into fresh tears and collapsed to the floor. We went down with her trying to find comfort and solace in each other. I tasted salt in my mouth and realized, I was also crying.

Over the next few months, I watched my mum try to relieve the pain through alcohol and depression pills. I think she stopped breathing when he left. I think part of her died. My dad took her heart with him when he walked out. She became a shell of herself; a shattered mess. I always thought my parents loved each other and they would never leave each other. I thought they were the best definition of love but this changed my mind about love.

You might think that this one event wasn't supposed to change my mind or perspective about love but then I watched my best friend get broken too.

I remember my best friend calling me urgently to come over. She sounded hurt, so I rushed over. I met her on her bedroom floor, shrieking and wailing like she had actually lost someone and she actually did; just not to death. I asked her what the problem was and she passed her phone to me. I opened it and saw a photo of a schoolmate of ours. She was wrapped in a towel and in the background, my best friend's boyfriend was tangled in the bedsheets, peacefully asleep and naked. He was cheating on my best friend with his ex. I held her close to my chest and tried to still her shaking shoulders but she wouldn't stop crying. I didn't go home that day because she wouldn't stop crying. I can still remember how bloodshot her eyes were, how tearstained her cheeks were and how she lost weight over the next few weeks. It took months for her to get over him and that was barely.

Oh, what love does.
Love really hurts and it's funny how I haven't felt it for anyone. I might not know how it feels to meet someone and be lovestruck by them. I don't know what it feels like to want to get to know someone so deeply, to know someone's flaws and imperfections and still love them for it. I might not know what it feels like to commit to someone deeply and think that I would want to spend the rest of my years with them. I might not know what it is to love and be loved but I have seen the damage it does to people.

I got more convinced that love is a demon when out history teacher took an unnanounced break from school for six weeks. Our history teacher came back to school but something was different about her. She was smiling but it was a sad kind of smile. Her hands shook whenever she wanted to write on the board and the marker kept falling. When I went to submit my History assignment, I noticed she had removed the framed picture of her husband and her kid from her desk. That year, the whole class got high grades in our History projects. I got a B+ and i'm very bad at History. I have never gotten higher than a C-. I later found out that she had gotten a divorce and it was really tough on her. That was when I knew she was broken and sometimes when things break, you can't fix them anymore. I think I got a B that year because her head was spinning too much to read and grade assignments.

The straw that broke the camel's back: the one that strengthened my resolve was my sister's heartbreak. It was a warm, sunny afternoon: an afternoon for laughter and ice cream. I went to the bathroom that we both shared and when I pushed it open, the first thing I noticed was the blood in the sink, then the dark pool of blood on the floor. I looked down and saw her splayed body on the floor. My sister had slit her wrists. Her fiance had cut off ties with her saying he didn't love her anymore. He didn't give her any reasons. He just didn't love her anymore and there was no way she could see him cause he had flown out. And my sister loved him; she loved him too much for her own good. Ohh, and she was pregnant for him, yeah. I can still remember the bloodstained towels and the blood in the sink and her splayed body and the feel of her cold hands. She didn't die but love messed her up.

Love has messed up a lot of people in my life. I don't think I have seen any love story that has ended good and I'm exempting movies and books. They are just a figment of someone's imagination and not a depiction of how the real world works. I see love as an idea people made up just because they are trying to find solace and comfort for their yearning and lonely souls; but love is never enough. The human soul is like an abyss; a bottomless pit that can never get filled. It just keeps on swallowing and wanting more. And when they think love might be the solution, it just makes more of a disaster, so I'm good without that.

Author's note: Hi, everyone. I thought I should make a brief introduction of who I am. My name is Joy Oghenetejiri. My nickname's Celts. I am an artist who uses writing as a form of expressing my emotions. This work was my first short story ever. It was originally written for a short story contest outside Steemit but I changed my mind because I felt it wasn't my best work yet.
I decided to share this here because I just couldn't keep it to myself and I wanted to hear comments and criticism from other people. This little piece here is just the first part of the short story, "All The Heartbreaks". I will be releasing the other part during the week after I have added some finishing touches🤭. Would our narrator's perception about love ever change? You can only know that in the last part, so keep watch, dear readers.

All my best,
Celts.