They say he died of a broken heart

And she stood there, tears creating two narrow rivulets, caressing her cheeks and dropping from her chin. Her eyes, so expertly decorated not an hour before, were now smeared in eye shadow, liquid liner, and mascara. A tare graced her dress, one side hanging limp in the many layered skirt. Her cheeks and under eyes were bright red, her nose raw from sniveling. One shoe was broken, hanging to her ankle by the leather strap no longer connected to the toe of the high heel.
Her messy eyes scanned the crowd of people, standing and watching the unfolding drama. But she would not give them a show. They didn’t deserve it.
“I’m sorry. For all the pain I’ve caused any one of you, I’m truly, sincerely, sorry.” Her voice was thick with tears as her classmates stood in awe.
No one had ever seen the girl cry before. She was the tough one who listened to people said but didn’t pay too much attention to the negative stuff. She was the girl who had everything and everyone. Everyone but him, now, the only person she ever truly wanted.
And as the small class watched, the unbreakable girl broke. The girl who was as tough as nails cried. The girl who had everything pulled together, fell apart. And the girl who never stopped trying, finally gave up.
“Goodbye.” Her soft voice floated through the room, touching down on the one person who could save her like a feather in the breeze. He turned and looked at her as she strode weakly from the room.
“Lissa, wait.” His voice was tired yet firm as Connor Goldman called after the only girl he ever had and ever would love.
“I’m sorry, Connor. But I’m done waiting. I can’t stand here while you make up your mind again, hoping you choose me. I need someone who’s certain.” She chided gently. “I love you. I’m sorry.” Lissa McAdams whispered once more before slipping out the gym doors and into the rain covered street.
Little did she know that she would never again grace those halls, never again gossip in the girls’ room, never again feel a warm body pressing her against the lockers as her lips dance with his. Little did she know, Lissa would never set foot in Lakewood High ever again.
Suddenly, a gun rang out, the bullet piercing Lissa’s chest. She fell slowly, as she felt her purse and phone being taken, never once looking at the man who took her life away. She vaguely heard the heavy clunk of his boots as he ran away, but nothing else registered.
It was ironic to her. Lissa’s heart had been broken in her imagination for three months, it had always felt cracked right down the middle. Now, her heart really was broken. There was a hole in it, quite appropriate because there had been a void shaped exactly like Connor there for a while, in that exact spot in the very center of her heart where the bullet now resided.
As Lissa lay there, the rain pounding down, her jet black hair began to frizz as her dress soaked through to the skin. The contrast was stark, black hair falling over a white dress, with vivid red blood in a puddle beneath her all underneath the navy blue sky, stars twinkling like glitter.
While she was laying there, in the street, slowly bleeding to death, Alissa Beth McAdams smiled. Even though she was dying before her time, even though some strange man had robbed her of adulthood, even though she could no longer move, Lissa was happy. She had loved. Even if it lasted for only a year, even if it had never quite been equal, even if the love of her life now hated her with a fiery passion, Lissa had loved and been loved in return for twelve amazing months.
She smiled once before looking up at the rain filled sky and closing her eyes for the last time.
“NO! LISSA! No. no. no. Lissie. Liss, open your eyes! Open them baby! Please, please, I love you.” Connor Troy Goldman pleaded with the body of the girl he had loved. He shook her, trying to wake her up but knowing that she never would.
And that’s when tough connor, brave connor, emotionless connor, cried. Great rasping heaves that shook his body and shortened his breath.
There, in the rain, he kissed her lifeless lips once more, then curled himself around her, stemming the still flowing blood with his jacket and sheltering Lissa as she made her way to heaven. Sirens were heard in the distance and Connor wondered who had called. He didn’t really care because it hurt to even think. It hurt to do anything.
“I love you.” Connor told the dead girl in his arms once more before lying down next to her, his arms encircling her, and closing his eyes.
They say he died of a broken heart, that when he saw her lifeless body, his heart just stopped beating as he lost the will to live on without her.
I’ve been told that there are soul mates out there, a few for each of us to do with what we will, choose who we want. But I believe that there is only one true human being who perfectly corresponds to ourselves, only one person on this wide wide world who completes us. As in the story of Alissa Beth McAdams and Connor Troy Goldman, we only have one love, and once you find it, you can never let go, following it even to the grave.