“I think we should break up”
It’s a statement and a question and a plea
Filled with uncertainty, it hits hard but slowly
Like a rock sinking to the bottom of a lake

The first second after you hear it
Time stops
That first second lasts for years
Those words echo inside you
Till your head is an empty cavern
Bouncing off its walls, the repetitious chorus of rejection

The following second is an earthquake
It shakes your skyscraper relationship
With the foundation of cardboard and rotten wood
The air is a haze that distorts your once-treasured memories
Your hopes and plans for the future fall on you like rubble
And bury you in building block disappointment

The third second is a tidal wave
It’s too close to run, too close to hide
So instead you are pulled under
You can’t breathe and you can’t move and you’re crying too much but maybe not enough
Maybe if you swim...
But you can’t, it’s too late

The second after is a thunderstorm
A heavy rain that destroys all the good and the perfect
The droplets pierce like arrows, but is incomparable to the pain in your chest
You stand out in it screaming
I gave you all the love in my heart and it wasn’t good enough
F*** you

The final second is the sunlight
Not the kind that heats you from the inside out
The kind that is cold and bleak no matter how bright it shines
The kind that tells you a warmer place isn’t far
You just need to pick yourself up, brush yourself off
And start walking