Once there was a girl. She was an artist, a dreamer. Talented, yes, but she was also quite beautiful. Locks of golden-red curls draped over her shoulders, the rich smell of jasmine perfume clung to her like a dress, her eyes were the sweet and pure innocent orbs of blue.
Many, however, did not realize the beauty which she possesed, to concerned with the "in thing" that made a girl pretty or not by their standards.
Despite this, men still loved her, still persued her. One such man quietly waited for her, to talk to her when he could. They first were friends and then before she knew it, they were a "they".
This frightened her somewhat. She was now a they? She did not understand, did not want to. She did not want to fit into the ideals set before her for a traditional highschool life.
And so it went. She would try men on like cheap party dresses before casting them aside. Many wondered why she did this, but there were those few who realized her reasoning.
She was scared. So very, very scared of being hurt. And this was the only way that she knew how to protect herself.
There came a man into her life. It was sudden and unexpected. Her guard was left down and he found his way into her heart. And it was there he stayed, she the prisoner, never able to hold the chains again. She felt beaten, tired, but complete, revived. She wondered at how this one person could make her feel this way ... but knew, that whatever god had ordained it, she would not interfere this time with what the fates wanted.
She should have seen it coming. Truly, she should have. How could she not? It was easy. She was blinded by the illusion, the spell that infatuation had cast over her. He put her aside as if she were a coat to be discarded when the harsh summer sun showed his face.
She cried bitterly. No, not because she had lost him, but because she had lost herself. Lost herself to the "what-could-have-been's" and imaginings that only a naive girl could imagine. And so she tried to gather up the broken shards, her hands bloodied and trembling as she tried to piece herself back together, to regain the life she once knew.