Love is something no one should really be able to understand. How can anyone know exactly what it feels like? It feels so different for every person. It seems strange and frivolous for love to even have a spot in the dictionary. How do those men working there, typing the words, know what it means? Have the people writing the definition ever even been in love? Have they ever questioned what it means? There are many more questions that one can bring up about love, but there is no singular way to describe it. It’s definition could be, “When one man cares deeply about another woman”, but it does not describe how one feels while they are in love. But it could be for the best that no one knows what love feels like. Because if anybody did, they would spoil the whole experience of finding and feeling love for another person. The experience can be painful, frustrating, joyful, or hateful in the end, but all relationships start on a good foot. That’s exactly how Robert’s started.

Robert is an eccentric boy who is having his first real struggle in life. He wants desperately to fall in love, yet he has no idea what it is. It seemed like everybody in the universe was in love except for him. On top of this, he was dealing with many other typical “teenage” issues that were too overbearing for him. He was curious about drugs, concerned with looks, worried about the future, and had no plan or ambition for his life. He also had many questions, but they were mostly questions no one could answer. What is love? How does one find it? Well, you’ll find out when you are older. Listen, when you are a sickly, weak, elderly man you will know everything in the world. Except what love is. No one seems to know what that is. So, just try to get old as fast as you can. Maybe you’ll be the one who is able to tell everyone what it is. Until then, listen to everybody’s heartbeat. So now wherever he went Robert listened. He listened with all his might, and it seemed like everybody had a different beat. His own heart went terribly slow. It sounded like a person was hitting a drum with molasses on it every 12 seconds. He had a feeling that it was a bad thing, and he didn’t care for the way it sounded. Most of the girls at his school already had boyfriends, and they had a heartbeat like a rabbit on cocaine. Robert’s hopes were crushed as quick as a soda can. His dreams slowly leaked out of the bottom of the can as well. His ideas dripped and formed dirty puddles on the concrete. Everyone is in love already, but no one knows what it is. Class, we have a new student. She looks like all the other girls, but here she is. When Robert saw this new student, his heart leaped out of his chest and landed on the girl, covering her with hot, stagnant, blood. She had so much of a presence that no one could look away, and everyone in the room was quickly being hypnotized by her. But Robert had claimed her. See how her shirts soaked with blood? Thats MY blood. Thats means she's mine. But the girl didn’t seem to notice Robert. As soon as she sat down, Robert, for fear of being thought of as strange, whipped his head back around. But when he turned around, the girl stared at Robert. Her heart flew out of her chest and smashed into Robert. Her blood was fresh, and it seemed like it had fallen on many people in its time. Out of everyone in the class, the girl had picked him.

A few days pass, and to Robert and the girls liking, the seats are rearranged. It appeared as if they were meant to be together, as if they were both put there to go on a journey of love and self-discovery. The millisecond they sat down, their worlds had collided. It was the Big Bang, but on a much grander and fantastic scale. Galaxies and stars and planets flew everywhere when they first looked at each other. They both blushed deeply and their faces now matched their still bloodstained shirts. The girl was simply asking for a pencil. She had trouble getting the enormous words out of her mouth. It was like hearing a baby or social outcast getting their first words out. Messy, disjointed words tumbled out of her mouth like a leaky faucet being turned on and off. Robert smiled a stunning, reassuring smile, and fixed the girl’s faucet. When she saw his smile, she knew how he felt. She had heard his response, and the way he answered it was like telling her she could have the world. Oh yeah, that’s fine, no problem. With those few words, they had both fell into an even deeper level of love, and their hearts, still stuck to each other, furiously beat on their bodies.

Since the two now sat next to each other, talking was made easy. Words flew back and forth faster then machine guns being fired. The words were their bullets, and they continuously killed each other. Soon enough the girl had mentioned that she could drive. To Robert, it was like she spat out a nuclear warhead, not a gun shell. This was Robert’s chance. Maybe we could go out one of these days? Oh, that would be great! And the next weekend the girl had made her way over to Robert’s house. It was easy for her to find, which was ironic since they both found each other’s hearts so easily, almost too easily. That night they simply sat down on Robert’s bed for hours and spoke. The words came out slower now that they were more comfortable. Robert had found out much about the girl that night, but she lacked the intelligence Robert looked for in a woman. In that one night, Robert’s heartbeat had become slower. The change had been miniscule and tiny, but it was still a change. He didn’t know it, but that night the girl’s heart had gotten slower as well.

The girl, despite her change, was now coming over every day. This should have been great for both of them, but it appeared as if they were each getting too much time with each other. They could both sense it. They could feel, hear, touch the change in each other’s heart. Robert had then become scared. This is the girl of everybody’s dreams. Why is this changing so quickly? No one knows. How could anyone know, if no one but Robert knew what kind of love he thought he was in? Eventually, Robert had heard all the rumors. Hey, hear about that girl you’ve been talking to? She’s seeing someone else a lot more now! She barely ever talks to you anymore. After that was said, Robert’s heart had fell off of the girl. Her shirt was now clean; no more bloodstains. It whimpered back to Robert and just before it was about to come back to him, it convulsed on the gory ground and imploded. Blood freckled Robert’s face as he leaned down to pick it up. As he sat there, amazed, he saw the girl’s heart rip off of him and quickly move back to it’s owner. Her heart was in much better shape then his, and appeared to still be beating. But her heart looked too good. It appeared to be fake. After seeing this, Robert fell down next to his scattered remains, covering himself with his own blood. He felt weak without a heart. Not only was he missing a heart and a heartbeat now, but he couldn’t even fall in love anymore. That is impossible to do without a heart. But it’s okay. Listen, she was the same as every other girl out there. They are all just faceless, soulless, nameless, heartless girls that are impossible to tell from one another. It’s okay. The heart will grow back.

Weeks later, suffering after living without a heart for so long, Robert had gone off on a trip. He expected nothing of the trip, and passed it off as useless. However, as soon as he had gotten to the hotel, he met the most unique girl he had ever seen. She simply poured out happiness and hope and light for Robert. After having long, meaningful, intelligent conversations with the girl, he had felt better. She was the light in his time of struggle and darkness. She had helped Robert to get his heart back. She was the essential blood that he needed to get started again. Although they were only able to talk for a simple weekend, she made Robert realize that there are girls out there with real faces, real souls and hearts. Girls who are intelligent and have smiles that mean something. After they had gone their separate ways, Robert was in the best mood of his life. He could sense people’s heartbeats much more clearer now, and his finally appeared to be at the same speed as the others.