She felt the rain on her skin as she walked down the road, a cool blanket to her troubles. She walked to forget, to remember, to think. She walked to feel the soil, rough under her bare feet; to feel the grass, long overgrown, brush against her legs. The only sounds were the dull roar of the stream and the soft patter of the rain. She began to sway, moving her body to some unknown beat, and then began to twirl. She danced and laughed, whirling in the downpour. With every drop that slid down her, a part of the old her washed away. All the nightmares, all the uncertainty; the pain, the tears, the doubt; gone. Flushed away by the new her. The feelings of ugliness and worthlessness were replaced with those of beauty and confidence. In the middle of a dirt road that lead to no place at all, she was reborn. Her feet carried her forward even faster than before, and for once, she wasn’t falling; she was flying. She ran and ran, cutting through the undergrowth to get to where her heart was leading her. She closed her eyes, filled with bliss, and opened them to a familiar door. Her heart had lead her here, telling her what it had known all a long- showing her what she had been too blind to see. And when he opened the door, she knew it was right- the way here heart jumped into her throat, beating fast as jackrabbits; the way her face began to flush the color of ripe tomatoes; the way her stomach did back flip after back flip. How could she not have seen this coming? It felt so right to be here, that she didn’t falter- she threw herself into his arms with as much force as she could muster. Then, before he could even react, she whispered those words she had shunned for so long; the words that had every corner of her soul ringing with such certainty her heart could barely contain it.

“I love you,” I whisper.

He pushes me away, probing deep into my eyes, and for a moment I am so terrified I start to tremble. What if he doesn’t feel the same? What if he is repulsed by my sudden assertion? What if-? But then he pulls my mouth to his, pulling away only to whisper back to me four words that sent tremors coursing through my whole body in ecstasy: “I love you too.”