Dots

Love

The house would seem empty but amidst the shadows of the living room, a soft tune played off an old CD player.

Madeline walked in the darkness, afraid of what she would see if she turned on the lights, and approached the figure curled up on the couch.
"It's been a whole month," she whispered as she placed her hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Has it? Time stopped passing in here," mumbled Ariel as she tried to straighten up to face Madeline. Abruptly the CD stopped playing and amidst the darkness and silence, Ariel could feel herself falling apart once again. She quickly scrambled to press play on the CD player but was stopped by a hand that held hers.
"This isn't healthy, you've got to stop trying to repress everything," Madeline voiced gently. There was a heavy silence before Ariel let out an even heavier sigh that seemed to drown what little life there once was, out of the room.
"I suppose you're right about that but it doesn't make it any easier," Ariel said as she shakily tried to stand up. Madeline rose with her and kept a hold on her hands as a support. They made their way to the end of the room and Ariel flipped on the light switch. Madeline had to stop her pity and shock from showing on her face but it became increasing harder to do so as she fully took in the state of her friend. Ariel's once fierce green eyes had become a dull grey colour that was ringed with dark circles and her hair hung limply from her downcast face, that was now more hollows and bones than much else. Ariel let go of Madeline and began feeling her way across the walls to the kitchen, which smelt as rotten and foul as she felt.
"Sorry for the mess," Ariel whispered through her dry throat and Madeline got the idea that she wasn't only talking about the house.
"It's no problem, nothing I can't help you fix," Madeline said reassuringly as she grabbed Ariel's hands and led her to the basin. Ariel tried to crack a thankful smile but it felt as if her face had forgotten how to do anything except frown, so she settled on a pathetic thumbs up.
Madeline watched as Ariel tried to appear normal and pull herself together as to not worry her but that didn't stop Madeline's heart from slowly breaking.

It had been like this since they were young girls. Ariel was always the free spirited one who fell too easily in love. Like most naive girls, she suffered a great deal of heartbreak but unlike most others, Ariel was more fragile. Ariel's mother claims that they were cursed by a witch and Madeline wouldn't have believed it had she not seen the effects herself. All the woman in Ariel's family suffer the horrible fate of literally losing parts of themselves to every man they love. In high school, Ariel had nearly lost her sight to a boy who left her for a prettier face, and as the years progressed, she slowly lost her mind too until there wasn't much left of her but the shell of a woman. Madeline had been powerless against this and soon she found herself in a battle against love itself. It was a hard fought war, trying to prevent her friend from falling in love. But the heart wants what it wants and Madeline could not stop Ariel's heart from betraying her.
She watched and continues to watch love destroy everything her friend has and she hates it.
She hates feelings and the pain they cause.
She hates being helpless.
She hates watching her friend slowly cease to exist.
Most of all, she hates love.
But love is a fierce opponent and how the irony tortures her that love, is her very reason to hate love.
In truth, her struggle to save her friend is more of a slaughter than a battle...
After all, love conquers all.