• A BROKEN HEART OF STEEL

    Mary sat still. Everything in her world had shattered. Her first true love had broken her heart, rejecting her. She cried for the pain of a broken heart.
    It had started on a sunny day in the third grade during school. A new kid walked in the door, she looked at him and instantly developed a heavy crush on him. He was like and angel to Mary, and she told no one that she liked him. The only empty seat in the classroom was right across from her. Her heart beat at what she thought as 1000 beats in a minute. He sat down, and Mary shyly spoke.
    “Hello. My name is Mary. What’s your name?” she asked. He replied, saying his name was Samuel but to call him Sam. They quickly became the best of friends, running together at every break, and every recess, quickly jogging, fast walking, and sprinting in the running club. He encouraged her to run more, until she was almost as fast as he was. They chatted, joked, raced, but every time he ran ahead of her, he would stop and wait. They had so much fun. Then it all changed.
    In the fourth grade, they were in different classes. Growing apart was hard for Mary. Sam had been a true friend to her. Then she moved away to a different state. Mary was shy, uneasy, and uncomfortable. She wrote to one of her friends, sliding a note into the envelope along with her letter. She had instructed her friend to give the note to Sam. She did, and two years later, she walked up the street with an old childhood friend. Mary walked to Sam’s house, which was only up the road. Sam, siblings and friends were outside. Her heart lifted at the sight of her old friend. Mary said hello. He struggled to remember her.
    “Do you think he’ll remember me?” Mary whispered to her friend, Allen. Then a spark of memory flickered in Sam’s eyes.
    “Hey, you’re that girl from third grade, right?” he asked. Mary nodded. “You gave me that note!” he said, running back inside. A little boy came running, most likely intending to hurt or scare her. She ran with a young, fast, slender dog, a fat, slow dog, and her friend. She yelled back.
    “That is an old dog! You stop scaring it!” she screamed, defending the old one. Then the boy stared, and ran back. Mary, her friend, and their dogs walked home. She thought about what had just happened. He hadn’t even said her name. She just wanted to cry, to sob, to wail, and she was…embarrassed. Mary was too embarrassed to talk to him anymore when in school. And she wouldn’t talk to him at all, especially after what had just happened.