Short Love Stories

Never Let You Go

They were smiling.

            The couple in the picture was smiling. They were standing on a boardwalk, with the setting sun behind them, giving everything a fuzzy orangey yellow glow. The boy had a grin on his face, as if he was laughing, and his arms were looped around the neck of the girl. She was also laughing, with her eyes lit as she looked up at him, hands grabbing onto his. He had a gangly figure, taller than her by a couple inches, with a head full of messy brown locks and freckles on his face. He was looking down at her, as if nothing was more important in the world than the person he held in his arms. They were in love.

            Taylor dropped the picture down on the ground away from her, making sure it landed face down. She didn't want to look at it anymore. It was a good picture, beautifully taken and beautifully saved, but she didn't want it anymore. She drew her knees closer to her chest, hugging her bare legs tightly, and rested her head atop her knees, looking at all the other scattered pictures lying on the ground in front of her. She tentatively reached out for another one and picked it up. She turned the picture around slowly and felt her breath catch in her throat. Her eyes began to water and her bottom lip trembled as she stared at it. This time, the couple in the picture was sitting on a bench, their backs to the camera. The boy had his arm around the girl while she rested her head on his shoulder. His head was leaning against hers.

            Gripping the picture tightly, Taylor tipped her head back and looked up at the ceiling, swallowing hard. She choked back a sniffle and looked at it again. The more she looked at it, the more she felt like she was going to burst into tears. She looked around her, at all the other pictures. Some were facing down, others were not, but they were all of the same two people. The more she stared at them, the more she was certain she didn't know who they were or why these pictures were here. But the more she looked at them, the more it felt like she was supposed to recognize them...like she was supposed to know they were. But nothing came up. Taylor studied another picture, tracing the face of the boy lightly with her finger and observing the way his eyes were lit up. One thing was for certain. These two people had been in love. Something inside her was trying to tell her something. Something was screaming from inside her, but she didn't know what. Taylor reached up and wiped her eyes, biting down hard on her lip so she wouldn't cry. She started to stand, wobbly at first, and she grabbed onto the window sill behind her to steady herself. She took a deep breath and looked around the room. There were pictures strewn everywhere. Taylor began to follow the trail of them, feeling her heart pang each time she saw one. She picked them up as she went, looking at them and then dropping them, picking up another one, and another one, and another one—

            They were sharing a snow cone.

            They were holding hands.

            They were smiling.

            They were kissing.

            They were in love.

            Taylor whimpered and slid down to the floor, finally allowing the tears she'd been holding back escape. Why wouldn't they go away? She ran her hand through her dark hair and closed her eyes tightly, but the picture remained ingrained in her head. When she opened them, she saw that she still held the picture tightly clutched in her hand. Breathing in deeply, she slowly let go of it and watched it float away and land on the ground a few feet away from her. Her eyes followed it and landed on the contours of a dark blue couch. She brushed the tears away from her face and approached the picture hesitantly, coming around the side of the couch. Her eyes widened when she saw that there was a boy asleep on the couch, and her heart began to pound. What was he doing here?