It starts as a numb ache,

slowly throbbing just bellow the sternum. Carrying a sense of dread, impossible to describe. Now you know it’s too late. Slowly your stomach begins to turn and palms begin to sweat as your brain begins to slow, shutting down from shock. Even if you could speak, there would be nothing you could say. It’s over. The muscles in your face are beyond your control, there are no poker faces here. Your confused visage resembles that of a deer in the headlights, a deer surprised by the headlights and yet puzzled as to how it got there. You always knew it would happen and now it’s coming true, you have nothing. Everything you thought you’d say is gone, a dumb silence all that’s left. The ache spreads to consume your entire body as the bond breaks. Your hamstrings slacken as you struggle to stay on your feet, to keep it together. And you look at them and it’s like you’ve never looked at them before. They are more beautiful than you remember but forever changed, and as the ache dissolves away and you are consumed in a dull sense of obligated acceptance, you know they will never mean the same to you again.