"Have you ever been in love?
"
"Horrible isn’t it? It
makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your
heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you
up. You build up all these defenses; You build up a whole suit of
armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no
different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid
life…You give them a piece of you. They didn’t ask
for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile
at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore. Love
takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves
you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like ‘maybe
we should be just friends’ turns into a glass splinter
working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the
imagination. Not just in the mind. It’s a soul-hurt, a real
gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate
love."
Neil Gaiman
