Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so

vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens your heart and it means

someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these

defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so 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 don't

ask for it. They do 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 a simple phrase like 'maybe we should just be friends' or 'how very

perceptive' 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 body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain.

I hate love.