Fates and Furies

She could feel the thickness in the air as she stared at a blank wall, her vision slightly disoriented. It was almost as though Amelia was sitting within a plastic cup of gelatin. A transparent prison seemed to trap her, giving everyone around her the ability to stare and observe as they pleased. She had almost wished someone would hang a sign reading, "More interesting than the circus, Come and observe the biggest freak of them all!". Amelia knew she would forever be an outcast in this world, but she never expected that her heartache would be what brought her the unwelcomed ill attention. Surely, she could not be the only girl he had broken into pieces. Then again, she had never seen another human with cracks in their skin like the ones she had obtained from piecing herself back together. 

Her mother was adamant in teaching Amelia the ways of love. It was a force so strong-willed and free, one that many people could never learn how to harvest in quite the ways it was intended to be. That is, after all, how she had gotten into this mess. You see, Amelia had believed herself to be in love. Allen was his name. He was beautiful, fitting into every vision she had ever allowed herself to create of her one true love. Every day, for what felt like eternity, she found new ways to appreciate the man he presented himself to be. That was the first way in which Love had used her powers against A. She rendered Amelia blind to anything and everything wrong with Allen. Amelia could see that now. How could she not spot it before? There were so many signs that this was not meant to be. Allen had found a way to harness the selfish part's of Love's forces, but left the important and meaningful parts behind. Perhaps that wasn't his fault. To this day, she wanted to believe it wasn't his fault. He didn't have practice. Or maybe it came with age. Women did always learn to control their powers before their male peers. Could she really blame herself for trying to love him? Even if it were selfish, A always knew that Love was present. She never thought it to be naïve to believe the rest would come with time. She just kept feeding Allen's powers. 

That is how she ended up here. Shattered. A million pieces, carefully glued back together. Unfortunately, glue could only do so much, and it was only a matter of time before people started to notice. Pieces came lose. Some were lost, alongside Amelia's sanity. Allen had gained too much power over A. He had been greedy with Love, who had warned him of the consequences. It never bothered him. He was not scared of her. He was even less afraid to learn that he would not be the one who was affected greatest by them. Amelia was. When he lost control, when it became evident that he could not handle the forces that he had been gifted with, he was prepared. He had drawn up a plan to leave the scene, without a scratch. 

Amelia was not so lucky. She never saw the signs. It was evident that she should have created an evacuation plan, a backup plan, in case of emergency, but she had always been influenced by her optimistic nature. Never had she believed he would cut himself away from her, relying on his own being to carry the power they had created together. It was tragic. The explosion felt eons away at first- silent but radiant. Amelia could feel the energy drawing back like an evening tide, right before the biggest wave would hit. And it did. The blast was mightier than anticipated. More forceful than anything she could dream of. When she awoke, she was surrounded by the tiny bits of herself that had been scattered. 

After a sad attempt to gather and construct herself once more, she was afraid that she'd have to ask for help. Too ashamed to admit to anyone else what had happened. Buying the glue to repair herself was one thing, but attempting to put herself together alone was downright impossible. She knew she had to let her pride go, asking only those closest to her to administer the adhesive and place the pieces back in their rightful coves.

It wasn't perfect, but she appreciated the help. It was enough to get her by. It gave brief distraction and momentary relief, until she once again caught a glimpse of her skin and the cracks he created. It was devastating to have a constant reminder of what she had lost when he took so much from her. Someday, she believed, he would return and give her what she needed to become whole again. The pieces she was missing created a void that felt impossible to fill by anything other than his company.

Weeks passed before Amelia knew she needed to seek help. She clicked her nails against the chair, staring at the blank walls of a doctor's private office, waiting for an option that outweighed the faulty glue. This would not be her demise. Her posture straightened as she came to a new realization. Weeks, she had wasted, being broken over him. There were no second chances. She did not need him to come back and fix the cracks.

There is hope. She knew, someday, the cracks would be filled, and the heartbreak would be a distant memory rather than an attraction for the masses. Slowly she stood, careful to hold on to each and every piece of her she had left. She returned home, as confident as ever that she would create her own remedy. Amelia had unlimited power within. She was a force to be reckoned with. One person lacking the ability to handle such a beautiful force would not keep her from using Love to fill the cracks and continue the search for what her mother promised her would be the greatest union of them all. True love was out there. Amelia smiled as she thought of a day when people stared, healthily envious of her and the man she was always destined to be with. Every day would be a step closer to bridging the gap between the outcast she believed she was doomed to be, and the enchantress she would make herself.