Love.
It had always been just a word to Allison, just a concept. Sure, she had lost her heart to other people before, but the only thing she had ever gotten in return was her own love back, never someone else's. They had trampled over her, each one taking a piece of her trust with them as they inevitably left, with only the person-shaped holes in her life remaining to remind her they had ever been there.
At first it caused her heart to break, but along the way it started to feel as if she didn't even have much of a heart left anymore. Until that one, fateful day, when she had realised just how wrong she had been.
It wasn't love at first sight, but Allison liked to call it love at first conversation. They had been sitting across from each other on the train, and Allison immediately felt compelled to talk to the girl with the amber eyes, staring at the scenery hurrying past outside the windows. Her eyes looked like they held some mysterious secret Allison didn't have a clue about, and she just needed to know.
She learned the girl's name was Nora, and ever since then, it seemed like they never stopped talking. When the train reached Nora's destination, Allison snapped out what felt like a daydream. Even though Nora left her with a smile and a phone number, her heart felt weirdly heavy.
They continued talking, through texts and phone calls, occasionally meeting up in person. And gradually, Allison discovered that Nora had indeed held a secret. The kind of secret that would change Allison's life in ways she couldn't have hoped for.
As they met more and more often, it would show in the tiniest ways, so fleeting and small Allison would brush them away, not daring to give them credibility. It was in the way Nora looked at her, in the way she wanted to know what Allison's day had been like. She would wish her goodnight, and hold her hand just because. She would laugh when Allison laughed, and feel sad when Allison did. It would show in so many ways, like tiny diamonds scattered through Allison's life.
And then one morning, waking up next to Nora, Allison finally realised what it was. She felt loved, in a way that matched her own love, and then some. It was a little strange, possessing someone else's love, but the good kind of strange. Smiling, Allison considered how different it felt from before. It didn't feel like a constant absence anymore, a hole in her chest where something used to be beating, a fear of never being able to find where she belonged.
It felt like coming home.
