How Love Destroys

It Gets Religious

Hope hitchhiked all the way to Salem. She sobbed as much as she could, and by the time she got there, she was severely dehydrated.

She crawled into a into a church, where there seemed to be a trial going on.

She glanced up at the platform and was shocked. There was a man there. He was maybe thirty, and he was gorgeous to Hope's eyes. "Yes!" said Hope, not realizing she was yelling the words. "You shall heal my heart! You shall love me!"

"She's a witch," muttered a few of the townspeople there.

The man's eyes met hers, and for a second, she saw love, maybe even adoration. But then his face changed, and the love was replaced by anger.

"Girl, you need Jesus. Kill her!" he shouted. "I am so sick of little girls saying they love me!"

"No, please!" said Hope. "Please..."

But her cries went unheard. The peasants rushed towards her, pulling knives and hatchets out of nowhere, and yelling "Kill her! Kill her!"

Hope screamed, panicked, and ran out of there. She got a few steps away before running into the man from the church.

"I was wrong," said the man. "I am in love with you, and I have been and will be forever. This is a love that shall not be shaken or broken by distance or loss, but a love that will prosper forever. Will you be my wife?"

Hope stared at him, shocked. "What the-No! Of course not! You just tried to kill me!"

The man seemed not to hear her. "I'm John, by the way. And you are?"

"Um...Hope," she said shyly, suddenly flustered. She gave a nervous giggle. "Actually, this might not be too bad..."

He swept her up and kissed her, and she kissed him back like the world was ending. For one glorious, perfect moment, there was only him and her, and there would only be them forever.

But love is not forever, and Hope was doomed to be alone, and so one second later,

John stopped kissing her and Hope looked up in shock. "John?"

"Hope..." said John sadly. "Goodbye..."

And with those words, he dissolved into a pile of ashes.

"John?" said Hope in panic. "Oh, John, no, not again..."

Hope yelled at the sky, "Why must you do this to me!"

And she picked herself up, gathering her once-again shattered heart, and continued on her journey.