Pain- A four letter word we aren't always strong enough to hear. It's the only thing stronger than hope and more hurtful than physical injury. When pain rages, even numbness can't calm it down. It's the moment when you feel a pang in your chest and your heart drops to your stomach; like when the cab driver hits the brakes without warning or when you look into the eyes of someone you love and they look away. Pain is ignoring that lump in your throat and trying to move on. Pain is when you feel a stab in your heart and instinctively check to see if you are bleeding on the outside. Ashley McAllen is a teenage girl who is intimate with the word Pain. It is a four letter word that doesn't erase itself from the page, if you just ignore it. Nor did it write itself there for no reason. She learns from both, the bitter experience and happy moments, that Pain demands to be felt. #396 Romance