text: Her eyes were green. I would say they're like emeralds. Green, shining, beautiful. But an emerald is only worth something if it matters to someone. An emerald sitting quite still, all alone on an island, well, it's not worth a damn thing. It only took me one look into her eyes, one beautiful moment. She understood me, right then. And from then on, we were best friends and lovers. Being with her, I felt like air. Like I was unrestrained, unbound, free. I could move to whatever heights I wanted. She raised me up from dark depths. I felt so strong with her, and for the first time I mattered to someone, truly mattered. Sometimes it stings, something shallow, like I could just almost forget the pain if I tried hard enough. Sometimes it tears me apart, like I'm being burned from the inside out, and I can feel my skin melting and dripping down on my feet, and I have no strength left to scream or even to breathe. Sometimes it's more dull, not like being torn apart, but like being weighed down by an immense and unshakable regret. But it always hurts. Now I know what it's like to be an emerald, alone, on an island.