*Image taken from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150910-the-nuke-that-fried-satellites-with-terrifying-results*
According to Fox news (link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/2001/03/08/nuclear-bomb-explosion-steps.html) the stages of a nuclear explosion consists of four stages. Similar to my failed relationship, that was exactly the case. I met Tina and we became quick friends but when we decided to get into a relationship, it was a bomb set on a timer, the feeling that something just was not right.
*Image taken from https://flic.kr/p/dDsAVW*
We had nothing in common, people objected to the relationship, close friends and family. However, carried on we did, like a deranged dictator armed with nuclear weapons, we were hell bent on seeing it through. We, or at least I did not see how destructive a nuclear explosion would be. I did not consider how it would end.
**The first stage: flash and fireball**
They say that when you first get together with someone, the first few months is always great, the grass seem greener, the sun brighter. It was no different to me, the morning sun was a thousand times brighter, much like the flash of the a nuclear explosion's first stage, it was indeed brighter than anything that I've seen. It was so bright that I start to miss the ensuing chaos that comes after the blast. I started seeing warning sings, but ignored them. I started hearing good advice, but did not heed them.
*Image taken from https://goo.gl/images/KddejU*
In the initial stage of a nuclear explosion people closest to the blast get badly burned. My friends, my family did too. Of course, I did not see it, I was in love, so who cares if people were burned as long as I am happy. They were burned by my anger, my rage when I was told to stop before it was too late. They felt my wrath when they tried to advice me. It was all about me and because my relationship was all that matter. Like many who were captivated by the brightness and glory of a nuclear blast, too stunned to move away or run. I was too blinded by the flash too.
I did not see what would happen immediately after.
**The blast**
The blast in the second stage happens almost the same time as the flash and fireball but moves slowly and with destructive force. Early in the relationship as the flash and the fireball got to my family, the blast was worse. During the flash and fireball stage, I was in a relationship, but then relationship turned to obsession. More time was spent with each other instead of friends and family.
*Image taken from https://goo.gl/images/k5jYB4*
My parents threatened to disown me. There were times when they too tried to, they resorted to begging, begging me to stop, rethink my decision but I was stubborn. I was still basking in the awesomeness and the light of a grand nuclear explosion! Who cares of what others think, my relationship is strong, nothing can stop its path.
**Firestorm**
Then came the dreaded few words that everyone hates in a failed relationship. You know what I mean:
*It's not working out...*
* It's not you, it's me...*
*Let's just be friends...*
And we come to the third stage of the blast, the firestorm. In this stage, temperatures everywhere heat up, no place is safe.. even underground.. and that was what happened. There was no where I could go without feeling that rage in my heart, the sadness, the pain. No matter where I look where I turned, the burn remains.
Funny how anger plays a very frequent role here, in most of the stages in fact. After being angry and after all the awe, destruction and fire raining down, there's always the next stage.
**Delayed radiation and fallout**
To think that punching a few walls and shouting a few times would end the effects of the firestorm, it did not. What came next was the delayed radiation and fallout. In this stage, radiation poisoning occurs to anyone affected in the blast radius. Symptoms of radiation poisoning include, weakness, fatigue and disorientation (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/radiation-sickness/basics/symptoms/con-20022901).
The problem was not the pain, but the duration. If it was merely a burn from the blast, that I can take. If it would just go away quickly, that I can take. But the prolonged radiation sickness takes a toll on one's self and you lose all hope.
**The healing**
People often talk about the destructive nature of a nuclear explosion and it is easy to see that there is no hope left. But it is a choice to stay down or to pick up and move on. That's because no matter how destructive a nuclear explosion is, the land would heal, and so would one's heart. Who knows? Birds will fly in that area again, flowers and trees may even grow. Soon one day, my heart may be made whole.
*Image taken from https://goo.gl/images/yXgk1U*
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