Arguing with my girlfriend. Leaving her apartment in the middle of the night. Running down the stairs and straight out onto the road. Blinding headlights. Brakes sounding. Too late. A car crashing into my body. Pain. Someone screaming. Losing consciousness. That's all I remember from last night.

I open my eyes, the light so aggressively bright that I squeeze them shut again. I try a second time, and this time, my eyes stay open and take in my surroundings. I'm certainly not at home, definitely not in a hospital, but I'm alive, and that's a miracle. I look around the room. It consists of nothing but a small, rickety table with a stool, a basket with a few scrolls of yellowing paper, and the blanket pile that I'm currently lying on, which seems to be a bed. It looks like a room in ancient Greece.

"I must be hallucinating," I think to myself, but then I hear a crowd chanting: "Ovid! Ovid! Ovid!" That's my name. Xavier Ovid. My parents used to joke that we were related to him, but slowly, I'm starting to think this isn't a joke anymore. Maybe I was catapulted into the past, into Ovid's body. It dawns on me that I'll probably have to give a speech now, and an improvised one at that.

I stand up before looking down at my body. I'm wearing a white toga and leather sandals. Alright. If the people want a show, they'll get one. I walk onto the stage, already talking. "Love!" I shout. "Today, we will be talking about love! We all know what it is, but do we really? When people think of love, they think perfect. They think it's so easy to feel, but it's not. Because love makes mistakes, and also forgives. It gets angry, says things it doesn't mean to, but it calms down again. It's a red emotion – hot, angry, passionate, warm, sweet, beautiful, caring... But it's also pain. Heartbreak, sadness, loss – it's all love. Love isn't just loving your husband or wife; it's also loving family, friends, sunsets, the beach... Loving is living. Like five minutes of pleasure in a lifetime of pain. So when you're alive, when you get the chance, love to your fullest, don't be scared of getting hurt, because you'll get hurt, you'll bleed and scream in pain on the ground, but it's always going to be alright, because that's the thing with love. No matter how bad things get, no matter how bad it hurts, it never leaves."

I had been looking at the ground the whole time, so when I look at the crowd, I'm met with stunned faces. Someone starts to applaud. Everyone else joins in. I grin before walking off stage. My head is pounding again, so I decide to lie down for a bit.

When I wake up, it's to the faint sound of beeping. I'm in a hospital, Gracie is sitting next to me, holding my hand, she looks worried and absolutely beautiful. She almost cries when I wake up. "I'm so sorry!" She whispers. "So am I. I love you, darling." She smiles. "I love you too."

Note: There’s an OBX Quote in the speech because I thought it was fitting, this note is just to say I’m not trying to pass it of as my own. :)