The young girl smiled so softly, laughing lightly, and talking with friends.

Little did they know the hurt she was feeling.

The loss was still fresh in her mind, of what could have been if she were there in time.

Despite the smile she wore on her face, she was nothing more than an empty space.

She dwelled in the past, praying her feelings would not last.

Her hopes and fears would not go away.

She could feel herself going astray.

She stopped smiling.

She stopped laughing.

There was no talking with friends anymore.

The young girl faded, having fallen to the floor.

She fell from a great height, one that was at its highest.

All the way to its lowest.

She smiled, her eyes lighting up.

He stood from afar, staring at her.

She stared into his eyes, losing herself in them.

He blinked slowly, wishing that things were different.

She took his hand, dragging him along, giggling.

He watched as the girl he loved, love another.

She was happy.

He was sad.

She had found the person she'd continue on to live with for the rest of her life.

He lost the person he dreamed of living a life with.

Dear Girls,

To each and every girl who has ever felt left out, abandoned, judged, or shunned. To all the girls who are lonely, who do not meet society’s standards. I am here to say, you are beautiful, you are strong, you are amazing. I am here to say, do not listen to the thoughts of others’, the words they dare not speak but they dare to think. You are worthy to be the person you are, to embrace who you are. You are more than your believe and more than you are said to be by everyone else. But most importantly you are loved, maybe from afar, maybe from your family, but there is someone out there who loves you. You may not have met them yet, but they are there, and you will find them and cherish one another.

swallowed by the darkness

he disappeared from my life

i do not know where he is

i often wonder what it would have been like

what it would have been like if he had not succumbed to the darkness

would he still be right here by my side

laughing along with me

smiling at me

but i can not be sure of that

because he chose the darkness

he chose it over me

over the happiness our future held

he gave up before he ever tried

in the final battle

between the light and the dark

it seems as though the dark has won

it did

and it won against him

i wish he had not fallen

but he did

and there is nothing i can do about it

he lost

i lost

darkness won

darkness: five me: zero

You say that I am needed.

You say that I am important.

Important for what, I ask.

You say that I am important to be used and manipulated.

You do not say it that way, though.

You word it differently.

But your words stilll hold the same meaning.

You are trying to use me.

You are trying to abuse my existence.

I am not needed.

I am not important.

I am only a tool to you.

My name is Blank. It is what I go by, because I simply do not matter in the eyes of others. I am a blank space, a space with no meaning or value. So what is my existence for then? I exist as a nobody so others do not have to, this is what I choose to do. I do not know when the lives of all men and women became unequal, there is no specific time. Thinking harder, I believe that maybe it was never was equal to begin with. No matter though, I will continue to be an empty space in the world, so that no one else has to be. Greater and lesser value groupings exist among humans, but I am here. My name is Blank and my job is to be a nothing in the stead of all humans that are said to be of lesser value than someone else.

I know of a boy who is my age. He’s in my science class and I realized fairly quickly he is everything that I am not. He’s outgoing, he’s popular, he’s strong, he’s liked by the girls and guys throughout the entire grade, he’s goodlooking, he’s confident, he’s everything that I want to be, but the one thing I failed to figure out was how much he is hurting on the inside.

I started talking to this boy, let’s call him Roman. Roman and I became friends in a matter of a single night, the night in which he opened up to me about his little brother, Greco.

Greco at the age of two was diagnosed with DIPG, a rare childhood cancer, a brain tumor. Most diagnosed with DIPG have roughly 9 months to live before they pass. He lived for nearly 48 months, passing just after his 6th birthday.

As I talked to Roman, I could see how much he loved and still loves his little brother.

Roman isn’t at all what I thought him to be, he’s heartbroken, he’s still grieving, he’s not popular, he’s not confident, he’s not liked. In his heart, he can only blame himself for Greco’s death, he told me one day that he felt as though Greco was in a glass box. Roman could see Greco, but he couldn’t touch him, he couldn’t help him no matter how hard wanted to or tried to. Roman isn’t what I thought him to be, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be everything I described him as.

I still have hope and believe that Roman can be anything as long as he can come to be at peace with the loss of his little brother.

(A true story)

Time, in my control. I have the power to go back in the past, go ahead to the future or just stay where I am, in the present. It's scary to think one person can have that ability to change everything at their own will. But I can go back, get rid of every little bad thing that's ever happened to me. Fix my life so that I can be happy. Finally, get what I want for once. A light tap on my shoulder startles me, snapping me from my thoughts. It's a man, with gray hair and cold, hard eyes. Wrinkles which define his age and a frown pointed towards me. He stays quiet, observing the pocket watch I have in my hand. I look at him with curiosity. He says something to me, but there is no sound, there are no words. Panic coursing through my entire body strikes me where I stand and then my mind clears, the man disappears, and I stare at the watch. Now, being able to think clearly, I closely examine everything that just occurred in the past few minutes. The watch has this amazing ability that could help me, but not without the price of making others unhappy. That's why something as powerful as this pocket watch could never really work. Because every little detail I or anyone else could change in the future or past will have a drawback far more harmful than the initial problem it began with. That man, who I just saw, was who I could become if I choose to use this watch. Someone there, who would never have a voice to speak out. I glance at the watch once more, even if one does choose to condemn themselves to that life where they'd be the only happy person, I can't let them. I slam the watch back down onto the ground stomping on it until it's only a pile of broken pieces. Then, carrying on with my day, in my life, in the time I know best, the present.