Riddle

I am death. I am life.
I am everyone. I am no one.
I killed your parents, yet I gave them new life.
I am smart and funny and beautiful.
I am nothing more than a speck.
I am loved. I am hated.
I am my own worst enemy.
I know how to read, or at least how to listen.
I sleep, I eat, I live.
I will do more if I choose to.
I am of no accord, but I mean the world to someone.
I am never alone.
I am obvious.
I am who you think I am.

Crush

I loved her, but it was forbidden.
Drink it up, or break it down.
The dove has a broken wing,
and my spirit is failing.
Pinned down with no where to turn,
I think of the one I long for.
Beaten and dejected,
I will have my revenge.
I will destroy them.
I thirst for it.
Never forget your first.
Don't even try to forget.
It tastes too sweet,
even if the pain is too bitter.
Drink it down, or break it up.
It was forbidden, and so I loved her.

Thirteen Squared

One day two days ago, three thoughts popped into my head. For four years I had been working hard so that for the next five or six I could work even harder. Why was that? I remembered back when I was seven, life was so simple. My hardest decision was which of my eight dolls I should play with that day. I thought, that day, that I wanted that back. Nine months ago, I wasn't even thinking these things? What had happened? Even to go back ten years, back to when I was eleven, would be better than where I was now. Twelve more days. That's all it would take and I'd be done and moving on, but on to what? What happens on day number thirteen?

Those were my thoughts: feeling lost in the present, a memory and desire for the past, and uncertainty for the future.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and counted to twelve. I used to count to eleven, just because most people count to ten, but soon even that started to seem unoriginal to me, so that was why I increased it even more. I need those extra seconds, just like when I was nine years old and needed eight extra seconds to finish the races after the other kids. Maybe I didn't want to go back. Sure, I had plenty of dolls and toys back when I was seven, but what was I doing, really? Now that I think of it, even when I was only six years old, I wanted to go back, back to before I was five or even four. Back to a simpler time. There were only three things I needed back then, and really three things I need now: to love, to be loved, and to know what love is. I already have two of them. And maybe it is worth the rest of my life to find the final one.

Winning

Whenever I win or lose at any kind of game or competition, I ask myself, "Why?" The answer when I win is almost always: "Because I cheated." When I lose, the answer is: "Because my opponent did a better job of cheating than I did."

I can do anything I want, unless someone tries to stop me. And no one ever tries to stop me until after they've already realized what I'm doing and by then it's too late. The only time I can be stopped is when someone who is already just like me is going up against me. I know what I want, and I take it. That's what winners, what cheaters do.

I will always be this way; I don't think I'll ever change. I used to think I was unique, but I have come to realize there are many like me. I've met them. The only time I really have fun, really see a challenge, is when I'm going up against one of them. This game we play, it has whole new rules. You can't win unless you cheat, but cheaters don't always win when there is more than one of them playing.

There is no room for ties or compromise. Someone has to come out on top, and more often than not, it's me. There are people who have given me a run for my money, though. I am not someone who can't be impressed. But every time I am beaten, I learn something, and I grow stronger than before. Each defeat makes me stronger, and as I grow stronger, I am defeated less often. One day, I will be invincible.

But what is invincible really? How do I know when I've reached supremacy. Because no one else can win against me? Perhaps I have just not found a worthy opponent. And if there is a worthy opponent out there, I want to find him, because if I defeat him, I am one step closer to being unstoppable and if he beats me, I am still one step closer.

I learn; I grow; I do whatever it takes. One day, I will rule this nation, and then, the world. And it all started as a game.