Kind of bad, but okay, I guess--? ~ First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/854964808/ Previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/880560796 Next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/884465949/ ~ Age rating: 11+ (basically just as long as you're a mature reader) ~ Em had been waiting for me the next morning by our usual spot, and as soon as she had spotted me she had stood up and ran over to me, throwing her arms around my neck. “Where were you yesterday?” Her voice had been accusatory, lacking Em’s trademark playfulness. I hadn’t thought that Em was really able to show real emotion – always faking it to the point where you couldn’t separate what was true and what wasn’t – but as she held me, shaking, I had realized that maybe she was more than that layer that she cast outward to everyone. With her holding me tightly, I had felt a little guilty, knowing that I wasn’t the hero she thought I was – no, exactly the opposite. I had wondered what she would do if she found out that in fact I wasn’t the hero, the Kaitlyn, that I had made myself out to be when I had first met her, but instead someone entirely different. “I got so worried when you didn’t show up. You know what they would do to us if they found out that we were in the Woods.” And I did. Everyone knew what happened if you strayed past the boundaries that had been set in place; it’s why so many didn’t. It was worse for the heroes, I think. One step into the Woods without a good reason why, and chances were that you would be exiled forever at best. I hadn’t noticed that she was crying until she stood up again, turning away and wiping her eyes. Beautiful, confident, perfect Em, in tears from worry about me. Some part of me had been angry at myself for doing this to her, but the more villainous, selfish part was pleased that she cared so much. “Sorry,” I had said, because it was the only thing that I could think to say, even if it was an utterly plain and meaningless word, but she hugged me again despite the weak response. And then I had wondered, /Could it really be this easy for us?/ Because in that moment, everything, Em and I, putting the whole world of differences and the abyss that tore us apart away for a second didn’t seem so impossible after all. It was like /we/ were the ones in charge, like we made the rules and we called the shots. Of course, it’s that kind of thinking that breaks you down, piece by piece in the end. It’s that kind of thinking that tears you up until you can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t do anything but want something that will never exist. So let me tell you something else that I have learned: You may think you know the game. You may think that you understand the rules, the consequences, both the before and after. You might even think that you’re beyond it all. But you’re wrong. Those rules, those consequences, those winners and losers? They are /always/ meant for you. You play the game, you play by their rules, not yours. It’s always easier at the time than it is to deal with it afterward. Here’s a little story for you. Here’s how I became the villain.
