the world turned upside down;

Kairi likes humming songs;

pointless popular pop tunes and burned CDs being jammed into her dad's car's radio because there's nothing better than hearing a favorite song over and over and over on repeat until the meaning's gone;

knowledge crammed into a head topped with hair the color of strawberries and one-night-stands with boys who live in cookie cutter houses in suburbia and the occasional experimentation with other girls and echoes of 'slut' filling double pierced ears;

memorable first impressions and hanging out with her two best friends and wishing the June days spent on the beach will never ever end and being called princess because she looks delicate and fears being a total misfit;

and Kairi hates being forgotten.

Riku likes being first;

vacant aquamarine eyes and desperate attempts to see the world through a mirror but ties that bind forever and ever and unable to stand being alone because the silence pushes him to insanity and putting himself right beside his best friends and he expects nothing more and gives nothing less;

footsteps that match the beating of his heart and old home videos of birthday parties in February and building sandcastles only to have them knocked down and a competitiveness that only a third born child could have and not being a morning person and arriving to school late every single day but never missing a single day and never being figured out by anyone;

nights spent at Sora's playing video games and days spent at Kairi's watching movies and not understanding the concept of self forgiveness and trademark crooked smiles and smirks and summer jobs that require red shirts with nametags and cater to little kids and serving out pizza and fries and sodas and fishing tokens out of machines that are being stubborn and boredom and wanderlust and teenage angst and first loves and fights with mom and wanting to escape from it all;

and Riku hates falling behind.

Sora likes having fun;

running and saving and being the hero and protecting friends from themselves and forgetting special dates and childhood innocence that lasts 'til adulthood and wishing on shooting stars and learning that Santa Claus doesn't exist but still picking up a pencil and writing a letter every single year;

laughter and staying up until dawn and making chocolate chip pancakes as soon as friends come over and feeling melancholic behind the scenes and posing and faking it for the camera, wanting to be taken serious and wishing people wouldn't take you for granted and wanting to leave a legacy because who wants to die and have no one care;

wishes of being perfect and letting people down and no apologies and hopes and dreams and aspirations for the future and being the 'chosen one' and having a pride that's not too different from your pain (shh, don't tell anyone) and being the weakest hero-- but they're no regrets;

and Sora hates being Sora.

&.

There's Sora and Kairi and Riku too;

alcohol and care keys and letting each other down and mean words and nasty fights and swollen hearts and broken hearts and a constant whoosh filling the ears until no one can hear;

panic and screams and there's a neck breaking under pressure and fear and wishes and promises to behave if I just get one more chance to roll the dice and play in the game and blood and bloodstains and tears and never being able to see anyone again and broken ribs and being split open in all senses of the word;

a car wrapping around a tree to the music of blood gurgling in the throat and wide eyes of bystanders not quite believing and running and flashing lights and an ambulance and life-support and the hospital morgue and one person gone;

a funeral and morbid music and wearing tuxes with casts and bandages and scrapes and bruises and stiffness and eulogies born at lethargic midnight hours from sleepless nights;

a bloodless body a mere shell and lacking a soul and closed eyes and makeup to recreate an effect that can be obtained only from being alive and a pretty pink dress picked out by teary eyed mommy and daddy and she's all packaged up-- sweet and pretty and nice-- and put underground and her silence splits them open;

there's Sora and Riku; used to be three nowadays there's two.

an; so i'm listening to 'no roads left' (love linkin park) when i remember red ribbon week almost a year ago. a teacher of mine showed the class a slideshow of a nephew who died in a car accident the first and only and last time he decided to drive drunk-- it was harsh.

well wishes and peace out.