AN Uh… Angst, anyone? Brainy is someone I don't usually think about, and yet, this all of a sudden pours out. A stream-of-consciousness piece.

Say Goodbyeblondegirlshavefun

I sit, small and alone- I am withdrawn into myself. I breath, I eat, I go to school, I sleep- then the next day I do it all over again. Lather, rinse, repeat if desired.

It is not desired.

But the pattern is familiar, and I keep at it. I don't speak unless spoken to; I never give more than needed. Words have lost meaning. I am not changed, but we all are. High school means nothing will be the same.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Things were so simple back then, when she would sneak away to rant to that stupid locket. I followed, was caught, was punched. Another pattern, one desired. But, one day, it changed.

She threw the locket away.

When he left, she did too. The picture and its frame were tossed into the ocean, and she walked away. I saw her. She didn't cry, she just accepted it.

I couldn't.

I fished it out of the water, plucked it out from the seaweed. Now it is her picture in the locket, the girl she once was. Whole, unbroken. Each day, I see her break a bit more; hair is curled and fashion worn- every day, her true self compromised.

And every day she breaks, I break more.