Marker People

I hate to lose.

I hate games where there's more than one winner, where you can tie, but you can't win. Tying is almost as bad as losing, if not worse. Yeah, I'd say it's worse. Because when you tie, you know that you were just one person away from losing, and one person away from winning. All at the exact same time.

And that's why I hate Marker People. It's a game I used to play when I was a kid. Everyone stood in a circle and someone put a marker in the middle. That person would call out "Marker" and "People". When they said marker, everyone would look at the marker. When they said people, everyone would look at someone in the circle. If the person you were looking at was also looking at you, they lost. They had to pretend to die dramatically, usually shouting something as they fell to the floor.. I liked that part. I liked the feeling that with one look, I could make someone lose. I liked that with one look, I could make someone die a dramatic death.

Of course, if the person you were looking at was also looking at you, you both lost. You both had to die. I hated that game, because with one look someone could make me have to die a dramatic death. And even if you never looked into anyone's eyes, if you were playing with an even number of people, there was absolutely no way to win. If you were playing with an even number of people, there would always be two people who never looked into anyone's eyes. Two people who never had to die. Two people. A tie. People said that there were two winners, but I knew better than that. There weren't two winners, there weren't any winners. There's no such thing as two winners. Either one person wins, or no one wins. Simple as that.

Sometimes I don't understand why I'm on a team. After all, when we win, we all win. When your on a team, you have to share all your victories. I always thought that was just like tying, and that because we were all winning, no one was winning. I started to hate winning almost as much as I hated losing. Maybe even more, because I wasn't winning, I was tying. I hated it. And then…

I lost.

The team didn't lose. Titans East didn't lose. I lost. Me. Speedy. I lost. It was when the Brotherhood of Evil attacked. I didn't expect to lose. I didn't think some girl in a cat mask would stand a chance against me. But she did. And in the end, I didn't stand a chance against her.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about her. No one has ever been able to beat me like that. In just one fight, she killed me. Well, she didn't kill me, I'm still alive. But she killed part of me. She killed the part of me who had never lost so easily, never gone down without fighting so hard that even if they one, my opponent was still exhausted and out of breath at the very least. That part of me died a dramatic death.

It was a lot like playing Marker People, actually. In just one glance, I lost. But there was one difference. In Marker People, she would have lost too. And she didn't. She won. We were playing with an even number of people, but she still found a way to win.

I think I know how she did it, really. She was wearing a mask. I couldn't see her eyes. I was wearing a mask too, but I guess she saw through it. She saw my eyes, but even though I was looking right at her, I never saw hers.

And I want to see them.

Even if it means I would lose, I want to see those eyes. And if losing means seeing them, then I want to lose. I don't understand it. I hate to lose. But I want to.

If it means I can get one glance at those eyes, than I will lose.

In one glance, I will die a dramatic death.

And I'll have no problem with it.

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Author's Note

After sort of considering doing it for a long time, I finally decided to sit down and write Marker People. It was inspired by Marker People, a game I played at camp. Somehow, the "looks can kill" feel that it has to it really made me think of Speedy. I really like the idea of a relationship between Speedy and Cheshire, so I decided I had to write something about it. Not enough people write about these two. They need more love. XD I had a lot of fun writing this. I hope you liked it!