Hello again! I actually managed to get something out in a reasonable amount of time! Whoo! This is supposed to be a series of drabbles, and I have the second written out, but no solid plan...tell me if you want this idea to be explored further, I have a lot in the works. Love from Birchtree!

Everybody thought that he was a strong person. Well, maybe he was, but he couldn't see it. The everyday things, stresses of work, the idiocy or insanity- take your pick- of the rest of the world, those were easy. But the other kind, the pain that was kept in a dark, lonely corner of his mind...

That was a different matter altogether.

Sometimes it was just a few words, catapulting him back into times he had no wish to return to. Sometimes it was the days, like today. Ah, the fourth of July, arguably one of the worst days in his long existence. The one day that Alfred's words just wouldn't get out of his damn head. He could hear it now, playing eternally on repeat somewhere in his cranium, but rising above the din on this one special day, just for him.

"You used to be so big."

It hurt. Ah, it hurt so much, and there was nothing that could be done to remedy it. Wait, that was a lie- there was. Of course there was. He hated it, and he hated himself for doing it, but there was nothing else for it. Fight pain with pain. It sounded absolutely daft, but who was he to question his only coping method?

Yes, his blade was his best friend. That one, the one that was always in his pocket, burning him with the urge to take it out and forget everything. Let all of the memories escape with the red drip, only to return later, worse than before. He hated it, it wasn't gentlemanly in the slightest, but it was all he had. It kept him going, kept him from going completely insane.

Now, staring at the letter in front of him, an unopened invitation to 'America's Big Birthday Bash!', he slipped his hand in his pocket, playing with the scrap of metal, running his finger over the sharp edge. Oh, how he wanted to. He wanted his blood to soak that pretty little paper with all of the memories, all of the painful times. His little secret, stained scarlet, bared for all to see.

Yes, his blade was his best friend, and what a love-hate relationship they had.

So, whatcha think? Please, enjoy a teaser:

"Still, even after so long, he hoped this would be the year, the year that everything would be made right again."