Wax Museum
Have you ever played Wax Museum?
For those of you who haven't, it works like this: One person is the guard, and everyone else is a wax figure. The wax figures try to move around as much as possible without the guard seeing. If the guard catches them moving, they're out.
For the longest time, my life has been like a game of Wax Museum. All by myself I've played, changing poses to fit the molds given to me by the guards. I've been something different for each guard, and the guard has changed quite often. Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Slade, Beast Boy. Even myself. And each time the guard changed, I changed too.
To Cyborg and Robin and Starfire, I was awesome. A teammate, a companion, a friend. Always willing to train, play Gamestation, or talk. The one person who would eat your cooking, no matter how bad it was. I was the friend who always helped with your plan to dominate the new video game, no matter how obscure or likely to fail it was. To Cyborg and Robin and Starfire, I was awesome.
To Raven, I was midnight. The moment when you aren't quite sure whether it's day or night. Like when your opinion on something keeps changing, and you're constantly dragged back and forth between thinking it's good or bad. I was a lamp, flickering on and off so fast you can't tell whether it was light or dark. To Raven, I was midnight.
To Slade, I was an apprentice. A device in a complicated plan. Like a pawn in a chess game, I was simply a distraction who only became important when I crossed the line. My only real purpose was to take orders, to obey. To Slade, I was an apprentice.
To Beast Boy, I was perfect. A golden winged butterfly flying in the wind, the envy of all. He cared about me in a way no one ever had before. He was there for me. But he failed to see my faults, and instead saw an angel I can never be. To Beast Boy, I was perfect.
And to myself, I was unknown. Insecure and unconfident, I didn't know who I was. Instead I tired to fit the molds given to me by others. Awesome, midnight, apprentice, perfect.
For the longest time, my life has been like a game of Wax Museum. All by myself I've played, but now it as if the whole world is playing with me. And many of us wax figures have already been caught, but a few still play, carefully avoiding the watchful eye of the guard, Trigon. These players are the Teen Titans and Slade. My guards.
So please keep on playing. Not just for me, but for everyone.
For Robin.
And Raven.
And Cyborg.
And Starfire.
And Beast Boy.
And even Slade.
And for the world. You have to keep playing for the world.
Just don't get caught, because if you do…
You're out.
Author's Notes: Wax Museum was inspired by a conversation about Terra that I had with my friend and brother after watching the first two parts of The End. We sort of came to the conclusion that she was probably in some sort of suspended animation, and that maybe she had some weird way of surviving and knowing what was going on. The game Wax Museum is also known as Statue, and probably has other names that I don't know about. I chose to use Wax Museum because it fit the story best. I hope you enjoyed it!