Prologue
To the person reading this: I don't want to be rude, but what are you doing snooping into my thoughts without permission? And why are you being creepy? Sigh… Well, since you won't leave unless I wrench you away- Do you wanna hear an irony? Well, here goes nothing…
I am far from normal. I am not normal.
… Or at least that's what my mind have been repeating all my life like a broken record.
Deep down, I've always suspect how different I am compared to all other people. Living in a world where all things are determined and judged in some ways, telling you whether it was right or wrong based upon the consensus of everyone else, it's not hard to see why I am so out of touch and unlikable.
But in a way, I don't mind being so different and the odd one out. I don't mind how perceptive I have been since birth, knowing the answers to people's questions even before they could formulate a question. I don't mind being called a freak by people because it's easy for me to understand just about anything. And I definitely don't mind being singled out because people finds me difficult and strange.
No, I don't mind and never will… because even if I do, it's totally out of my control.
However, if people were to think about me in everyday life, they would probably say I am the normal-est person ever. Going to school… Being responsible as a part of society… That's the irony with me. On the surface, I am as normal as everyone else. Yet, I am as far apart as I can be, isolated and separated from reality, existing in another realm entirely. Turns out, that's not so inaccurate… In any case, if there are such things as normal, I guess those are only afforded to the people who are lucky enough to be privilege like that.
Anyway, you might now be wondering who is doing a monologue into the void. Well then, let me introduce myself.
Hello! My name is Annabeth. I am a girl somewhere in the age group of 0 to 25, and— and yeah, that's about all the info you were ever going to need to know about me.
Well, since I now have all your attention, I might as well drop a random (not totally random) question on you. Ready? Okay then, I want to know if you think being in love is ever simple. Strange question to ask? Yeah, I don't blame you. It's certainly weird for me to put it out there when I don't know who I am conversing with in the void. You might be a total weirdo who has never met me and I have never met you, though in this case I am fairly certain I am that weirdo who is asking everyone a crazy question about love. Frankly, I don't even know why I am asking in the first place, especially when I don't really do well in the 'expressing myself' department.
Anyway, that's beside the point…
I guess I wanted a laugh, maybe… or I just want to get some answersbeside my own, as I am sure there are already many different voices and inputs. Many of you might have made up your mind with your answer already. Maybe you've gone with the more scientific approach to the question, that love is just like any value and can be measure with logical and deductive reasoning. Maybe you already have some experiences and found it to be the most complicated and heart-wrenching things you can do to yourself, or you have a different experience and found it to be the most uncomplicated and heart-warming thing you can feel…
Now in an ideal universe, most would accept that love is exactly as these answers describe. They existed together and shared one similarity by showing the complexity of loving someone and being loved. After all, that's how the real world works…
Except…
This is not an ideal universe. The truth about love… It is one of those things that I can't stand. The irrational idea of a world build upon no simple, straight forward answer; the complication and ambiguity that—
To be honest, if you answer the question with a simple no; that you have never fallen in love before and never plan to, I envy you. After all, I've had my fair share of loving someone and being loved that it's… overwhelming. The way I simply fall heads over heels...
Well Annabeth, do you regret being in love then?
Good question… No, I don't.
It might sound hypocritical since I envy people who have never been in love while saying I myself don't regret loving. I guess it's just been hard for me to figure out which side of the equation I am on. Like I've said, it's a complicated world with experiences throughout my lifetime that has really given me some major headache. No, scratch that… an enormous migraine.
Anyway, you might think that I am crazy for asking a question like this without giving you any context. Of course not! I am not crazy, mind you… It's just a bit hard for me to convey what I mean when the source of all my conflicted feelings... It all started with a boy named…
L-Leo—! Ahhh…! Drop it, that's not yours!
Uh-hum— sorry about that…
Oh yes. Besides the boy I haven't named yet, Leo is definitely included in the category of complicated. I mean, I love him to dead. But sometimes, he annoys me to heck. Like for one morning, I woke up and he started licking me everywhere. It took me an hour just to wash off all that slimy spit. Then this other time I was taking a good shower, minding my own business and actually enjoying the relaxation when suddenly the curtains came closing around me and Leo frantically hugging me because of the lightning storm that night.
Oh yes! I definitely have my share of complicated.
Anyway, you now know one of the boys that is a complicated pain in my ass. As for the other one… Well, I might as well just tell you my story up until this point in my life. It's probably easier to understand why I am asking such a question in the first place. It all started back when I was a junior in a little nowhere called New York City.