There's a foreign exchange student at my school who is quite an interesting character. His name is Philipp, and the only reason why I really know him is that he's an art student. He was quiet when he first came here - he kept to himself, and at one point he'd even had a panic attack. He didn't seem the type to be so anxious, but I guess I can't say that since a lot of people can't look like...

Echo tried to love Narcissus more than he loved himself.

Little did she know that she was attempting the impossible.

I tried to love someone more than they hated themselves.

Little did I know that I was attempting the impossible as well.

… 

“How do you teach someone to love themselves?” I asked the cloudy sky, my hands splayed over my stomach, fiddling with the strings of my white hoodie with blue sleeves, rolling the plastic tips back and...

follow me, the treemaster murmurs, 
voice smooth like the rivers that flow
underneath the roots of the redwoods,
and you'll find a treat greater than any
of those that your grandmother could 
bake for you with the gift of the flamemaster.

careful of the roots, the treemaster warns,
my children long for the touch of your people,
but their gentle touches have left them to
break your brittle bones as they once did
the branches and beginnings of my saplings.

the...

"You know, take a few steps to the left and stand right behind that tree, and I might hate you a little less," Lily smiled at Jay, hoping that the sarcasm traveled, regardless of her sweet voice. "And that pretty face of yours could use a broken nose and a few bruises, don't you think?"

"Let's just try to get along with each other for this field trip, Lily," Jay sighed, picking up a beer glass with her tan, gloved...

It’s safe to assume that I’m not right in the head. Sometimes my mind goes fuzzy and I stop thinking, whether it be in the middle of a conversation or doing homework or just breathing and living, being the only self of me that I can be: myself. My friends - they get it. Sometimes, the choo-choo of my conscious falls off the rails and into the ocean, lost with the other locomotives that I reallyneed to...