Ever think of what it would be like to be totally free? Like a bird, escaped from that demeaning, plastic cage that has only trapped you for so long?

Being free. What a concept. I've always been free, I guess, if you want to get really technical. But sometimes I wonder, what it would be like, just for once, to be captured.

What would it be like to be in the hands of someone, not mean and abusive, but caring and gentle? I can only imagine of what it would be like to always have that one person to be there, to count on.

But then I turn away from that thought in an instant. Being captured? It sounds ominous. Like it can only lead to your own demise, your own incessant tears trailing beyond the capacity of what you even thought possible. It can only lead to sadness, right? To the inevitable end, the last happiness you'd think you'd ever feel?

I must be better off free. Wandering the universe, trailing after whatever I please, preferably my accomplishments. Chasing the stars of my dreams, nothing that would keep me tied down.

But then there's that small tugging in the pit of my abdomen, the weird chills that enter me as I sit, alone, simply thinking. Where I think, maybe I do need to be captured. Maybe I'm lost and forgotten if I'm too free. Perhaps no one will remember my echoes, my voice, my own strength, unless I have something to go back to.

Either way, I'm free now. Always have been. My careless thoughts of being caught and encased flicker, of course, as they have in the past. Life will always be a game of escaping and being captured, there's no scent of a doubt about that. I will only hold onto my own as I live this roller coaster of a normal teenage life.