Edit: I wrote this to practice telling a story starting at the present and telling what happened in the past through the characters.
It also happens to be from a dream that I had a week or two ago. :) me and dreams...

As an only child, most people said that I was spoiled, and although I didn't agree with them I guess that they were right. It hurt when people said "no" to me, hurt more than it should have. I became bitter. "Why did my parents spoil me?" I would ask myself. In spoiling me they had made my life harder because I didn't know how to face reality. Now looking back, I realize that I had spoiled myself. I called myself a man because I was tall, over eighteen years old, and my voice had changed to where I could sing bass without "cracking". But what does being a "man" mean?

What Might Be
I've been through a lot, 
Not as much as some, 
But yeah, still a bit; 
Enough to say that I've lived, 
I've loved and cried, 
I've laughed and thrown my heart away, 
I've borrowed and begged, 
Sure I had my moments.
I still feel like an uncontrollable wreck somedays, 
But emotionally I've grown, 
I know I have, 
I've had help surely, 
Experiences good and sad, 
Some I wish I could have again. 
Each day I'm growing stronger, 
Each new experience, 

"Come. Let us go sit somewhere comfortable, and I will tell you the story."
Baladan's brown eyes brightened. "About the person who gave you the necklace?"
Velkenar rested a hand on Baladan's head. "Yes, about that."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[redacted for publication in a school literary journal; links may be forthcoming]

I feel a flare of indignation
Oh, how I want to rise
Stand up on my own podium
With my fist raised to the sky
Shout everybody's equal
And they all should have the rights
That our forefathers didn't anticipate
Ever coming into plight
But who you are is simply who
Don't pull back on your bite
You have the freedom and the key,
The support to win the fight
At least from some, so head onward
And love the way that's right
For you, whoever earns your soul
And sets your eyes alight

Accountable
High expectations, 
For the next week to come, 
And I write this more, 
To hold myself accountable, 
To shake off the laziness, 
Clinging to my bones, 
That comes with the changing of seasons, 
The cold changing my mind,
Making my goals seem less inviting, 
Somehow draining the inspiration out of me. 

You are completely consuming my mind.
I want you out now, I want you gone.
I hate it when I feel the impending dread in my chest,
Sinking & plowing down through my organs.
Your exit is nearer than I am prepared for,
I need to see you but I can’t seem clingy—
But I am, I’m clinging, I‘m clinging for dear life,
On the edge, it’s so precarious, and you are so close.
Why did you have to make these changes so abruptly?
I’ve just gotten to the point where I think, “Yes, maybe.”

The Gnostics were one of the first groups of heretics to detach from the Christian church. Their heresy stemmed from the fact that they believed that Jesus was all God, no man.

In modern times that seems like a silly thing to do - people are more apt today to believe the opposite! But the Gnostics were doing exactly what many modern folks are doing; they were trying to keep their Christianity culturally relevant.

Arianna Gage grinned as she sat down on the couch between her friends, setting the bowl of popcorn down on the table in front of them.
“Are we ready?” Kelly Anderson, who stood in front of the TV with a remote in her hand, asked.

There was a chorus of, “Yes!”, from the teenagers in the room, and she hit play, sitting between Lindsey Shaw and Iola Milligan.

The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring film, began.
They occasionally glanced down to reach into the bowl for popcorn, but overall, their eyes were trained intently on the movie in front of them.