"I do not write because I can, I write because I must."
I realised from a very young age that speaking my heart was not an option. I could never find the words to express myself. And telling stories around a campfire was just plain humiliating. So I turned to the blank page, the white expanse of a clean word document to release all the emotions roiling in my young soul. I discovered worlds that I myself could create, I experienced adventures of which I could choose the endings, I created characters who would be my friends for life; I fell in love with the creation of the written word.
As I got older, I realised that the monsters of reality were slowly but surely finding their way into my writings... but I never stopped. My stories influenced me, just as the world influenced them. I was maturing, and so was my work. Now I am 21 and I have seen much in my life that no young person should ever have had to behold. And still I write. I grow. I live.
We clutched one another, locked in a fierce, eternal embrace. We should have known just how pitiful our strength was when compared to the cold, iron jaws of destiny. But alas, nothing could stop fa...