CE :: Silent Voice

He's not the greatest guy in the world...

In fact, he's kind of  creep. He'd be a perfect antagonist for any young-adult novel. Not the main villain, but one of the bad guys that you encounter in the first couple of chapters. He's broken just about every law there is to break besides murder (Even that we aren't so sure of). To elaborate: He steals, he lies, he cheats. He kidnaps children and keeps them tied in the backyard with his dogs. He kills kittens. He sleeps with everything that moves, and he faked his death so that he wouldn't have to pay child support for all the children he's abandoned.

I'm not trying to make you feel sorry for me, I'm just letting you know what he's like.

Fortunately for me, he hasn't been around very much in my life.

UNFortunately for me he was around a little too much in the life of the small city I grew up in.

Everyone knew who he was. They knew his name, and they knew his face. 

Now, let me introduce you to my brother and sister.

They are perfect, by every Nazi-standard of appearance.

They have curly golden hair, milky white skin and bright blue eyes. They are very obviously my mother's children.

Then, there's me; straight black-brown hair, and my Dad's hazel eyes. If I had managed to inherit his dark caramel skin, I'd be an exact replica of his youth. There is no way to avoid being seen as "his" child. From the time I was eight people have constantly been telling me what I need to change. (Maybe even earlier, but 8 is when I noticed it.)

People are always observing what's wrong about me.

"Someone hit a wrong switch when they labeled you female."

"You'd be much prettier with blonde hair." 

"You shouldn't use that kind of language."

"You're father used to do that when he was upset."

It bothers me, all the things they say. All the suggestions on how to change... but I never say anything about it.

I let them push me down and shove me over. I try to please everyone. You think I'm mean, let me make you a sandwich. You think I don't have any friends, I'll hug everyone I know. You think I have no talent, let me learn the guitar and paint a picture. I'm stupid and will never accomplish anything... I'll  change.

Several times, I've reached points where I didn't have my own personality. I didn't even know who I was! I was different around every person that I knew.

I was fake, just acting so that they wouldn't compare me to him.

Then I met a girl.

The single nicest person in the universe. 

Whenever I was with her, I felt happier, and I never understood why. However, after much consideration, I realized why she made me feel so special.

She didn't ask me to wear prettier clothes. She didn't tell me to stop liking Pokemon. She didn't make me change. She loved me, exactly the way I was. She loved my flaws, and my strengths. She even put up with my bi-polar emotional rampages and stood by me through anything. 

That brings us to this contest. fav.me/d6y1juk

The theme is "IF I COULD", we were asked to make art about a "silent voice" one message that we want to share with the world, but are too afraid to.

I can't stand up to the people that want me to be different.

I can't please my mother by looking like her.

I can't please the community by changing my hardwired desire to speed in residential areas.

I can't be a different person than the person I am.

But I want to tell the world that I'm ok with that.

I LOVE ME THE WAY I AM. And I want others to accept me that way too.

Brief explanation of the picture:

It's me (duh) 

All the words cluttering around the bottom are the "suggestions" people have given me, and all the adjectives that people often use to describe me based off what they know of my father.

They are climbing up, as if trying to drown me, but they stop at the sign I hold, with my silent message to the world.

I think that's everything I wanted to say.

Thanks for reading.