Pretend

She was so tired of it all.

She was tired of the lies and deceit, the expectations and disappointments.

She was sick of always pretending to be something she wasn't.

Everyone thought she was and expected her to be something different.

A silly schoolgirl. A loving daughter. A brave superhero. A loyal soldier.

She was none of these things and she knew it.

If she was a silly schoolgirl then she'd be dreaming about a boy right now. But she wasn't.

If she was a loving daughter then she'd try harder to make her parents happy. But she didn't.

If she was a brave superhero then she'd be able to save everyone no matter what the circumstances were. But she couldn't.

If she was a loyal soldier then she'd allow someone else, someone better, to become leader and willingly follow them. But she wouldn't.

She had spent so much time pretending to be what others wanted her to be that she could barely remember who she really was anymore.

She sighed as she shuffled out of the arcade paying no attention to the eyes that watched her so closely.

She never realised that he could see through all the disguises and all the costumes.

She never knew that he could see through it all and could see that her true self – the sweet and kind and compassionate girl, the scared little girl, the funny and thoughtful and quiet girl – was slowly being killed by all the masks she was forced to wear.