Undress me of these emotions, of these agonizing feelings that bind me to the physical incarnation of a perfect impossibility. Remove them from within me, placing them blatantly, unabashedly out for the world to see.

Dissect me... and explain to me what this is that I feel.

I am of no significance, lacking structure, merely one in a million: living, breathing, simply... existing. I am not nearly of age to have made a name for myself or to claim to have learned how to love. I am just a girl, just a human being standing precariously close to the edge of a mental bridge I have built for myself.

I expect perfection, and am perpetually disappointed.

I become skeptical, losing trust in everything around me, even life, especially love. I walk through life with a cautious gait, daring someone to touch me, to break my stride. I build walls; I put up fences; I am a fortress, impregnable.

Or so I once thought...

I am pensive and withdrawn from the world. I stereotype you; Yes, I judge you. I believe the worst in people, rarely allowing myself to see the good. Occasionally, I let down my guard. I begin to feel... I begin to care... always dismissing the cold, hard fact that it has failed to work before and is certain to fail again. ... And when it does, when my own attempt to "feel something" finally c r a s h e s and b u r n s, breaking the most personal, protected parts of me...

...I dare to inch closer and closer to the edge of that bridge.

I am not without hope, not without a future, but I AM broken, not quite as untouchable as I had once believed. I carry with me no regrets. I forgive; I survive, like so many others before me. I find it within myself to love, t r u l y love... tempting myself to take the step that will finally carry me over the edge of my bridge, into the unknown depths of unknown waters, where it is uncertain that I shall ever emerge again.