Puzzles. Oh so common in the world today. Every single thing, in all of existence, has it’s own place in the universe. Take humans, for example. Humans are but small cells, each their own independent factory, functioning independently of each other. These cells produce rapidly, and such growth causes cancer cells. These cancer cells are then killed by other cells, which are part of a system that allows the human to survive. There are other systems, too. All are made of cells, they fit together like pieces of a puzzle, each having it’s own place in the body of a human. A human.. like you, perhaps. You are a puzzle, one that, no doubt, is missing a few pieces. No human is a complete puzzle, and you are no different. The pieces missing may differ, yet you all are the same. Cells built in cells built on cells. You, even if you do not know, are a puzzle, and you are a piece of a much larger puzzle. Perhaps it is.. your family? Or your neighborhood? Or your town, or your city, or your country, or your continent? Or even your whole world. You are a puzzle that is a piece in a much larger puzzle. You will fit with some, but not others, because every piece is unique in its own, very special way.

I woke up. It was a warm, summer day. The bees were a buzzing, the birds were a singing, and I spent my day, as I always have, lazing on the couch. My Mother and ‘Father’ have already left the house. They wave at me, their marks staring back at me. Everyone has a mark. Since the day they were born, there had been a mark on everyone’s wrist. I, a slothful shut in, was born without a mark, which made everyone seem me as a failure. At least, everyone but my parents. They, through some twisted hope, thought that I would find someone. But deep down, we all know that they are wrong. So, I sit, wasting my days away playing Dive-in VR games; My only escape from the cold reality. As I log in to my favorite game, a new release known as “Atronarch Online,” I feel the same boredom creeping through my heart. I spawn, my familiar avatar manifesting around me. Soon, I hear crying. I’m not sure where from, it seems to come from all around me, comforting me, drawing me in to despair. I look around, and I see a young lady, around her early teenage years, crying with her head in her hands, wailing her heart out. I walk over to her, and say “Hey, are you alright? What happened?” And try to comfort her. She looks at me and says, “My mark.. sniff It’s not there! sniff Just yesterday, I was hanging with Abby, and Ellie, and Lilly, and then.. and then.. it was gone! sniff I’ll never find a friend!”