There he is again same time every night. Same hoodie and the same notebook he carries. I believe he's homeless because he always falls asleep on here and it's still just him and I riding to the same stop except he doesn't get off. He rests his head on the separator and drifts off to the rhythm of the tracks. Tonight is different because he's not there.

I'm wondering where he could be possibly. Three days pass and he's back. Everything is the same as last time. He never looks up and he never lets go of his book.

Tonight I'm off early and I'm surprised he's waiting for the train like me. I watch him his every move like a profiler. He is inching closer pass the yellow line. Like he is trying to cross it on purpose. There are two transit officers approaching him and they arrest him. While he puts up a fight he looses his book in the scuffle.

I relinquish it I open to find sketches of everyone and everything he's seen. He drew me several times and made stories of my days. The next day I wait at the same stop and nothing he's not there today. Maybe he did some real harm to someone. But his drawings are peaceful especially the one with the bits of blood splatter from my head when the man left to me pulls out the gun and bury the bullet deep into my cranial cavity.

Anyone else would find this disturbing but art is beautiful in his own way. As I'm flipping through the book a man in a suit with a brief case to his chest sits beside me and the more I flip the tighter he grabs his brief case. When I reach the end the man is holding a gun to my head and art splatters and covers the train and everyone inside it.

Dear Followers,

To thank you guys for sticking around, I'm going to tell a personal narrative to let you guys get to know me a little more.

So to give you some background, I hop around club soccer teams a lot. This isn't because of any issues I have with any players or problems with th coach, it's because I constantly wanted to play at a higher level. I enjoy the struggle of a game and the motivation needed to win. So, to start my story I got asked to play for a team called Downey FC who played in a very high division.

"Hey, you have to go out there and show them what you're made of. You can take on any one of these guys, you just have to want to," my Dad reiterated to me.

"Yeah, I got this," I replied not even looking up from my phone.

"Remember, you're the new guy. Nobody is going to let you take their spot, you're gonna have to fight for it."

"I know." We pulled up to the field where practice was going to take place. A decent sized training complex with four fields, two turf and two grass. Getting out of the car I quickly turned to my Dad and said, "Later!" Running to my new team trying to make a good impression. The practice went very well, and the Coach came up to me afterward an began to talk to me about the season.

"Hey, I really like the way you play."

"Thanks, Coach."

"Tell you what, you're gonna be a starter on my team. Right in the middle, center mid. You think you're up for it?"

"Yes, I can handle it Coach."

"Good, now rest up. See you next week." So there it was. My first day and I already made a good enough impression to make the starting line up. Practice continued, and gaining confidence, I began to play even better showing off my real game to the Coach. He just seemed all the more impressed. I thought, things were going great! "Hey, come over here!"

"Me, Coach?"I asked.

"It's time to get your jersey number and sizes for your uniform."

"Oh cool, I want number 7."

"Sorry that's taken," he replied.

"Oh, then I'll take..."

"We have number 10 available."

"Uh, no I'm ok. Do you have number 22 available?"

"Yes, do you want that number?"

"Yeah." Things were going great, I got my jerseys and on the starting line up. My Dad was impressed too. Our first game was the next Saturday and I was excited.

The first game rolled around, but I sat the bench. I didn't think much of it, I mean I am the new guy. But what confused me was I didn't get playing time until the beginning of the second half. Again I didn't think much of it. But he pulled out after 5 minutes, I didn't even get a touch on the ball yet!

"Great job, Cristian."

"Thanks." I stammered. Did this guy really think that? And why isn't he giving me a chance to play. In case you don't know the rules, in our games if you get pulled out you can't go back in that half. So being that it was already the second half, that meant I had no chance of playing again. Whatever, I thought. First game doesn't mean anything. But then the second game rolled around. Another five mintues. What's happening? Was I not good enough? My Dad was just as confused as I was. Sure, he had his core group of players but this is just a new low. It continued like this for a while, and I'm not gonna lie, I gave up trying for a while. When I went in, I'd just jog around and wait till my five mintues were up. Later on, my team enetered Albion Cup. There were going to be a lot of College Scouts there, I wasn't a senior yet but a college scout looking at me would still be great.

"You've got to give it your all today, doesn't matter if you get 5 minutes or even 1 minute, you play so good that he can't afford to take you out."

"Yeah ok." Using my usual reply to the pep talks. I knew I'd be taken out, I knew I'd sit bench, and I knew I just had to wait out the season. Game after game, 5 mintues at a time. Then, the final rolled around. Didn't start. Half time. 0-0.

"You're going in at left mid."

"Yup," I dryly replied. Taking my position on the field I really wondered what it was that I could do to get more playing time. I talked to the Coach dozens of times, but he just disregarded me. Then I had a change in mentality. Who cared what the Coach thought, I am a good player, and I'm going to prove it. My only thought process was how I was going to do it in 5 minutes. The whistle blew signaling the start of the half. I was sprinting up and down the field trying to get a touch on the ball, but it was always just out of reach.

"Stay in your positon!" The Coach was screaming at me from the sideline. Sorry Coach, have 2 minutes left anyway, I thought. I continued to sprint for the ball, and after making a clean tackle got ahold of the ball and passed it to my team who got fouled. Free kick in the middle of the field, this could be it. They passed me the ball, I took on a defender, chipped the ball to my teammate on the other side of the field, and ran towards the goal. He crossed it towards the goalie, but I charged jumping as high as I could. I jumped higher than the goalie's hands and head it in for a 1-0 lead. I did it! I scored! We continued the rest of the half as usual, just with me still at left mid. The game ended. 1-0 us. It was an amazing feeling, but not much changed after the game. Still had low playing time, sometimes going to as high as 10 minutes. The only difference that I made in the future was how I played. At the end of the season I had about 7 goals and 12 assists, not bad for a 10 minute player. When the season came to a close I began searching for other teams, trying to actually find a good fit for me. And I did, with Slammers. I continued to practice with Downey, but periodically skipped practice now as I was about to join Slammers. But the Downey took it as his chance, he sent me a text message kicking me off the team because I missed practice 3 times. He wished me the best, but wanted me off his team. This was completely ok with me, sure it hurt, but I knew he didn't like me. His "star" players would miss practice for weeks at a time and still get to play the whole game without penalty. Downey, without me, was a solid team that probably only lost a handful of times throughout the season.

Being on my new team, I played for much longer lengths of time. Maybe 3/4 of the game, if not more. It was awesome! And my Dad was finally enjoying himself too, but he made sure to stay updated on the Downey FC team. One day, he called me into the room and said excitedly, "Downey lost their first game!"

"Lol," was my only response. I didn't care anymore, I had a better opportunity where I was. But that phrase began to become more frequent.

"Hey, Downey lost again!" It got to a point where I just expected them to lose. They went the whole season without winning a game, only had a win due to game that was forfeited by a team that they lost to who dropped out of the league. That team disbanded shortly after that season. While my season went alright coming in the middle of the pack in a very competitive league. It was for the best that I left that team, and I'm glad I did. On the Downey team I never really talked, nobody on that team ever liked me. But on my new team I have much better friends who have my back.

I have two points: The first being, if you're in a bad situation, never stop trying your best. It'll be well worth it in the end. My second being, the moment you can trade your bad situation for a better one, go for it! You never know other opportunities until you take them!

Thank you for reading!

From,

Shrimp707

"Why do you stay here?" the Moon asked the Sun. The Sun almost laughed hearing the question.

"Why? The people down below are the people that I give light. They look up to me, day and night, to keep them alive, away from fright." The Sun could see the Moon's dissatisfaction in the answer. "This is my calling, the one that I follow. I believe this is where I am supposed to be, to help these people live happily. Hopefully, one day you'll see, you'll see the people that I love, oh so dearly.

"But again I'll ask why do you care? Just let these people do what they dare. I find that mighty unfair, come fly with me away into the air." The Moon begged the Sun.

"I'm going to stay, until the day I turn grey. Sunday till Saturday. This is my only way." The Sun replied.

"Your way is not mine. You want to stay? Fine. But now is when I draw the line, today I have grown a spine." The Moon shot back.

"But you must stay with me. These people, they love you like family," begged the Sun.

"No, I'll dance among the stars. Maybe even with Venus and Mars."

"No, you have to shine. These people, without you, will decline."

"Let them for all I care. I, unlike you, will let them do as they dare." The Moon flew off into the night. Leaving the Sun and the people it watched behind. Leaving it's entire world to see what's beyond.

"I'm finally gone, I've become a new spawn. I will go on, and on, and on, until I no longer feel as if I'm a pawn." And so the Moon did. Off he flew beyond the Solar System. Far into space. He set off to the stars, the stars he always watched. The stars he always glanced. The stars that always danced.

The stars he finally met. They all seemed so cheerful and happy. All dancing wihout a care, why wouldn't they? And so the Moon did too. For months at a time he'd dance and dance. Never stopping. Never caring. Then one day the Moon asked, "We should do something new. Should we watch someone paddle a canoe? Maybe see someone trip on a shoe? Surely, we can see those trapped in the zoo!"

"We don't do that here. I'm sorry if that was unclear," replied one of the stars. The Moon remembered that there is only one Earth, one planet with human life. The Moon soon began to dance again, for months at a time. Never stopping. Never caring. But the Moon soon began to grow tired of dancing. For what were they dancing? For what purpose?

For what meaning? The Moon began to see the people as the Sun did. The Moon began to want to help the people as the Sun did.

"I must go fellow stars. I must go mend my scars," the Moon announced.

"Back to your Earth? Why do you lower your worth?" the stars asked.

"You see, they are my glee. My responsibilty. So now I flee, I must go back, go back to my family." And so the Moon did. Flying across the air back to the Sun, and back to the Earth that it so dearly missed.

"Hello Sun, I'm sorry. But I've changed, I know you can see. Please accept me back, I beg I plea. I want to help, I want my responsibility."

The Sun replied, "I'm glad that you're back. The humans are now way off track, most of them acting like a maniac. Go, go set up shack." Delighted the Moon flew back to his place.

"I made the right choice," the Moon said. "I've nothing to do but rejoice." And so the Moon did, it started to dance. The Sun saw, and too started to prance.

Love is very rare, to me it's even rarer than hate. Although you may immediately disagree, I'd like to share with you what I believe love to be.

Love is selfless. Sure, you've probably heard that a thousand times, but have you actually taken the time to consider what it is that exactly means? I'll tell you. It means that another person is willing to put you before themselves. When someone else cares enough to put your needs before their own. When they care more about your personal health, even at the expense of their own. This also doesn't mean "sometimes" selfless, it means "always" selfless.

Love is forgiving. Another generic phrase, that I also believe people don't actually take the time to understand. Forgiving means that you are always willing to take the other person you love back, no matter what they did. This also, doesn't mean that you don't acknowledge what they've done wrong. Make sure you bring it to their attention, and try to help them improve. However, you should always be willing to help and defend those whom you believe wronged you, if you love them.

Love is understanding. Love will always be willing to hear your side of the story. It'snot quick to antagonize or throw around accuations. It's willing to try and figure out problems with you, rather than marking you the enemy. Love will never make you the villian, rather always try and help you.

Love is complicated. I'm sure you know that. It's hard to tell when someone does or doesn't love you. It's hard to tell when someone is doing something for you out of the goodness of their heart, or if they have some alternate motive.

I believe that this term is thrown around too loosely. I don't believe that the average person has all of their friends "love" them. Rather they "like" them and enjoy their presence. I would signal "love" to be very rare. The most common place for most people to find love, I believe, is in their family. A family should always stick up for each other and build each other up, trying to get each other to improve. They souldn't tear each other down and throw around insults. A family should fight for one another and understand each other's probelms, because I believe when it really comes down to it, they're gonna be your "go to" and help you out until the end.

Well, I've been on the Prose website for maybe a month or two now writing whatever comes into my head. I'm a high school senior, at the age of 17, who enjoys putting his thoughts on paper. I enjoy strategy games, card games, or any other activity that really makes you think. I enjoy a challenge! Without a challenge or objective, most things just seem either too easy or meaningless. I enjoy reading, writing, and learning. I enjoy knowing something I didn't know before and sharing it with other people. Now, let me just take a break right here and say that I know what you are thinking. "What a nerd!" Well, that's actually no the case. You see, as much as I enjoy learning, I enjoy training. I have played club soccer since I was fours years old. Went from chasing butterflies my first day to talking to college coaches, and hopefully getting a nice scholarship. For my high school I play soccer and volleyball, and I run cross country in the fall. Being immersed in and representing my high school is a lot of fun. I enjoy interacting and socializing at my high school. It's a load of fun, and by my senior year I know pretty much everybody. I know that may seem hard to believe, but I go to a small private school with a student body of only 500 students. I'm always willing to try new things and meet new people! If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns just go ahead and let me know!

Greetings Fellow Writers and Readers;

We’re excited to announce a couple new features that we’ve just released as of moments ago, along with some exciting things coming soon. But first, some methodical musings on money and the state of web-based businesses.

Internet businesses, like all other businesses, require capital to run. There are server expenses, engineering expenses, legal expenses, marketing expenses, and many other expenses, too expansive to enumerate. Companies like Facebook and Twitter, which claim to be “forever free,” are not. While users may not have to pay for access to their services, somebody does have to pay the bills. In the case of Facebook, it is the advertisers who assume that responsibility. As such, the end users of Facebook are not its customers, the advertisers are. So rather than selling a service to users, Facebook sells its users’ data to advertisers. That business model has always seemed a bit disingenuous to us. While there is nobility in offering a service at no cash cost, it’s inaccurate to claim that it’s “free.” With that in mind, we decided early on to take a two-pronged approach with Prose, seeking the best of both worlds. For those of you who don’t want to pay for access to Prose, you don’t have to. Advertisers cover that cost for you. But for those of you can afford $6/month, who don’t want to see advertisements, we offer Prose Gold.

In our ideal world, all of you would subscribe to Gold. That would allow us to focus all of our effort on doing what we really care about doing - creating the best possible site for social writing and reading - rather than splitting our resources between building what you need and what advertisers need.

One criticism we’ve seen from time to time is that we only care about our Gold subscribers, or that we only care about making more money. This could not be farther from the truth. We care about words and stories, writers and readers, fiction and non-fiction, poetry and Prose.

With that in mind, our latest set of features is designed to add a bit more value to our Gold subscription service, both to sweeten the deal for existing subscribers and perhaps encourage a few more of you to consider subscribing.

New Feature: Fonts

We’ve added the option to change the font of your posts, and change your default “reading font.” When publishing a new post, Gold subscribers will see an option to select a font. This font will not display in feeds, but will display when the full post is opened. We’ve also added a new setting on the account settings (https://theprose.com/settings) page called “reading font.” This will change the default font of all posts to a font of your choosing. Give it a try, let us know what you think! If you have any favorite fonts you’d like to see added, please let us know in the comments below.

New Feature: Platinum

Platinum is a new tier of subscription, intended for our most enthusiastic Prose fans. It offers little more than Gold, other than a badge on your profile, but goes a long ways towards supporting the development and growth of Prose. If you’re currently subscribed to Gold and would like to upgrade, you can do so at https://theprose.com/settings/subscription.

Coming Soon: Dark Theme

We’re currently working on a new “Dark Theme” that will switch all the bright whites on Prose to a darker palette more suitable for nighttime reading. You may have seen similar features on YouTube or the mot recent update to macOS. This feature will be exclusive to Gold and Platinum subscribers.

Coming Soon: Center Justification

We used to allow you to center-justify content you wrote. We removed this during a big site overhaul and just haven’t had time to reinstate the feature. Rest assured, it’ll be back soon.

Coming Soon: Challenge Improvements

We want to drastically improve our challenge system by offering better ways to sort and find challenges, along with enhanced visibility for challenges with attached prizes. We also want to allow challenges with multiple entries.

Coming Soon: Challenge of the Month

November will mark the return of our “Challenge of the Month.” We’ll be offering $100 prizes each month for our favorite entry. We’ll also be submitting all outstanding entries to our publishing partners (we are talking to some very big players).

Improvement: Publishing Options

We’ve simplified the publishing options a bit, improving the UI and removing the distinction between “gold status” and “pricing strategy,” which we thought were a bit redundant.

Improvement: Author Browsing

We’ve added a couple new ways to browse authors at https://theprose.com/explore/people. The "Just Joined" category will display the newest folks to register on Prose. The "Need Followers" category will display people who've been writing a lot, but could use a few more followers. Consider giving them a look!

Bug Fix: Books

We found a bug that prevented new books from being created. That’s been fixed.

Feedback and Suggestions

We recognize it’s been a bit difficult or inconsistent for you to supply us with your feedback. Prose is for you, and we’re making it a priority to make sure we hear and reply to all of your feedback and suggestions. With that in mind, the best way to reach us is to email us at info@theprose.com. You can also publish a post with your feedback if you wish, but make sure to tag @A, @Z, and @Prose in the comments after you do so we don’t miss it. If you think it would be helpful, we can also create a dedicated feedback form where you can submit ideas. If you have any quick suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section on this post.

That’s it for now folks. We hope this sheds some light on what we’ve been working on and where we’re headed. Please let us know what you think!

Prose.

Living can be sad, lets be honest

I was way too deep in the house, I made it haunted

Got some chains around my feet from wretched demons that I keep

I never chose this life, I dont want it

Now theres a ghost in my shadow always playing piano

With me until I die, until im mowed down by ammo

Hes got me leashed with a lasso, these thoughts are not shallow

Blowing up my feelings like he was released from a silo

He laughs when I talk, he runs when I walk

He knows every thought, he has me locked in a box

Hes felt pain like I have cause hes been down the same block

I know hes next to me cause im his prey when he stalks

Hes here cause I hate the way my lifes been

Lost every friend, when will my life end?

I dont forgive but should I if I could have one win?

Im tired of getting over things with the same sin

Frank, I forgive you for the shit that you did

Chay, we dont talk but I wish that we did

Josh, I know you're here but you'll leave quick

Jamie, I am sorry for the way that we slid

I know my words dont mean everything is alright

My futures hazy, but yours is so bright

Excuse me now, I have some things to do tonight

The apple doesnt fall far, but it doesnt mean its ripe

“You should buy a decent radio and speakers.”

It takes me several seconds to pull my thoughts back to his voice.

“Excuse me?” I’m lost. I have been a mother for only a day, and have already come to the realization that I can not protect my child from life.

“Speakers. The vibrations. He’ll enjoy it. We’ll do one more hearing test before he leaves and continually check in. I’m going to send the nurse in with some additional information about what steps you should take. I know it may not seem ideal to receive this information so soon, but I assure you the earlier we recognize hearing loss, the better that little guy’s chances for decent language and cognitive development become.”

On the way home I turn the music all of the way up. I drop the treble down and turn the bass way up. I cry.

The next test along with all of the follow up appointments go no better.

As years pass I spend every bit I earn on making his life more full. Hearing aids. Drum sets. Sign language teachers. Classes for the deaf. Special phones. A baby grand piano. A light that blinks throughout the whole apartment when the doorbell rings. Music lessons. Translators. Sounds for the car. Anything that can bring any semblance of that lovely thing called noise that I have always taken for granted and anything that can help him overcome the obstacles that might come from a lack of sound in your universe.

The first thing I registered when the doctor told me he may never hear was that I needed to provide him with constant sound. He may not always hear it. But he could still enjoy it. And he did. He spent his life blasting music. Learning piano and guitar and drums. Writing notes and composing elegant melodies that he brought to life through any instrument he could master. The happiness that these vibrations brought him were more beautiful than anything I had experienced.

I learned just a day after he was born that I could not protect him from life. And I continued learning throughout his entire life. But as I lay here passing my last breaths I can’t help but fall in love. My vision has long since failed me, but next to me as the lights inside me flicker out, I hear a sweet song. He kisses my cheek, and I feel warm tears fall on my face just before I let the notes swallow what’s left in my lungs.

Im lost.

Stuck in the stars,

Trapped underground.

Caged in the ocean,

Locked on land.

Im playing hide and seek,

With something invisible.

Im playing tag,

With something as fast as light.

Im so close to giving up.

I dont want to fight this war anymore.

A war where the only casualty is me.

No remedy for this pain

No melody worth the shame

No entity with my name

No memory left to tame

No clarity for my brain

No identity followed by fame

"First, you think the worst is a broken heart.

Whats gonna kill you is the second part.

And the third is when your world splits down the middle.

Fourth, you're gonna think that you fixed yourself.

Fifth, you see them out with someone else.

And the sixth is when you admit you may have fucked up a little."

~The Script - Six Degrees of Seperation

My name is Dylan Horton.

I am anti-feminist, not anti-equality.

I am also a straight, white, male trump supporter so many of you may not like me based on my beliefs.

Tough shit.

Feminism today is no longer about equality, but that women are superior.

This does not relate to every feminist out there, but it relates to most modern feminism on social media and the news.

This is my opinion, as I myself am not a feminist and do not know the full agenda, but I will also state my opinion as to why I believe this.

If you do not believe my opinion is anything worth while, or believe that because im am who I am, or get offended. Leave. Immediately.

Okay let's begin.

In New York a trend was made some while ago, it is the #MeToo movement.

This movement is mostly feminist and is support for women who have been abused or raped.

I agree with the movements message, but I disagree that it should only apply to women.

Men get raped too, yes it's true.

Now it is true that women are more often raped then men, infact 9 out of 10 rape victims are female, but there is still that 1 who is male.

There are thousands upon thousands of relief groups for women who have been abused or raped, but there is only 1 in the United States for men who have experienced the same abuse.

I personally am one of these men who have been raped.

#MeToo.

But there are almost no places I can go to get relief from what has happened.

Did you know that more men kill themselves than women?

As you are reading this 2 men in the United States have just ended their lives.

Ponder that for a moment.

In 2015, it was concluded that 3.53 times more men killed themselves or attempted to then female.

Meaning if 3 women killed themselves, approximately 10.5 men did to.

So if you thought the rape stats meant nothing, heres something that may change your opinion.

But still there are more suicide relief groups for women then there are men!

Feminism that I see on the news or on social media always paints an image that men are demons, that their dicks is all they think with and that they cant be trusted.

Oh those filthy filthy men with there pointed penises! How dare they try to talk to you and ask if your having a good day! Bad men, bad!

All mockery aside, this is not equality, this is women demanding special treatment that they already have.

If you dont believe me go to youtube right now and search for Cassie Jaye's feminist TedTalk.

I hope all is well for all of you, I hope you learned something. Thank you, have a great day.