it must be me.. </3

I must’ve been drawn in a different animation style—

an odd frame in a world where everyone else fits the palette.

A guest star in the crossover episode,

flickering in and out of the storyline.

If this is a kingdom of beauties stirred by a prince’s kiss,

then I am the Apple—

shining, alluring in the still moment before the bite.

But once tasted, they recoil.

They realize what I am.

Not the beloved, not the kept.

I am the mystery they admire at arm’s length—

the shimmer they only chase

before slipping off their shoes

and settling back into the comfort of their routine.

And I—

I keep offering chances like loose change in a coat pocket,

like maybe this time it will mean something.

But it never does.

I think it’s me.

I was never meant to stay.

Only to haunt the in-between,

a mirage mistaken for meaning.

I am the spell they snap out of.

The flash they forget once they meet the next.

The one always blurred in the background,

hands smudged with paint,

behind the easel—never the masterpiece.

Never the fight-for kind.

Never the worth-it one.

Only the glint mistaken for gold,

until they polish me down

and whisper:

“just pyrite.”