Imagination

I think most kids play imaginary games, both when they are alone and when they are with their friends. They use the power of their minds to change the world before them. They leap from floating boulders across rivers of lava. They run and hide from monsters that call them to their beds. And sometimes, they like to pretend that they are adults, that they are mommies and daddies, and that they know exactly what they're doing and never have any problems - which is the biggest lie of them all.

Some kids have that one kid who acts as the DM. He's the one who comes up with the ideas of what to play and how it is to be played. They tell the stories that the other kids are re-enacting, so that they have some sort of guideline for what they should be fighting when there's nothing there to fight. I know this because, a lot of the time, I was that kid. During recess, my friends and I would go and find the most deserted part of campus and tell our stories, swinging our fists and kicking our feet at absolutely nothing but thin air.

I thing this is where I first began to write, in a way. I never wrote down any of our adventures, but I was telling the stories as we went, coming up with what we needed to do as we went. They were games we were playing, so we needed encounters and bosses, and everyone would work together despite no one really knowing what we were doing. And sometimes I made cutscenes, in a way. Critical moments of the story, where I was in complete control, dictating to the others what was happening, and how, and why. I tried to spread the moments out between everyone, but I was often a player as well as the leader, and it's hard not to be biased towards yourself in times like those. Especially because it means you don't have to argue with people about what they are or are not doing.

I still miss playing those games at times. I remember the laughter and the smiles, and just how many kids you could pull together to play those kinds of games. For whatever reason, it was something that people could simply connect on when we were younger. And there aren't many people who don't share those kinds of memories with me. Most people I have talked to remember playing those games, and having that friend who was in control like I was. They miss those days, but trying to go back and re-experiencing those days...

I don't know if we've lost our imagination, or we lack the time, or we're just too self-aware of our appearances. We've changed a lot since we played those games, and a lot of things have changed in our worlds and in all the world around us. I guess those DM kids like me just have to find another way to tell our stories.

Like in books.