u/NewEdition2023

You know when one of your friends sneakily takes your pencil case out of your bag, gives it to someone random, who chucks it to their friend, etc?

Like, even if I get it back, and nothing’s damaged, it just overwhelms me so much when people touch my stuff when I don’t want them to. Even if it’s just a joke, like “haha I got your pencil case!”, it angers me when people start removing stuff from it. Like, just keep it all in the same place. Even if they don’t mean to, sometimes certain things get misplaced.

“Oh, just buy a new pencil sharpener, it’s cheap!” I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO! And I don’t care that it’s cheap! It’s still my sharpener.

She sold sea shells at the sea shore. But it wasn’t enough.

She wanted more. The demand for shells was far too little, and she wouldn’t settle for a dime. Somehow, she needed people to become desperate for shells.

So, she made them a scarcity. She hired people to pick up each shell they saw, and hide them in warehouses on islands overseas. Stockpiling shells made them rare. Making them rare made them valuable.

Then, she polarised the public into craving shells. She lied. She bargained. She convinced them that if they didn’t buy a shell quickly, they’d all disappear.

She raised her prices, but it still didn’t feel like enough.

She paid a graphic designer to make a logo. Each day, and each night, her only thought was how many shells would sell on the day which would follow.

Eventually, the warehouses overseas became full. She expanded, chopped down trees, and built more warehouses. This time, they weren’t for shells.

Realising that the opportunities were endless, she decided to no longer limit herself to shells.

She sold seashells. She sold merchandise. She sold cheap drones to countries at war. She sold oil.

She sold the water to a fish. She sold the time to a clock.

She was hated by the world. However, it didn’t matter that they hated her. At last, they were all saying her name. At last, she stretched beyond innocent seashells being sold at the seashore.

And all she had to do was lie.