A leech acts how a leech should.

Behavior dictated by nature.

Forced to subsist off of others for survival its entire life.

Not only that it knows no different but could not physically survive otherwise.

Quickly left to die if all other creatures left its territory.

Some might question the right for it to exist at all.

***

Am I a leech or a human?

Depends on who you ask.

My father might say I have no right to spend the money given to me on anything but the basics.

That the money remains the property of the government and spending it on even food delivery would be fraud.

Though if it benefits him there is no complaint.

Not my blood unless it also runs through his veins.

***

If you were to ask my sister, she would say that the money is rightfully mine to spend.

Compensation for a broken system.

The consolation prize for not given the option to overcome a law of nature like everyone else.

Failure of a cure.

Apology for a system designed to treat me like a leech.

Not letting me leave my designated pond.

***

Some days I feel like a human.

Other times I fail to shake the label of leech.

Forcing myself to crawl around on the ground like one.

Still other times I can feel like both in the same day.

A positive or degrading metamorphosis of self.

There is no clear answer.

***

I am not sure I will ever come upon a permanent answer in this lifetime.

As long as my treatment varies, my image will remain in flux.

Filling whatever state you give me.

I cannot change what your eyes see.

So I will forever be asking you the all important question:

Do you see a leech or a human?