I am the one who fights for equality 
I do not relate to every story 
Or struggle
Every side eye or glare
But I understand 
I understand why this happens
Ignorance 
And fear
Fear of something different 
Ignorance of the truth
Refusing to see the reality 

We are the ones who fight for equality 
There's fire in our hearts when we
Reveal the truth
I hold on to my friend’s hands
We create a barrier 
A shield 
As we whisper 
How would you like being told your own body doesn’t belong to you?
How would you like to live knowing one in six women get reaped in their lifetime?
A white woman gets paid 77 cents on the dollar of a white man
That sounds bad until you realize a black women gets paid 68 cents on the dollar of a white man. 
So stop talking so you can hear all the facts. 

Stop, my people, put down your guns and listen. My home, our home, Earth, is in grave danger. We need your help. We’ve all lived here since we were in our mother’s womb, and none of us can survive without Earth. It’s dying because of us. Think of the world we live in: lush rainforests and bright coral, soft animals and sweet flowers. Now imagine the ground bare where there used to be grass, oceans turned to ice and ice turned to deserts, deserts turned to stone and stone turned to ash. We created this mess for ourselves and unless we want our entire species to end up gone forever, you need to open your eyes. Open them to see that climate change is real. You can’t just keep putting it off and ignoring the facts. This is real. This is not something for the future generations to fix, this is now. This is our time to save the world. 
 

The branches try to grab me as I run, glossy leaves rip at my skin. Thorns and unseen briars pierce with anguish. What to do? What do I do? I look up, the sky is bright, it flickers, gone, falling. I can’t see it anymore. Which path do I take, with no light to guide me? At the river, I can’t choose a path. Mud encases my ankles and drags me down, down, to the heart of the earth. I should have chosen. Heat wells up on my legs, eating me alive. Screams can’t be heard so far under. Dirt fills my lungs. I push through the blackness. The earth spits me out like a child eating vegetables. My hands are covered in the truth: the wrong choice is not choosing at all. I run to the path. Tears sprinting down my cheeks. We made it, but at what cost? 
 

The crystal clear pond surrounded my shaking legs, arms, higher and higher, until my nose and mouth were completely covered, lungs filling up with the freezing liquid. My head tilted up to the dark grey sky, now tinted purple. Eyes closed, knowing somehow what was about to happen. The howling wind suddenly went silent, the earth seemed to stop breathing as I was completely submerged in water. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, opened, and shone brighter than the sun, white. The water in my lungs glowed purple as lightning electrocuted the beautiful lake. Around me, the water ran as far as it could away, leaving me laying at the bottom of an empty pond, gasping in the pure power of the lightning in my veins.

 

The grimy golden locket smelled of kimchi, the breath of Chinatown. The place I found it was more of a hole in the wall, stuffed with old, and for the most part useless, items. Little water fountains, books, crystallized bugs, and other nick nacks littered the walls, spilling onto what little floor room they had. Something about the necklace intrigued me, maybe how you could see the shining gold under all that dirt, or how, tucked away so nicely, it called me, and lay like a present. Waiting. I walked to the cashier and and showed him the price tag: 3$. I still didn't let go of it until I walked into the bustling street where I pushed it in my pocket. I felt like I couldn't show it to the people around me, like someone might steal it. I couldn't let them steal it, it was part of me now. A man wearing a red had bumped into me and stumbled. He apologized and continued on his way. When I got home, I felt around in my pocket, only to find it empty.