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The thrum,

The pulse,

The ever-increasing

All-consuming

Tick-tock

Tick-tock

Tick-tock

Counting down

The end.

The

End.

We all know it.

To be a teen

Is to lose your sense of self

Completely.

What is right?

What is wrong?

What is cool?

Why do some feel so drawn to popularity

While others are repulsed by it?

I don’t love school.

I don’t hate it all the time

but I hate it enough to say

I don’t like it.

I like one class

and goofing off during study hall

I've been to the desert 
Following something 
I cannot blame

See the ghosts by the water 
The horses in the rain 
The man lying by the river 
Hearing god call his name

Why?

 Why are we scared?

 Why is fear overwhelming our delicate bodies?

 Why are we letting it?

 Why can’t we instead of being scared 

fight for others 

I slip through the house

tiptoeing through the hallways that loom over my sensitive ears

I enter the kitchen

where a pitcher of lemonade is sitting on the counter.

Yes.