Nonfiction

The school's rubble lay in front of us. We were close enough to climb around it if it weren't for that damn fence that prevented us. It was one of those wire fences that would surround a school's playfield, and it was covered by a tarp.

Earthwalk was an outdoor school on the Goddard college campus where people from the ages of 7 to 15 would have a day in the middle of the week to go and be out in nature.

There’s no escaping. I'm alone..yet again. No one's here it's pure silence the room is cold, my fingertips are too. There's no escaping this state of mind, it comes around every month creeping on me and I can't break free.

My parents gasp. The sun fades from view. I take off my glasses.

Child, your future is best left unspoiled, so I may be too vague, or not vague enough. Don’t be afraid of  the contents within this letter . . .

It all started on one sunny June afternoon.  School had just gotten out, and finally, I got to go to camp. My mom was in the car waiting for me. She didn't really have to wait that long because I bolted out of the school.

Dear Beatrice,

Covid is about to start. Don't worry, this isn't the end of the world. You just have to get through the next two years.

Also: You need glasses. Please get them and don't wait four  more years. 

oh you sweet child,

you aren't ready. you never will be ready, but the world will force you to take it anyways. this world has no mercy, no love. it does not care.

Her legs lay limp against a log

Her face, bright red

Heart pounding

Lungs struggling to slow down

Never has she been able to go so far

Never has she been able to push herself without criticism

She kneels down on the track

Feeling the rough concrete on her knees

Sweat trickling down her face like a waterfall

Encouraging eruption noises from strangers she doesn't know

Her head turns ever so slightly

Dear Hope,

"When we think of crossing the river to each other, you from the gorge of the landslide, to me at the crest of the typhoon, it is then we will find ourselves in a dead imaginary." -- Cindy Juyoung Ok