Rain

 A rain storm hits 

You fall and nothing will get better it seems

Your life is raining down on you

The light turns to darkness

And worries fill the air

Sadness

Uncertainty

Dismay

Nothing could get worse

All the weight of your stress descends upon you

Wash the rain away and take a long needed breath

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932)

Breath (Atem), 1989

Pathetic

Its really pathetic

How I keep trying to hold on to something

That’s not coming back.

What happened to me and you

You hurt me and weeks have past and it still hurts

Why? Do I still have feelings for you

I knew it wasn’t gonna last but I still held on

Pathetic is all I think about now

I might be young but a broken heart cannot be fixed

Find Youself

Everywhere you look, no one can find themselves. You look in the mirror; can you find who you really are? Is anything holding you back from the past? Something happened in the past, but you can’t shake it off. You school, your classmates, and your life cannot find its true identity. Laura Halse Anderson in her book "Speak" illustrates how identity can make a person.

Over the summer Melinda life turned around for the worst, she lost who she was. Andie Evens, the pervert took advantage of Melinda at a party. She called the cops in dismay and all of the kids at the party that were drinking turned against her. Even her best friend, Rachel and others turned their noses up at her. They told her, "I Hate you" on the first day of school. This wasn’t a boost of confidence, she has lost who she is; identity. Her room is a perfect symbol for this; it is a mixture of other people and 5th grade. If you can’t find yourself, how do you expect other people to see the real you? When Melinda sees a mirror she sees something she doesn’t like, and turns it away. She isn’t ok with herself, so she gives herself no identity. Her body and mind and trapped in horror dream. Melinda wants to get away from everything and become who she really is again.

Almost all characters including Melinda don’t have an identity. Some of the people she categorizes people on how they look, dress, and who they are with. For example, the Amber Cheerleaders are all snobs. What happened to treat everyone, how you want to be treated? Most of the cheerleaders probably were at the party. They look at Melinda as a freak and a no one. Both don’t fell so great about each other. It seems that almost everything in Speak cannot truly find who they are. Merrywether high school, has changed its name 4 times, and will most likely change again. How could Melinda and everyone else find identity in a school that can't find it?

People all over the world she be comfortable in their own skin. It doesn’t matter what you did in your past, it matters what you can be now. Something to take out of the book is, be yourself at whatever cost. Even if let’s say you called the cops at a party, don’t be afraid to come out and shine.

The night with eyes

 
The night is dark and eerie and no one is in sight. No lights in houses shine; only one street light glosses the sidewalk. A brunch nearby breaks off a tree. Wind is now all around me; it snarls and whispers in my ear. "Walk faster, get out", my mind tells me. Someone is watching me I can feel it. I trip and fall to the cold dead ground. Footsteps come towards me, but no one is there. I get up and run as fast as I can. The trees start to scream in the wind. Again my mind tells me, "Get out". There is a shortcut to my house, I run through the small path in the forest. Still I can feel someone's eyes are watching over me. No stars in the sky gleam down at me. Finally, my house is a few steps away. My body feels dizzy and my legs ache. What is happening to me? My body almost collapses to the ground, but I catch myself in the last second. I make it to the house and scurry though my front yard. A breath of relief comes to me. Too good to last, something as grabbed my ankles. My body plummets towards the front step and I hit my head hard. I can feel blood rushing down my icy cheek. My eyes go pitch black, and my body is completely numb.

Storm

The wind whispers and the thunder yells. She sits on the couch watching old movies with hot chocolate in hand. She gets up to get some popcorn between the commercials. The thunder screams, and she drops the bowl of popcorn all over the floor. As soon as she is almost done cleaning; the doorbell rings. "Who in the world is ringing the door in this nasty weather?" she says to herself. She goes to sit back down, its probably just some kids goofing off. The doorbell rings again and again. Her eyes roll and she begins watching the movie. A light next to the door flickers, and she feels as if someone is watching her. It rings again. She walks curiously toward the door. Right as she touches the doorknob, the door fly's open as if someone pushed it. A big crash of thunder hits and she jumps back. "Hello is anyone there?" No one is there; a dark figure stands by a tree. Her entire body starts to shake. She slams the door, but it slams back open. As she finally gets it closed, she looks up and the figure is no longer there. As she turns around all the lights start flickering again. "What is going on, who is doing this?" she yells out loud. She runs upstairs, grabs the phone, and goes into her closet. The lights are now even flickering upstairs. "STOP!" she yells out. She can hear the front door swing open and footsteps downstairs. She dials 911, and puts the phone up to her ear. "I wouldn't do that", someone says. The closet door opens, and the dark figure grabs her by the leg. She yells for help but no one listens. This scared young girl was never heard of again along with the dark figured man.

Love

You look into their eyes, and you know their the one

 Every breath you take is another moment with them

Love touches the soul of everyone

Even angels in Heaven

They care for you

They make you laugh

They love you for who you are

Love will find away in to your heart

Patriotism

Patriotism is a word with strong and important meaning. Even now it is important to show that you care. Men and women risk their lives; for our freedom.  They did have a choice to become soldier; they have a lot of courage. If it wasn’t for the soldiers, we wouldn't have the freedom we have today. Even something as simple as going to school, and how we live our lives would be different. When someone says, patriotism, people just think about war or fighting for your country. These two are important, but standing up for what you believe in is as well. If you think something is right, you should stand up for it. When you hear the word patriot think of freedom and believe.

Death

How does someone deal with death?

You can remember it like it was yesterday

Your parents sit you up on the counter to tell you the news

You come home from school waiting for you loving old dog

But nothing comes to greet you

Your on vacation  and you think it will be great

The phone rings, and someone I love is gone

How does someone so young deal with death?

No one will ever know until they see it themselves

Worries

Tonight is cold and it seems death is right in front of me. Only a few short hours ago, I was playing with my dolls and my mom tucked me in bed a few moments later.  How could this of happened so quickly? It doesn’t make any sense.  Soon this boat will be deep in the angry sea.

We rush onto the deck, to get on a life boat. "Women and children first", a man yells. I look at my father and wonder If I will ever see him again. My mother picks up my younger brother, and tells me it is time to go. She looks at my father with a scared smile on her pale face. She grabs my hand and we start to walk towards the boats. Some how I get free from my mother; I run as fast as my little legs can carry me and hug my dad. He hugs back, like we might never see each other again. "Go with your mother and brother now, we will see each other soon", he says with care. "But..", I say back. "There is no time, you must go, now run to your mother", he proclaims. I do as he says and grab my mothers hand. As we get into the life boat , all three of us look back.  We don’t know if we will ever see my joyful fathers face.

"I'm cold", my brother whines. My mom holds him tighter and a small tear runs down her cheek. If she is scared, that’s means I'm even more. In the last second, I look back up to see him standing there. "I will see you soon, no need to worry, I love you", he says with love. "I love you too", I say under my cold breath. Questions pass through my mind, will I ever see him again, and what will happen to our family. These two questions will not be answered until this nightmare is over. Memories play through my head over and over. Will these ever happen again? I don’t want to cry, but one tear slips and falls. My brother takes my hand, and smiles sweetly. "It will be ok, that's what dad said right?" he asks. I do not answer. I am not sure myself.  The screams from the boat travel with us, like a ghost.

Hours later…………..

Finally we are saved, from the haunted waters. That night I do not sleep at all and hardly eat. I feel like he is still out there, waiting to be rescued. Early that night we checked in, to show that we are here and safe. Everyone in my family is, but one. A group of crew members are going out later tonight to search for survivors. Maybe my dad is one of them; at the same time he might be already gone. I look up at the stars and pray to God. I am so tired now, I can not keep my eyes open any longer. 

The next day……………

I wake up with hope in my head. My mother is sitting next to her bed, with a bible in hand. I get up and sit next to her, I take her hand like my brother took mine the night before.  We read some stories out of the bible, and think maybe today will be a good day. "Everyone come out to the main deck, they have found survivors", someone yells from the hallway. She picks my brother up and tells me to follow her and stay close. As we reach the deck I see a great deal of people rushing around. We start to walk around looking, to see if we see my father. He is nowhere to be found. We look some more.  Still no sign of him. Is he truly really gone? I turn around to head back to the room when, "Father!" I yell. All four of us run to the same spot. We all start hugging as hard as we can. Our family is together again, and this will never change. No more worries about loosing him, no more death, and no more sadness. The sky is now bright blue and the sun is bright. Today is now a joyful day, with only happy cries.