The salty residue of tears dried onto my cheeks as I stared up
at the ceiling in my dorm room. I would have to go to class soon and
continue on with my day. My friend Megan had texted me, carrying
on the constant, light-hearted, entertaining conversations we had been
having. We had bonded over ordering massive Pokey Stix and handing
out the greasy, cheesy pizza bread to other girls in our sorority like
St. Nick in December. We both missed our high schools and friends
in a community that will say “hi” instead of acting like a greeting is a
punishment. Although she already had a bright personality, and all who
met her were drawn to her, to me she was starting to look more and more
like the light at the end of the tunnel.
It would be so easy if we could control everything. Even writing
this piece now, I think I know the ending I want. But life follows a path
that the rest of us don’t see or understand, and there’s no changing that.
The truth is, the ending is always unclear until it’s right in front of your
nose, but instead of running away to hide in my dorm room, I would
rather face it. One time in a particularly bizarre conversation with my
friends, I told them that if the apocalypse was to come, and something
freaky like zombies popped out of the ground, I would be the first to go
like a nameless extra in a movie. But if you think about it, I think people
today could try to run away and escape from their lives in a world sans
apocalyptic conditions. I don’t want to be one of those people. I never
was someone that could be knocked out with a challenge or meltdown,
so I’m going to keep fighting. I’ve decided there’s a lot worth fighting for,
and I want to see how things end.
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