Author: Hailey B.

Everybody knows Mrs. Amelia Belladonna. Well known for her green thumb, her garden stands above all others- you can walk by any time of the day and she’ll be out there digging, planting, or sipping her afternoon tea. Mrs. Belladonna collects many unusual plants: Water Hemlock, White Snakeroot, and her favorite Deadly Nightshade. Every Thursday afternoon she would host socials in her garden. The townsfolk would come to walk about her extravagant garden and enjoy her famous tea. However, after her husband, Arthur, died at one of these events she stopped hosting them and closed her garden gates. After examination her husband’s death was deemed due to a heart attack, but many townsfolk refused to believe it. Arthur Lewis Belladonna was a healthy, stubborn, strong-headed man. In fact those speaking with him moments before his death said it was the most palpable they’d ever seen the man. His death was slow- everybody watched as he collapsed and rushed to aid but to no avail. Mrs. Belladonna stood to the side watching them trying to help her husband. Her face was stoic and cold, her body motionless. Arthur was buried in her garden six feet below her favorite plant, Deadly Nightshade.

My newborn eyes open. I can’t wait for life. The fire inside me starts growing as I too start growing up. Six years old. I want to be a ballerina. NO NO NO. You must become a doctor no ballerina nonsense. Dreams crushed, waterfalls come out of my eyes. Ok, I won’t dream anymore. I will be number one. Anything other is unacceptable. Constantly studying and doing homework. Working and pushing to my best. Why Why Why. No matter how hard I try it’s never good enough for you. Why is it that I am the firstborn of immigrants? Why is it that my Asian grandparents expect this of me? Suffering is what they felt escaping Vietnam. Escaping and drowning is me trying to run from these expectations. Silence and darkness as the candle that is me gets blown out and now I am burnt out. There is nothing left, but I still have to trek across the vast deep tiding ocean with all my family’s expectations bound on my back.

She poured lukewarm water into the spherical vase filled with yellow roses. She could see him watching her out of the corner of her eye. He watched her with the same admiration he had for the last fifty years. She finished filling the vase and slid her chair closer to his bedside. When children, grandchildren and cousins visited, they could only see how his brown skin wrinkled and the wires connecting his frail body to medicine and monitors. When they held his hand, they only felt the dry cracks in his palms. But when she looked at him, she saw the fresh seeds of sunflowers and yellow roses that they planted after buying their first home. She thought about how the beaming sun reflected the light from his heart onto her skin. When she touched his hands, she remembered how many times she had to stitch them up because he was always clumsy with garden shears. When she held him for the last time, she thought about how he held their first baby girl in his arms with genuine care she’d only seen him give to everyone he held close to his sun-kissed heart.

It’s been four years since I laid eyes on you and thought it was the end of wanting to feel loved by someone, but things changed. I knew things were bound to change, but I never thought one change would bring so much heartache that I might hold on to every time your name is spoken. I always wondered if you were really the person you said you were, but I came to realize that no one really is. So why do we change ourselves to get approval of everyone except the people who matter to us the most? I can guarantee that you don’t even know his name, but because he knew of what we use to have, you had to make sure that he knew that you were never really into it. You were, truly. Your love was unconditional, but his implied opinion of us you held on to so intimately bewildered you. Little did you know, he was watching because you had everything he didn’t, but now he thanks you because it’s his turn to make the girl of your dreams, the happiest girl in the world.

It was a magical summer day on South Padre Island. The wind was blowing perfectly, the sun was beaming at 90 degrees, and the water felt amazing. The magical atmosphere hit me harder than ever because it was my first time here. My cousins and I laughed as we ran up and down the shore. As I was running up and down the shore I noticed one particular fish that was having as much fun as we were just watching us. As I noticed the fishes plastered smile, and ridiculous speed, the magic that I felt through the air became more intense and even more mesmerizing. As it got darker, I noticed a little light beaming from the water. As I approached, I was taken back by the sight of that same fish using my phone. I checked my pockets and realized that it really was my phone. After making that realization, the whole situation was no longer magical, it was creepy and mysterious. Why would any fish need a phone, and who was he talking to? Completely bewildered, I took a long slow walk back, away from shore while contemplating life. I wonder if he still has it…

My parents came to America as immigrants from Vietnam.
Two years later, I was blessed with my little brother.
I went to school.
I worked hard; all this effort so I could get into college and start a life of my own.
The goal is to have a job I love and a family I adore.
Throughout my life thus far, I’ve met teacher, friends, and family that have become such inspirations.
I dealt with loss, failure, and disappointment, but I pulled through for the sake of my future.
I’ve learned so many lessons like, “don’t procrastinate” and, “you’re a horrible liar”.
I’ve made terrible life choices every so often, but all those decisions showed me what path I could end up on and what path I should be on.
I’m happy with the road that I’ve taken.
I grew in my faith and I know that God will always keep me on the right path as long as I let him show me the way.
I can’t wait to see what else life has to offer.

I don’t deserve this; I don’t deserve this at all. I deserve to be cherished, appreciated, unconditionally loved. Never did a thought that this could happen to me cross my mind. The past used to be filled with adventure, suspense, and wild nights I’ll never forget. I’m so astonished on how quick a person can change after everything that’s happened. I try to do so much for others mentally and physically through little daily things in life. I don’t buy my relationships, nor would I ever waste time doing that. From observing others experiences of buying relationships, they’re always the one to say they’re being “used”. I was raised to earn them through a genuine open door to anyone that’s willing. Once someone turns their back on you or changes the way they treat you, you question every single thing on where you went wrong. Until you realize it wasn’t you, it was them letting other people get to their head and manipulate their mind.

As he got dressed for his match, he envisioned his job on the pitch. He would not lose his battle against his foe and let down his country. As the match neared, he and the other 14 took the field and began to warm up. At last, the game was to start. The pack all got together in their 8 person scrum and gave it all they had, for Queen and country. 75 minutes goes by in a flash and all he has thought since the opening scrum was that he had to succeed for honor and Queen and country. 5 minutes. That’s all they had left. At last he sees a weakness in the opposition, and as he catches the ball at speed, he breaks through the line, running, panting, stumbling to the line. As time is about to expire and his window to score became smaller, he gave one last push with all his effort. For Queen and country. Time almost stood still as he sailed toward the line. He touched the ball down. Was it over the line? He turned to the referee. And he waited.