Lesson Learned

Conned by Evelyn Reid

A fog had settled over the woods and reduced line of sight to about within a five-foot circumference. As he moved forward, branches loomed out of the opaque mist, nearly snaring him and scratching his face. He ducked and dodged them as he ran through the woods. He was almost in the clear, almost out of this pickle he'd gotten himself into. The beams of flashlights shone through the fog behind him. This fog was so thick, there was no way his pursuer would be able to find him, flashlight or not.

There was grunt and his pursuer swore under his breath. He smiled to himself thinking of the nasty scratch they must’ve gotten from whatever branch they’d run into. He made his way north to where Kristin would be waiting for him. A shot fired off from behind him. It missed, but it was still close enough for Felix to get a little worried. If the shot was that close, then either the man chasing him got very lucky with his shot or he had a general idea of his location. He needed to get to Kristin fast so they could get out of here.

Eventually he stopped seeing trees looming out of the fog, and the grass underfoot got taller. He’d reached the field near their meeting point, meaning Kristin was nearby. Lights shone ahead and an engine roared to life as Felix approached the edge of a road. He hopped on the back of the bike and Kristin handed him a helmet.

“Go!” he yelled as the man behind him fired off another shot.

He definitely knew where they were now. Kristin put the bike in gear and drove off, leaving the pursuer behind yelling something at them as he fired two more shots. His words were lost beneath the roar of the motorcycle and one of his shots missed. The other hit the bike, leaving a scratch.

“You’re totally paying for that, Felix!” Kristin shouted over the engine.

“I figured,” he replied, grinning.

They drove for about an hour before they reached a small town. Kristin turned off the bike and slid off, leaving her helmet on the seat. Felix jumped off and followed her as she walked down the street.

“Kris, I-” Felix began, but Kristin cut him off, shushing him.

They walked in silence for another ten minutes before reaching a bar down a side road. They made their way inside and the bartender set down the rag she was using to wipe down some glasses. She opened the door to the back and the three went to the stairs on the other side of the back room. They went up and into one of the rooms, closing and locking the door before anyone said anything.

“Did you get it?” the bartender asked them.

“Yeah, or course I got it. What, you think I like getting shot at for nothing?” Felix answered.

“You would think so, from the way you run around without a plan!” Kristin said, shoving Felix over to the table in the middle of the room. “Now, let’s get a look at it, huh?”

Felix took a bag out of his jacket pocket about the size of a shot glass.

“A little small, ain’t it?” the bartender asked.

“Yeah, the diagram is a little misleading. Still, it’s solid platinum. Now we just need the keys,” he said.

“Clara, you’ve got the map, right?” Kristin asked the bartender.

“Yeah, here it is. It’s missing part of it so only one key is on here. We’ll have to find some way to get to the next one,” Clara told them.

As Clara set the map on the table and spread it out, Felix took the box out of the bag. It was small, but expertly crafted. The attention to detail was extraordinary. Ornate carvings covered the lid and walls of the box, and two key holes rested on the bottom side of it. One hole was surrounded with diamond and the other by obsidian, marking which key went where. Clara and Kristin studied the map while Felix stared at the box, taking in the detail on it. They began mapping a route to the key and marking it down on a separate sheet so Clara could keep the original map safe, but Felix and Kristin could still know where they were going.

“You know, when you first invited me to join you two in this, I thought it was a prank. But we’re making good progress on this thing. We’ll have both keys soon enough,” Clara told Kristin and Felix as she set the copied map to the side. “You know, we could probably find the general direction of the second key if we follow the map up to the tear here.”

“Alright, let’s get on it,” Kristin said. “Felix! Stop staring at the box and get over here. We need your help with this.”

When Felix didn’t answer, they turned around to find the room empty. The bell on the door downstairs jingled and Clara and Kristin ran over to the window, looking down on the street. They could see Felix walking across the road with a piece of paper in his hand. When he reached the other side, he got on a motorcycle there and put the key in.

“He had his own bike this whole time?!” Kristin exclaimed angrily. “And he got mine shot at!”

Felix put on a helmet and drove off, leaving Kristin and Clara behind. They turned back to the room to find out what paper he’d taken. The map was still there, but not the copy Clara had made. Felix was going after the key on his own.

“Does your partner leave you often? ‘Cause if so, you need a new partner, girl,” Clara asked her.

“This is the first time we’ve ever partnered up. We met in a bar up north a bit about a week ago. He had a map and said he wanted to find this box, and that he wanted my help. Then we came here and got you to join us. I thought that guy couldn’t be serious, but when we actually found that box I realized he was,” Kristin explained.

“Wait, wait, wait a minute. You guys have never actually worked together before? You let him on your bike!” Clara said.

“He said he didn’t have a way to get around so I drove him here!” Kristin countered.

The bell downstairs jingled again, and Clara made her way downstairs to take care of the customer. Kristin followed her down, planning on getting her bike and going after Felix. When they reached the bar, however, they found a man with a gun pointed right at them.

“Where’s Felix?” he asked them.

“He left. What’s it to you?” Clara told him.

“He cheated off a deal about a year ago and I’ve finally caught up to him. Don’t tell me he’s gone, I got a friend down the street who saw him walk in,” the man said.

“He just left, and he cheated us too. Now put the gun down before someone gets their head blown off!” Clara snapped at him.

“How did he cheat you? What was your deal with him?” Kristin asked.

“He came to me last year and said he had a contact down south that had a job for us. If we pulled it off, we’d get paid big time. I went with him and we got the job. We were supposed to pick up some chest from the docks ‘bout fifty miles up the coast and bring it back, but once we got the chest he ditched me and got the money himself,” the man explained.

“How much?” Clara asked.

“No idea he got it without me,” the man answered.

The bell jingled again and a woman walked in with a gun on her hip. She pulled it out and pointed it at the man they’d been talking to.

“Woah! Come one y’all, what’s with all the guns in here?!” Clara exclaimed.

“We made a deal and you went off it,” the woman said to him.

“What’re you talking about? Didn’t Felix bring you the chest?” he asked the woman, now pointing his gun at her.

“No, you must’ve looked inside and kept it for yourself!” she accused the man.

“I don’t even know what was inside! Part of the deal was don’t look inside or we don’t get paid, so why the heck would we open it?” he countered.

“What? That wasn’t part of the deal. The deal was Felix would find the chest and bring it back so we could follow the map and get the box. Then he introduced you to the plan and I knew you would screw everything up! And look at that, you have. You’ve lost the chest and I haven’t seen Felix in a year!” she explained.

“I didn’t lose the chest, Felix took it. And he never mentioned a map, we were after the chest!” he told her.

“Wait, Felix took the chest?” she asked, confused.

“Yeah! He took it to get the money you were paying for himself!” the man said angrily.

“I was never paying him anything! We were gonna get the box and make money from that somehow. He didn’t explain how, just that we’d get rich,” the woman said.

“Y’all got conned,” Clara said.

“Right, like you didn’t get conned too!” Kristin snapped.

“Hang on a minute, Felix conned us?” the woman asked, holstering her gun again.

“That’s generally what you call it when someone deceives you, but if you’ve got another name for it then use that. I honestly don’t care,” Clara told her.

“Hey, was that you back at those ruins earlier tonight?” Kristin asked the man.

“Yeah, that was me. I was trying to get Felix back for ditching me but he got away,” the man answered.

“You shot my bike! You are gonna pay for a new paint job, buddy,” she told him.

“Yeah alright, whatever. I guess I kind of owe you for that. My beef ain’t with you it’s with Felix,” he responded.

“Kind of?! You tota-” Kristin began before Clara cut her off.

“Alright enough blabberin’ on. How are we gonna get Felix?” Clara asked, changing the subject.

While the four of them were devising a plan to get the box from Felix before he could open it, he was driving north towards a town in north western California. There was, according to the map, an abandoned dig site where the first key was located. Felix had left the small town behind, along with Kris and Clara. Now, he was surrounded by empty fields of overgrown grass, yellowed from the dry weather as of late. Cicadas were buzzing and clicking in the fields and crickets chirped at one another as he drove by. The sky was cloudless and the moon was full, casting an eerie light over the landscape.

Felix reached a barren part of the coast where it went from road to rock to beach. He parked his bike and got off, walking to the edge of the water. Sitting down, he took out the map and began to study the path Clara and Kristin had marked up. The map would take him north up to the Oregon border. The dig site was about fifteen miles in from the coast and surrounding it was a small wooded area. There was a drought in that area, and had been for two years now. The trees would be scraggly and any bushes would be more like twigs sticking out of the dirt, which would be light, dry, and cracked. He set the map aside and stared out to sea, watching the waves rolling in toward shore as the sunlight shone off them. It was just an endless expanse of calm right now.

“Just wait until a storm comes,” Felix said, chuckling to himself after he thought this.

By morning, Felix had traveled another ten miles and came to a town near the dig site. He stopped here to get some water, as there wouldn’t be any out there.

In the store, he was paying for a couple bottles of water when the door opened and someone asked, “Where the heck is all the water in this town?” It sounded like the man Felix had ditched last year.

“You know, usually a drought means a lack of water, not an abundance. You should probably look in the cooler over there,” a woman said, and she sounded like Clara.

Felix turned around and saw Clara, Kristin, John, who he cheated last year, and Angelica, the woman who he’d been playing out a long con on. This con had been three years in action and five years in the making. He looked down and made his way out of the store, slouching so his posture would look different and throw off the four of them and getting his heavy southern accent ready, just in case.

“Hey, buddy!” Kristin called out from behind him.

He paused and answered, “Yeah?”

“You seen a guy come through this town on a motorbike?” Clara asked.

Felix paused for a moment before answering, “Yeah, actually. Come to think of it, I have. You don’t forget a bike like that rolling through here. He took the road to the coast about half a mile up north from here. Why’re you looking for ‘im?”

“We have some… unfinished business we needed to discuss with him,” Angelica told him.

Felix was almost out the door when John asked, “Hey, what’s your name?”

Thinking for a second, Felix responded with, “Patrick.”

He rushed out the door before those four could ask any more questions and began making his way to the dig site. He would’ve driven, but he couldn’t risk alerting them to his presence here. All of them were furious with being conned. The last time this happened, Felix had gotten his arm broken. He made his way into the woods next to the town and continued to the dig site.

Back in the store, John was buying some water for them all while Angelica, Kristin, and Clara talked.

“Is it just me or was that guy a little weird?” Kristin asked.

“Pretty sure it was just you. He seemed fine to me,” Angelica responded.

“I got the water! So, are we going up that road to the coast now or what?” John said, walking over to them.

“We’re going to get the key first and catch up to Felix later,” Kristin said, taking out the original map. “Alright, so we have to go east a bit to get to the site and then we should see a rock face with a nick near the bottom. The nick has a lever in it that should open a door. We’ll work our way on from there.”

The four of them followed the map to the dig site. They walked through the woods and eventually the dirt path gave way to grass. Weeds grew tall here and the tree branches overhead rested on top of one another, blocking out the sunlight of the early morning. A few birds chirped here and there, flitting between perches. As they progressed, the grass got taller and thorn bushes protruded into their path, catching on their pants. At one point the thorns were so bad that they had to leave their path and try to go around the bushes.

They reached a point where sticks littered the ground along with dead leaves. There here low hanging branches that had to be pushed aside. Once they made it out of the woods, however, there was little to suggest this place had once been covered in trees and other plants. The dirt was dry and cracked. Dust kicked up underfoot from the dirt that crumbled beneath their feet. The dig site was pretty deep and there were boxes everywhere.

“You would think these guys would’ve cleaned up after themselves before leaving their site,” Angelica pointed out.

“Hey, is that supposed to be the wall we’re opening?” John asked.

The rock face had a hole in it that led deep inside. Felix had gotten there roughly ten minutes before the rest of them had and he’d already gone inside.

“Did Felix beat us here?” Angelic asked.

“Looks like it. Welp, it’s movin’ forward then!” Clara said, making her way towards the opening.

The rest of them followed her inside. They made their way down the hall formed by rock on both sides and eventually the rock became smooth. The tunnel had been pointed at the top as if it were made of two cards resting against one another, but where the walls smoothed out, the ceiling opened to form a flat surface. The hall was rectangular rather than triangular now. There were torches lined along the walls, providing light. They were spaced few and far between, however, leaving patches of the hall dark almost to a point of blindness.

They continued down this hall for another four minutes before reaching a point where it branched off in two directions. They split up and two went one way while the others went down the remaining hall. Angelica and Kristin went to the left, and the torches on the walls here were spaced even farther apart than the torches in the previous hall had been. Pitch black surrounded them between the patches of light, and they traveled in silence until they came to a door. It had no handle, but there was a key hole in the centre of it.

While Angelica and Kristin were going down their hall, John and Clara had gone the other way. Their path sloped downward for a bit before leveling out. The torches here were closer together and the tunnel was well lit. They too reached a door, but this one had a handle. John tried the door, and found it to be unlocked. He and Clara passed through to find a lightless passageway that sloped upward. Clara continued on without hesitation, but John paused for a minute at the following darkness.

“We don’t know what’s down there!” he called to her as she was walking away.

“Then let’s go find out!” she called back.

John ran forward to catch up with her, and the door fell closed behind them. He tripped in the dark and Clara turned back to the sound. She found him and helped him up before moving on again. The incline was growing steeper and they reached a wall at the end of the tunnel.

“Well now what?” John asked.

“Now, we find a way onward,” Clara responded, feeling the door.

She found a handle and pushed it down. The wall, which turned out to be another door, opened to a clearing in the woods with a freshwater spring in the centre. There was a patch of grass around it that was a beautiful shade of green. It was even nicer compared to the rest of the grass in the area, which was either yellowed or not even there because of the drought.

“Well now what?” John asked.

“Now we wait,” Clara said.

“Wait? Wait for what?” John asked, confused.

“For the others to get here. They’ll come this way sooner or later and we wouldn’t want them to think we’ve run off, now would we?” she responded.

Back in the other tunnel, Kristin and Angelica were still at the door.

“How are we supposed to open this thing?” Kristin asked.

“Look up there. Something’s on a ledge above the door,” Angelica said.

Kristin jumped up and grabbed the thing from the ledge. It was a key. She fit it into the lock and turned it, which opened the door and led to an ornately decorated room. The walls were a darker stone than in the hall and the room was well lit. Marble pillars were used for support to keep the ceiling from collapsing in and there was a rug that covered the floor. It was faded and dusty, but the colours that were still visible showed how beautiful it must’ve once been. In the centre of the room stood a table, and standing at the table was Felix. He held the box in one hand and akey in the other. Setting the box on the table, he took out another key from his pocket.

“You had the key the whole time!” Kristin called out.

Felix looked up and, noticing Kristin and Angelica, shoved the keys in his pocket, picked up the box, and ran toward the other side of the room. There was an open door over there that he ran through and closed behind him. Kristin and Angelica followed him and Kristin kicked open the door when they reached it. Beyond was a hall that had no torches and a light at the end of it. They could only see Felix’s silhouette in the light. They followed him in and realized that the floor was slanting upward as they ran. It got almost too steep to run up near the end, but they made it up and burst into the light, where John was holding Felix at gunpoint and Clara was sitting on the ground, watching the scene.

“Alright guys, come on. Let’s put the gun away and sort this out, yeah?” Felix said.

“I’ll put it down when you give me the box!” John yelled at him.

“Calm down, would ya? We’ve got him here and we’ll deal with him, but if you keep yellin’ then I’m gonna have Kris here bring you back to town,” Clara told him.

“Don’t be ridi-” John started, but Kristin interrupted him.

“Yeah, no. Clara means it. Just don’t test her, ‘kay?” she told John.

John took the box from Felix and held it out for someone to grab while he continued to point the gun at Felix. Angelica took it and put the box into her pocket.

“Now the keys,” Kristin said.

Angelica walked over and held out her hand. Felix took out two keys from his pocket and placed them in her palm. She put these in a different pocket than the box.

“Okay, now that that’s taken care of, what’re we supposed to do?” Clara asked them.

“How about we have John put the gun away,” Angelica said. “Just a suggestion.”

John, Kristin, and Clara turned to face Angelica. She had a gun and she was pointing it at John.

“Angelica, what are you doing?” John asked, turning to point the gun at her.

Felix moved towards Angelica after John turned away while she responded, “You would think, after getting conned once, you’d be a little more careful about who you let in on things.”

“Sorry, what?” Clara asked.

“Felix conned you. He met up with you, got you involved, and then took the box and had the first key all along. He used John to get the map, which was in the chest from the docks, and once he got the location of the last key we were going to open the box together. I came along with you so I could know where you were and how close to getting Felix you were,” Angelica explained.

“So you conned us too? That figures. I should’ve stuck with bartending,” Clara said.

“Yes, you should’ve,” Felix told her as Angelica and he began walking backwards.

John fired off a shot, but he missed. Felix told him, “You really should practice with that. Your aim is horrible.”

Felix and Angelica turned and ran through the trees back towards town. John, Kristin, and Clara followed close on their heels. Angelica and Felix reached town after about twenty minutes of weaving through the forest, and the other three were not far behind. They ran to Felix’s bike and got on. Felix turned the engine while Angelica put on her helmet and the two of them drove off.

“Come on!” John yelled. “How did we seriously fall for a double con!”

“You fell for it first che,” Clara told him.

“How are you so calm throughout this whole thing?” Kristin asked her.

“Because I wasn’t in it for the money. I was in it for the fun of playing people. Got you two all worked up, didn’t they? I just came along for the ride. Besides, I’ve already got your wallets, don’t I?” Clara responded, holding up two wallets.

She turned and ran to Kristin’s motorcycle, put the keys in the ignition, and took off in the opposite direction of Felix and Angelica.

“She nicked my keys too?!” Kristin exclaimed, kicking up dirt in anger. “Anything you want to confess to buddy?”

“Well, I-” John started, but Kristin interrupted him.

“If you say one thing about conning someone, I swear I will break your nose,” she said.

“Nah, it’s not that. I stole a beer from Clara’s bar,” John explained.

“Oh, well, that’s just kind of funny. What are we supposed to do now?” Kristin asked him.

“We could go to a bar for a bit. Figure out what to do next, you know?” he replied.

“With what money?” she asked, walking off. “I think I’ll just stay away from this business from now on.”

“How are you gonna get anywhere? Clara stole your bike,” John pointed out.

“I know a guy about twelve miles down the coast from here with a boat. I’m thinking Australia doesn’t have you, Angelica, Felix, or Clara, meaning it’s gotta be a whole lot better than here,” she said.

John was left standing at the edge of the forest with no money and no plan.

“You’d think I’d figure out when I’m being conned by now. What is this, the twenty third time?” he mumbled angrily to himself, briskly walking to his own motorbike.

The Pure Power of The Microwave by Christopher Cutillo

The date goes back to November 24th, 2015 when I was around 10 years old. It was on thanksgiving day at 10 in the morning, and I was just hungry to eat something for my breakfast. I walked past the freezer and whipped back to get a nice bagel that would hopefully fill my hunger. I took that bagel out of the freezer and plopped it on a plate so I could eventually toast it. I slid it into the microwave just to put it in for around 40 seconds, but instead, I put it in for 40 minutes, and that's when it started to get worse. In a matter of minutes I saw smoke coming out of the kitchen and it was then that I saw what I had done to my family’s microwave.

When I was 10 I was mostly clueless about things that could happen and was smart of the things that I could control. With the exception of the microwave that day, I used to make a lot of things for myself since I was allowed to. I was never scared to do so since nothing has really happened to me and I was pretty careful of what was going on. I never really lost track of time and usually watched exactly what I was doing to prevent anything bad from happening. It never appeared to me that the microwave has the potential to burn something which I have multiple times, but I always just brushed it off. Everyone was coming over for Thanksgiving and everything was being prepared, so I decided that it would be a great idea to make something in the kitchen. I walked towards the freezer and grabbed a bagel which is where all of the fun begins. First I dropped the bagel but still made it because of the 5-second rule. I then proceed to almost cut my finger off trying to cut the bagel in half. “How could my day get any worse?”, I thought to myself.

After struggling to get the bagel cut in half, I put it onto a paper plate and threw it into the microwave. I didn’t really want to toast the thing so I decided that the microwave was the best option and wanted to just put it in for 40 seconds. I kind of walked away for a couple of seconds since the thanksgiving parade was on, and I loved watching that stuff. Those couple seconds turned into a couple of minutes and I completely lost my source of time. I just kept watching and watching while the bagel kept spinning and spinning. It had been a couple of minutes and I finally got up because I heard the beeps coming from the kitchen. I continued to walk towards the kitchen and that’s what I realized I had messed up badly. That is when I saw the hot arms of fire banging on the microwave door just so it could escape and cause more damage. At first, I wasn’t aware of what had actually burned, but it was the paper plate that I had set the bagel on. I waited a couple of minutes just to realize that it was still going and probably even worse than it was before. That is when I had to open up the door and with the wall of fire on the other side. As soon as there were the tiniest of openings, it was like a volcano erupted and the flames took complete control. My ten-year-old self had to do something and had to do it fast. I swiftly ran underneath the fire and while feeling the heat on my back, I picked up a pot and filled it with cold water. I threw on the fire which of course didn’t really help that much. I did it again and again and was panicking like I never had before. I then realized that we had a fire extinguisher somewhere in the laundry room so I sprinted towards that and found the glorious red fire extinguisher. While sprinting back I was reading whatever was on it to see how it worked and try to figure out how to use it. Once I knew how to work it, I sprayed that thing till the fire was gone and gone forever. Once the fire was gone, I could now see the black abyss of the burnt and melted microwave. I didn’t know how to feel, the fear of getting screamed at or the waterfall of tears that wanted to burst out of my body. I chose to have both feelings at once and ran up my stairs to hide in my closet. My heart was racing and the tears were falling and this whole day that I was looking forward to going straight down into a ravine of darkness. Once I heard my full name get screamed throughout the whole house, my heart dropped straight to the floor while my sobbing continued. My parents were not really mad, they were just concerned and frightened to see what had happened in their kitchen. We just had a talk about what happened and they pretty much just calmed me down. I went on to have a great rest of the day and also a day that I won’t forget.

Now in the year 2021, I am 16 and we all laugh about what happened that day. It usually gets brought up every year at least once on Thanksgiving and gets the whole table laughing. We also did need a new microwave since the handle was falling off on the one that I burned so I helped them out from that standpoint. It did teach me a few things like not put something in the microwave for 40 minutes and to be aware of those things, but most importantly it taught me to stay focused on one thing at a time. I now know to not walk away from something that might have a dangerous situation tied into it. Overall nothing like that has happened to me again over the past 6 years and will never let something like that happen again.

A Hopeful Future

I could think of many specific things to represent hope or a dream for the better. Things like my family and great friends, an earned education, or life without coronavirus. But to be as broad as possible to make sure all of those attributes are included in my dream/promise for the better, I would say that the future is what represents hope in my life. Although I do not know what the future may hold for me, I feel that I am a determined person and put tremendous effort into many things in my life and this is why my future represents hope.

To specify, the future is completely unexpected and can take a turn in a different direction at any time. We know this because of what we have all been living through this past year. Everyone in the world knows what coronavirus is at this point and how it has affected many lives. Coronavirus has affected my life greatly. My grandparents were not in great shape due to my grandfather having a stroke and my grandma being diagnosed with dementia a few months before the time of covid. Both of them are people I really look up to because of how often they took care of my brother and I growing up and it is difficult seeing them being incapable. During the past year I have rarely seen them due to precautions we must take due to the virus. This has been extremely hard on my family and I because I have always been close with both of them and my family was taking care of them because of the circumstances before the pandemic. When the pandemic hit, my mom wanted to take no chances. Instead of us taking care of them, we hired a 24-hour caregiver, this was difficult to take in knowing we were not directly helping loved ones who needed it. I have also not seen them and many other extended family members I care about in a very long time or not nearly close to how often as I would like due to coronavirus. Although we know that the future is unexpected, especially with the virus, many people including our very own William Tennent teachers and my mom are lucky enough to be either in the process of or already vaccinated. This brings hope for our future and really does provide a dream for the better. We all know the struggles and frustrations of coronavirus during this past year and why life seemingly without it is a huge step forward. Life without coronavirus will bring hope to many families around the world, including my own.

As explained, the future may hold some things I can not control. However, I can control where I go with my education and occupation. I have worked extremely hard as a student throughout all of my schooling years and it has always been that way. This includes stressful nights of work because I want a bright future for myself. I may not know where my future education is located or even know what direction I want my future occupation to be in. This topic always changes for me because I want to make sure I am living a life that I truly enjoy while being successful at the same time. I am sure a lot of people have a similar interest in their future. Thinking and preparing for the future is frustrating and confusing because I have looked into many jobs such as architect, physical therapist, and even a neuropsychologist. I could see myself with these occupations, but I am not sure if that's really how I want to live the rest of my life. I also want to travel, experience, and see the world and I feel that many jobs that may allow me to be successful will not allow me to do the things I want to do during my lifetime. This means that even though I do not know exactly what I want in the future, I do know that I work hard and that if I keep setting myself on the right path I will have a bright future in any occupation I end up in. Hope for my education is led by my determination. This can also be shown within my athletics. Sports have always been a huge part of who I am and there have not been many days where I have gone without practicing or playing a sport. I was introduced to baseball at a very young age and from there I have always enjoyed playing any kind of sport or physical activity. Athletics have taught me countless valuable lessons that I use in my everyday life and taught me to be the person I am today. Reasons like that are why I am very appreciative of the many opportunities sports have given me. This includes my competitiveness and willingness to put effort into everything that I do. This type of effort on the court and field has always transferred into anything that I do.

In addition to things I may be able to control for hope in my future, I feel that I have surrounded myself with friends that can help me succeed while also being able to have a good time and these are the kinds of people I want to be around. I believe that my friends have similar interests and plans for the future and by surrounding myself with people like that I am able to stay focused and not be set back. As learned in one of my classes this year, sociology and psychology, friends really do influence how one may act whether we realize it or not and it is important to be around people who can benefit you the same way you help them. My family has a similar impact on me and they have taught me many worthy lessons that set me for the future. This is another significant reason why I have hope for what is yet to come. I am one that overthinks many situations and I can not help but worry whether I will be happy where I'm at in the future. Although this is the case, my friends and family help me to pursue my goals while also allowing me to enjoy my time in the present and have a great time now.

The future holds so many things, and even though I can not control most of it, I am excited about the path I have set for myself. I feel that there is hope in the future. I want to reach my dreams and goals in the future and I know that I can over time. Even if my future is not as I wish it to be I will always be proud of my hard work and dedication to my schoolwork and effort in sports in the past and present. Based on the topics previously stated such as upcoming vaccinations and solutions for coronavirus, little details about my unspecified education, or spontaneous adventures with friends and family, I am excited for the future and very hopeful that it will bring more happiness. That is why I had to pick a topic as broad as the future to represent a promise/hope for something better.

The Frightening Fourth of July

On a normal 4th of July, most people go to parades and shoot off fireworks at night. Like everyone else, my family does the same. We all went to the annual parade held on the main road and watched everyone walk by throwing lots of candy. Once it got past 3pm we started to make our way over to my uncle's house as most of my other family members did. The sky started to turn dark and we all knew it was time. It was time to start the annual fireworks like we always did.

¨Uncle Joe!, I said, ¨It's time to start!¨

“Ok, I’ll go set everything up”, he yelled over the voices.

“Do you need help”, I asked.

“Could you get Uncle Kenny?”, my Uncle Joe asked.

“Sure!”, I said. “Uncle Kenny!”

“Yes?, What's wrong?, he asked.

“Uncle Joe needs help with the fireworks!”, I yelled.

“Ok, I’ll go down there now, he said.

He started to go down by the pool to start setting off the fireworks. My uncle grabbed a table so that the fireworks would shoot off nicely and safely.While we waited for him to set everything up we all crowded on the deck and around the yard waiting. It was about 8 PM when the first firework shot off the light up the sky.BOOM!

“WOAH!”, everyone shouted.

Our whole family was standing at the top of the porch watching the sky. I went towards my cousins to stand by them. All of the fireworks were being set off perfectly fine until the worst happened. The firework stand tilted downwards and pointed towards the house, at that moment the fireworks came at us with no warning at all but just a second to prepare.The fireworks sputtered and sparked all over the place. I saw the fireworks come towards me as I was just standing with my eyes frozen still. Sweat came down my face and my eyes twitched suddenly. I stood there in fear wondering what would happen next. I looked down at my arm and freaked out.I saw my arm sizzling and noticed a mark that came from the spark.I had realized that I got hit with the firework sparks.

“AHHHHHH!”, I screamed.

Others were screaming and crying scared of what had happened.As it hit me in the arm it was very painful and I saw that my arm had already turned black and was throbbing continuously. I was very scared and frightened because it had sparked everywhere. The firework sparks were all in the pool, and around the house.Most of the time when I get hurt I don’t cry, but this time it was very extreme and painful. So, as soon as the firework hit me I started to panic and scream. Fireworks are very dangerous, so you would not like to get hit as I did. I stood there frozen and in shock because I had no clue what to do. I couldn’t find my mom anywhere so I decided to just move on and forget about it, but I knew that wasn’t the right thing to do because the burn just kept getting worse and worse. I felt as if I had been just shot and there was a huge hole in my arm, but I’m lucky that is not the case. As I looked down at my arm again, the burn was making a sparkling noise vigorously that I knew from the start that it wasn’t normal. So, I went into the bathroom as I should have and put my arm in the sink and let the water run on the burn.

I screamed, ¨AHHHHH THIS HURTS!¨

All I could do was scream up on the top of my lungs as loud as I could because it was hurting so bad.I got out of the bathroom and went to look for my mom around the house. Once I had seen my mom in sight, I ran to her and she started to scream as she saw my arm. Since we were at my uncle’s house, we had no bandaids or any type of burn relief, so my mom made my dad go all the way out to the store to find something to help the burn that kept on throbbing. While we were waiting for my dad to get back from the store, my mom decided to get a cold wet towel to help relieve the pain, even though the internet says not to use cold towels. Anyway, the cold towel was working for a little bit, until my dad came in the room with the burn relief. My mom grabbed it from my dad and rubbed it all over the burn to help it so it doesn't get any worse. After she spread it all over, she then went over to my uncle.

¨Those fireworks were so dangerous, and it could've been so much worse”, my mom yelled.

My uncle didn’t answer, he just looked at me and felt bad. I kinda felt bad that my mom was blaming it all on him so i acted as if i was fine so he didn't feel even more bad for me. I stood next to mom laughing since my arm was feeling better and the burn relief was kicking in after some time. A couple days later, the burn was still there but it didn't hurt at all. My mom took me to a doctor and we picked up some special cream to make it go away faster. After some time, it was finally away and back to normal.

The next year I was definitely afraid of fireworks and so on. Instead of keeping that fear I decided to overcome it. The next fourth of July was normal and there had not been a firework incident since that one intriguing night. This has taught me that, although you may fear lots of things, you can't keep hiding from them and sometimes you are going to have to learn to take a risk sometimes. The incident has shown me the importance of letting go of fears and opening up to the world. Hiding behind will never get you anywhere in life, so the easier you overcome something the easier it will be in the long run.

Racism is still a thing

Let’s go to Spring of 2020, where there are beautiful cherry blossoms and Pollen allergies!. Yes, allergies, achoo! Teenagers love to roam around. It’s the kind that young adolescence love to experience. It’s fun awesome and makes you feel good about yourself. I vividly remember this, me and my cousin, Charrise were on our way to IKEA to redecorate her room. She took me to help her with the heavy lifting.

“Hey Ate,” I said referring to Charisse

“Hmm?” She replied

“Can we play a more upbeat type of music?” I said while fiddling with the auxiliary cord.

“Oh quit it! Really! You’re playing party music!” referring to me. “Just don’t play, Pitbull. You’re reminding me how old I am” She whined

“Alright!” as I proceeded to play Va Va Voom by Nicki Minaj to mess with her. I am very flexible with music tastes but Charisse has some restrictions especially if it is something that reminds her of something that happened in the past.

***

We sang the lyrics to Heartbreak Anniversary by Giveon. “Just like the day that I met you, The day I thought forever, Said that you love me, But that'll, last for never, It's cold outside, Like when you walked out my life” We sang it as if we got cheated on. In my case, I did 4 weeks later. While she parked her car.

“You know, I’m glad that you came over because I was gonna ask one of my friends to come.” She said, Thanking me a bazillion times.

“No problem, it’s chilling,” I said, as we entered the store.

_____________________

Ate - a Filipino term/phrase to address a girl/woman that is slightly older than you. It is seen as a sign of respect among Filipinos

“Omg! Ugh, my best friend is back with her toxic ex!” She said whining about her friend’s dumb decision. I have seen how bad their breakups can be. Not a pretty sight for a witness. We continued our chatter and picking up a few pieces of furniture here and there.

***

“I liked the colour and texture of this one” She huffed while looking at the price of the study table

“Then get it, Ate.”I bewildered.

“I would, but it’s way out of my budget” She sighed.

“Then maybe mow more lawns you Mexican leeches” A woman interjected. Let’s call her Karen.

Me and Charrise looked at each other; deciding to be the bigger person in the situation, we left her. Simply letting the issue go; we continued our furniture shopping.

“Ang bastos naman ng matanda na yun” She whispered to me as we got clear of Karen. Switching into our native tongues. This directly translates into “That woman is rude/immoral”

“Oo, nga! pero, let it go na. Wala tayong mapapala jan.” I replied. Yeah right! Just let it go; there’s nothing we can do about it.

***

Finally done with our haul, we re-unite with Karen. My cousin already giving her a bad eye due to her racist remarks.

Tugging her, “Ate, let it go.” Pulling her towards plant Isle.

Simply being a racist Karen, she proceeded to say “looks like the Mexican Lady and her brother are off to steal more American money from Americans” smearing while giving us remarks.

“Lady,” Charisse said with a long pause, before continuing “ how bold of you to assume our ethnicities. I don’t know what your issue is, but you are too imbecilic enough to think that we have no money. I am just budgeting my money because I am weighing my wants vs needs. So please, go mind your business and stop thinking that just because of our skin colour or our facial feature may look as if were Latinos, but we’re Asians. I am an independent woman” She remarked, composing herself.

“Really? From the looks of it, your independent *bleep* *bleep* is what’s rendering jobs to Americans!, go back to your own country you scums. All you do is infest us with your Corona Virus and you Chinese spies.” Karen replied

“Then why don’t you go back to your country too!” Charisse interjected back.

“This is my country you *bleeping* illegals”

“Actually, let me educate you, this so-called land that we stand on actually belonged to the Native Indians pre-colonial U.S. and even then, we did not Grant them their independent state. They were killed for pointless battles and the Manifest destiny devastated the Native Indian population and beliefs. They had dark to tan skin and yes, their facial features are what we may refer to as Latin Americans. So how dare you think that just, because your skin colour makes doesn’t give you the privilege to act superior, it’s not the case. We are all equal regardless of skin, gender, or religion.” She ranted, then pointed to her rosary like bracelet “Have you read the bible,? I pray that God forgives you of your prejudiced assumptions against people” Charisse huffed. Looking at me.

“The fact that you blame us for spreading the Virus is mind-boggling. Do you believe that we go around just to kill ourselves and spread viruses? No, do you remember the Black Death? It wasn’t anyone intention to create a pandemic that wiped out a global population. Now tell me, do you think the people in Asia want to kill themselves along with the rest of the world? Hmm?” I ranted feeling temperamental on the fact that her supremacist’s ideals are becoming ambiguous by the second

“You two don’t have respect for the elderly do you?”Karen replied

“For you? No, we don’t treat you with respect. We are treating you based on how you treated us. We honestly feel that our country has been tarnished by people; whose ideals are like yours” Charisse said beginning to walk towards the checkouts.

“You fools,” Karen said while she grabbed Charrise hair.

Safe to say that Ate slapped her in the face. All while, more and more people start to look at our current situation. Karen began to throw a fit, saying that we attacked her first.

“Help!”She screamed, “They attacked me!”Karen cried

“Oh for god’s sake Karen they have camera’s in here. I will press charges on you” Charisse said.

Feeling defeated in the situation, she left the vicinity. Charisse on the other hand called her dad, asking what types of charges can she put into action. Two things I learned that day, people like Karen should be put in their places respectfully and that Not everything can pass or just simply let go of. This moment in my life showed me that not everyone is as open arms as accepting who you are based on your ethnicity. Making this a very significant part of my life, showing that even though, we are allowed to mingle and talk to other people from different backgrounds, there are still people like Karen that is going to attack and victimize minorities. It was very detrimental to me to feel and think that minorities are not safe and that life is not always fair.