I worry for the future of humanity almost everyday. My most recent spiral of worry began when footage of the events that took place at this years Astroworld Festival. Basically, a crowd surge happened at this music festival- specifically when Travis Scott began performing. What sparks my concern for humanity was how this exactly was handled. People in this crowd were dying- many others were injured- and plenty were left traumatized. It was quite audible that people were screaming in pure terror in this crowd- yet Travis Scott continued to perform. At one point, an ambulance was sent into the crowd to help escort injured people out of the surge- yet some people jumped up on top of the vehicle and danced on it. I wasn't at the festival- thank God- but the next day, all of my social media was flooded with gruesome videos of what went down that night. On Twitter, when I was looking under the Astroworld tags, I saw a majority of two things. The first thing was, as I already mentioned, gruesome videos, pictures, and posts about the crowd surge that took place. The second thing I saw was people posting about how great the performance was, totally ignoring the fact that people were trampled to their death at this event. This is what really makes my stomach churn- the fact that people were able to ignore what had went down. Don't worry, because it gets even better. Throughout the night, people were begging Travis Scott to stop his show- he's a famous guy with a lot of influence and power- so surely he'd easily be able to stop it. All he had to do was lay down his microphone and stop singing, however, he didn't. There was a video on Twitter, of a girl climbing on top of a platform and approaching a man recording the show. She was hysterical, telling the man that people in the crowd were dying, needed help, and the show needed to stop. What did the cameraman do, one may wonder? He looked at the girl, dead in the eyes, and said they couldn't, because the show was streaming live. God forbid we ruin the livestream to save a few lives, clearly the livestream should be prioritized, right? The girl kept begging the cameraman to stop the show and continued to tell him people were dying, and eventually, the cameraman told the girl to 'f*** off'. I am fuming as I type this out, because the lack of humanity is so unbelievable and revolting to me. It's events like this that occur that make me worry for the future of humanity.

In January of 2020, my house caught fire one night awhile I was asleep. I lost most of what I owned and got separated from my family, as my siblings moved in with my aunt awhile I moved in with one of my cousins. I had to overcome a lot of struggles, as my entire life changed in a single night. Firstly, I had to recover from the trauma that came with almost dying in a house fire brought, which wasn't easy. To this day, I get shaken up whenever I hear the blares coming from a smoke detector, as I'll remember the awful smell of the smoke that filled my house and suffocated me on the night of the fire. No one could recover for me, as that was something I had to do all by myself. I had to learn to rely on myself, not others, since I was no longer living with any family that I was used to living with. I had to adapt to a lot of change, and overall, it made me stronger in the end. This major change made moving into college this year feel like a piece of cake- it was nothing new for me. The fire also taught me how valuable life is, in a single blink of an eye, it can be lost easily. Because of this, I now strive with my head held up high everyday. I live everyday to its fullest, and enjoy the small things that come with life. While the experience I faced was horrifying, it shaped me into the wonderful person that I am today, and I would never want to change that.

The pandemic left me and a lot of other people with a lot more free time. Time to think and reflect on everything that's happened. Right before the pandemic, in January, my house caught fire one night, and I lost almost everything I owned. I learned that no matter what happens, life keeps going. I wasn't in the best mental place after the fire, as I almost lost my life, it was very traumatizing. Even with that, school still kept going, I still had to attend my part time job, I had to keep pushing on despite all of my struggles. Then, suddenly, the pandemic happened, and everything stopped. School was still a thing, sure, but I was at home. I was given time off of my part time job. I finally could take a step back to breathe and process everything that had happened to me that year. I was able to work on my mental health and pull myself together with the much needed break that I had received. Flash forward and now I'm studying at Florida Southern College, working toward my bright future one day at a time.

A series that has impacted me heavily would have to be Bungo Stray Dogs- a manga and anime by Yoji Enokido. Bungo Stray Dogs takes place in Yokohama, a city in Japan. All of the characters in the series are based off of influential characters, like my favorite character, Osamu Dazai. Bungo Stray Dogs has widened my literary horizon. Because of this anime/manga series, I've read numerous literary books, like No Longer Human, Crime and Punishment, the Great Gatsby, the Moon Over the Mountain, etc. All of these books have deep and complex meanings which grab my attention and refuse to let go. With every one of these books I've read, I found myself comparing the protagonist in all of these works to the corresponding Bungo Stray Dogs character that the author is representing. Overall, Bungo Stray Dogs has turned me into a fanatic of literature, and I'm grateful.

Financial freedom unfortunately is something very hard to achieve in this day and age. Speaking personally, financial freedom would mean being able to financially support my mother with less worries. My mother is a single mother of three, including myself as the eldest sibling. She's a waitress, working day in and out in order to provide and support for her children. My mom constantly puts everyone in front of herself, barely ever having time to do things that she enjoys for herself. I truly am lucky to have my mom, despite her clear financial struggles, she's still supporting me and helping me pay for my college tuition. I plan on working hard every single day with pursuing my degree, so that once I graduate, I can land a solid job and finally be able to support my mom. My mother has been providing for me, my siblings, her mother, my cousin, etc, for my entire life. I believe that it's time someone else supports her. I grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, and decided that I wanted to leave the state for college. There's a big world out there, and I want to experience everything I possibly can. Moving to Florida and attending school at Florida Southern College was a very stressful and significantly more expensive choice for me to make- yet my mother supported me through every step I took. Every financial move I make is extremely cautious- it took a lot for me to get where I'm at now- and I'm not about to let all of that hard work go to waste. Looking forward to the future, I'll continue to be cautious with my finances. My number one priority is making sure that my mother is stable and supported. I do want to travel the world, as I stated earlier, there's a huge world out there practically begging to be explored, but if it came between traveling the world and supporting my mother, I would give up on my traveling dream in a heartbeat. No matter what happens in the future, my mother will always be supported by me. Receiving this scholarship will help me get through this first phase- which is getting through college and paying for my tuition for all four years. This would also bring me one step closer to achieving the financial freedom that I so desperately need to achieve in order to support my mother in a stable manner.

All my life, I've lived in a small town called Exeter, which is located in Reading, Pennsylvania. It's a nice little area, but I've been here all my life, and I know that there's all of America, as well as the rest of the world, waiting for me to explore. That's why I decided to enroll in Florida Southern College, starting in fall of 2021, I'll be living somewhere completely different from Pennsylvania. I feel as though that I will not be able to truly figure myself out unless I venture out into the world and have experiences that will contribute to me bettering my sense of identity. Despite getting a decent academic scholarship, I still have expenses like room and board to pay. My mother- a single mother of three- is a waitress, which means that money is a tad bit tight in my family. I'm the eldest, which means I'm the first bird to fly away from the nest. She's agreed to help me pay off my student loans, which means I need to work harder then I ever have in my life to ensure we can pay off the debt I'll collect awhile I attend college. My mother has spent her whole life taking care of me, and I cannot allow all of my student loan debt to fall onto her. Especially after what we've been through this past year- in January of 2020, our house burnt down. We went six months without our home because of that, yet she kept her patience and continued to support me throughout it all. That's why I need to make this as easy for her as I possibly can. Any little bit of financial aid helps, which is exactly why I need this scholarship.

I have quite a few values, some of which being more personal than others. To begin with everything, everyone on this planet has one thing in common: our humanity. Each and every last person on this planet is, in fact, a human. Even though we all are all humans, we still discriminate against one another, based off of things like race, sexuality, gender, etc. I heavily value the idea of equality, after all, we're all the same species, therefore, we all need to stick together and respect one another. When I meet new people, I make no judgments on said new person until I get to know them personally. If this new person I meet is black, white, gay, trans, female, whatever the case may be, I make no assumption based on the person based off of something like that. It's wrong to judge a person based off of their appearance, and the same goes for all of this stuff. Continuing on, I am truly lucky to be alive, I believe we all are. According to Mel Robbins, a highly intelligent individual that spoke at TEDx, humans have a one in four trillion chance of being born alone. Everyday, I'm lucky to wake up, I'm lucky to get out of a bed, I'm lucky to have a selection of clothes to choose from, coffee to drink, food to eat, etc. Being alive on its own is so much, but all of the materials I have? There are plenty of individuals around the world who are not as lucky as me. I want to, one day, be able to give back. Everyone has a limited time on this planet, and no matter what we do, the time is still limited. I want to spend my time doing something that will ultimately help people- not hurt them. Right now, I'm going into college as an undecided student, but I have been thinking about studying criminology. What better way to help people than to study the rate of crime and how to lower it? Diving into more personal matters, my mother is a single mother of three. She works herself to the bone, providing for my siblings and I, as well as her mother. Not to mention she's a waitress, and solely depends on tips. My mother has sacrificed a lot and has pushed herself past the limit, ensuring my future. When I get older, and graduate college, I plan on financially supporting my mother- and my two little siblings, if need be. I want my mom to finally be able to rest, and retire in peace. She cannot keep breaking her back for everyone forever, she gives the world to everyone, and I plan on giving her the world right back. In conclusion, I plan on working hard everyday, and applying my core values to my everyday life. Our days on this planet is limited, and I plan on living everyday to its fullest.

When I act, I act in a way that’s truly myself. Everyone is given two options: conform to society norms and be miserable, or, act as ‘you’ as possible, and be contempt. I do not put fake faces on, I act like, as I’ve said, myself. Because of that, I often find myself feeling like a misfit, someone who doesn’t quite fit in. A lot of the time, I tend to make jokes to lighten the mood in a room. Some people find that funny of me, and appreciate it. By ‘some people’, I mean my friends. Other people, however, find it more so annoying then actually funny. That leaves me with two options: be upset and keep my mouth shut, or be myself and simply shrug it off. I believe that everyone on this planet was created the same, however, we’re all built different. I myself am a huge fan of video games, anime, stuff of that genre. Not everyone enjoys those sorts of things: and that’s completely fine. My best friend is not a fan of anime, nor video games, yet we still enjoy each other’s presence. It just goes to show: everyone can get along. Everyone has one thing in common: we’re all humans, confound to the earth. I enjoy making people around me smile. It’s something that I live for. Sometimes I accomplish this by acting goofy. If that doesn’t work, then I always find a way. My dreams include finding the love of my life, and providing support for my mother. I want to create a healthy environment to live in, and then, I want to help anyone I find in need. I want to be the reason a person smiles. I plan on accomplishing this no matter what. Nothing can stand in my way and stop me.

Around this time, last year, if someone were to challenge me to a match of chess, I'd probably have shrugged my shoulders and said something like, "I don't even know how to play". So, pops the question, why have I started playing chess in the first place? On January 5th, of 2020, my house caught fire one night, the smoke damage was horrible, therefore, everyone in my household had to go live elsewhere. My mom and her boyfriend stayed in a hotel room. My cousin moved in with her boyfriend. My grandmother took my two little siblings with her to New York. Thus, leaving me, poor lonely Eve, to move in with my uncle and my cousin. It was then, when I moved in, my uncle and my cousin began playing chess with one another. After watching a few matches of them play, my uncle invited me into their little chess party and taught me to play. Now, chess is something I really enjoy playing. The thing with chess is that the player has to actually use their brain and think. The player must move their pieces forwards, in order to try and capture their opponent's king. At the same time, however, the player must also be aware that they themself also possess a king, and need to protect it with every essence of life they have. When I first began playing, I was always very impatient. I'd move all my pieces forwards, and only focus on capturing my enemy's king: nothing else. When playing chess in an impatient manner, it only leaves the player feeling aggravated, and the sweet arms of defeat ready to grasp the player. Patience was the first thing I learned, I had to learn to attack, but also take the time to protect my king. Patience is something I use everyday. When I'm driving behind someone very slow on a one-way street, I have no choice but to be patient. When I order a pizza with white sauce and mushrooms, I have to be patient and wait for my pizza to arrive. When my house burnt down in a terrible fire that was unpredictable, I had to be patient, and wait a very long time for my home to be rebuilt so that I could be reunited with my family once more. People can be inpatient, become annoyed with something they cannot change, and leave themselves to be miserable. People can also be patient, learn that things are outside of control sometimes, and simply go with the flow, knowing that tomorrow will be a better day. As I said earlier, the player must think before moving their pieces and come up with a strategy of attack and defense. It's nearly impossible to win a game of chess by randomly moving pieces around with no second thought. Each move a player makes in chess has a tremendous impact, which can lead to the overall victory or defeat in a match. Right now, I am writing about all of this for a scholarship. If I am trying to get a scholarship, one can assume that I am off and on my way to college, which is correct. If anyone can explain why thinking before making choices is so important, it would be any person applying for college, choosing a major, and so on and so fourth. I live in Pennsylvania, and for all my life, I've always wondered what the rest of America (as well as the rest of the world) looks like. I always knew I wanted to leave home when I went to college, become independent and venture into the world with my head held high. I always knew that I want to travel the world, and see everything, from the Great Wall of China, to the pyramids in Egypt. As awesome as exploring the world sounds, a person needs a steady flow of income in order to do so: travel is expensive. My mother is a waitress, and my father lives in another state. My mother takes care of myself, my siblings, my grandmother, and one of my cousins. With all those people with my mother's very limited income, it's quite clear to see that money is awfully tight for us. Playing chess has taught me that I need to plan each move I make carefully in order to ensure success. I need to work hard in college, and get a good degree in whatever it is I enjoy. Then, I need to provide for my mother, and make sure she is steady and okay. Finally, after that, I plan on pursuing my life goal of seeing every last corner of this planet.

Answering this question is difficult, seeing as there are many different answers I could provide. I feel as though that I, as well as many other teenagers, don't truly know what I want to do with my life. What I end up studying in college will pretty much determine a good portion of the rest of my life. That's why I've decided that I am going to go through and follow my dreams, no matter how unrealistic they may be. I'd rather be poor and happy, rather than rich but unhappy with my career. Taking a step back, what I specifically want to major in at the moment would have to be film. There's something about working hard with a group of people to create something, then showing others the final product, that I truly do enjoy. Throughout my life, I've noticed that I'm skilled in the art of making other people laugh. It's something I enjoy to do as well, when I'm able to make other people laugh, I can practically feel the serotonin levels in my brain increase. With that said, creating films that can cause other people to laugh and be entertained seems like a good fit for me. As fun and dandy as that sounds, my brain isn't just satisfied with that. I also have a passion for video games. I'd love to minor in creative writing, and maybe be able to work on writing storylines for video game series. Video games are like playable works of film, the two are practically cousins from the same side of the family. In Super Mario, the player plays as Mario, a short man on a quest to save his woman, Princess Peach, from the antagonist, Bowser. Instead of simply watching how things play out, the player is forced to go through and do the hard work for Mario, in order to see the story progress on. The viewer has to work and earn the storyline, instead of simply sitting down and watching how the entire story plays out. The whole concept is amazing and interesting to me, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't pursue a career in that department. It's quite obvious to see I have plenty of ideas of what I want to study in college, which is why I'm entering college with an undecided major. I plan to explore my campus, meet and talk to people, and see what happens.

Over half a year ago, everyone was able to walk into any type of public place without a care or worry in the world. There were no masks, no constant sanitizing, no fear, just simple living. How our life used to be feels like a fever dream, almost as if it was something that's never even happened before. I feel as though that many people- including myself- have realized how much we used to have and how much we all took for granted before the COVID-19 outbreak. The funny thing is before COVID-19 happened, I was going to school five days a week, babysitting my siblings often, and working at a part time job. It seemed as though I always had something to do and never had any time for myself. Once COVID-19 hit, and everyone was forced to quarantine and stay home...I had the exact opposite problem. I had way too much time to myself, not to mention the fact that I was a junior going into my senior year of high school at the time. Never in my life had I spent so much time thinking about my future, and what I plan to do in college. Never in my life had I spent so much time pondering the past, analyzing all of my mistakes, wondering what could have been if I had made different choices in life. As depressing as the isolation is, I feel as though I've really grown and matured during this pandemic. I've come to realize some of my faults, like my tendency to overthink things, which is one of the first steps I need to take in order to overcome them. During my isolation from the world, I've decided that I want to become the best version of myself that I possibly can be. I want to achieve this so that I can be a person that others can rely on. I want to be the reason someone is laughing, the shoulder there for someone to cry on, I aspire to be the person that everyone can rely on when needed. Sure, being quarantined and isolated from the world is awful, but I have learned a good thing or two about myself. Enough talking about me, I've also learned a good bit about other people- and the world I am currently living in. Let's start by simply glossing over America, and how our country is currently handling the COVID-19 outbreak. To put it bluntly: we are not doing very well. On one end, we have people too afraid to step foot out of their homes. On the other end, we have people who refuse to wear masks out in public even though it's mandatory. America is in shambles right now, as much as I hate to say it, and it truly is a scary thing. It's rather important for everyone to openly communicate with one another, listening to people is a key concept. Before someone can stand up and declare that COVID-19 isn't real, that someone can take a step back, and listen to the news, any scientist, anyone, really. It takes listening, and communication. People can discuss why or why not they believe the pandemic is real, and hopefully can come up with an agreement. The more awareness about COVID-19, the less lives that will be lost in the long run. That's my main concern, too many people have died this far, and I can't bare to watch this continue. To think about all of those families that have been hurt and lost their loved ones from this disease. I've learned that people won't always agree with me, and as frustrating and upsetting as it is, it's something that I must learn to live with, just like everyone else.

I do not think that I have thought so much about my future and what I want this extensively in my life. That’s the funny thing about a person’s senior year of high school: suddenly, they have to figure their life out. Everyone is built differently from one another, we have our own different purposes. Right now, I'm working on discovering my own purpose. With all that said, I believe my purpose is many things. I want to be able to take care of my mother. The woman is a waitress, with no husband, and three children (with myself as the eldest). As I’ve matured throughout the years, I’ve realized how much this woman has had to sacrifice for me. She left her home country, Trinidad and Tobago, in order for me to have a good education. She began a lash business, to be able to provide more for my siblings and I. She cannot be a waitress forever, and once she gets too old, I want to be able to financially support her. Money has always been tight for our family, but if I go to college, study hard and find my passion, and go straight into the work field, maybe I can help tie up the loose ends. On top of providing for my family, I want to be happy. I want to get a career in something that I’m interested in. What would be the point of putting hard work into a career I'd be absolutely miserable in? I don’t think a person can be successful in life if they’re unhappy. I want my career to be something I enjoy, something that I can be excited about. That's why I need to explore various careers, and see which one is right for me. The world, in comparison to the entire universe, is tiny. The world, in comparison to a girl, whose grown up in a small town in Pennsylvania, is ginormous. There are different counties, different cultures, and a whole lot of things to see. I want to see everything this planet has to offer. I want to try every food there is to try. I want to talk to so many different people and learn about so many different things. We all only have a limited time on this planet, just like someone else has a limited time on a free Netflix trial. That person with the free trial is going to watch as many movies and shows that they can before that trial ends. Life is the same way, we all need to go and see as much as we possibly can before it ends. All of our duties, as humans on the planet Earth, is to explore it. No rock can be left unturned, no country can be left unvisited. Receiving this grant would help me cover my college tuition, I could explore various programs and figure out what exactly I want to do, which will then lead me to a purposeful life.

A good amount of children are signed up for some type of extra curricular activity. My childhood extra curricular activity was none other than soccer. Truth be told, I never really enjoyed participating in soccer, as I ran up and down the soccer field, I felt much like a hamster, running on a little wheel and getting no where. At the time, however, I figured that every girl playing soccer didn't enjoy it...boy was I wrong. When I got older and hit middle school, the school's soccer team didn't take any girl that wanted to be on the team. Instead, every girl that wanted to be apart of the team had to audition for a spot. If someone doesn't like doing something, that someone most likely won't be good at that something. Take a moment to think about it, how can someone be good at doing something they're completely unmotivated to do? After four whole days of auditions, only three girls were told they couldn't be on the soccer team. Of course, I was one of those three girls. At the time, I was really upset about the rejection. Soccer was my extra circular activity, sure I absolutely despised it, but it was my thing. At that point in time, I had felt as though I completely lost the one thing I had: soccer. Fast forward to my last year of middle school, a girl I was friends with at the time had proudly announced that she was going to join the color guard in the high school's marching band. At the time, I had no idea what a color guard was, so out of sheer curiosity, I googled the words 'color guard', and a new door of opportunity opened. As I watched video after video of people on a football field, spinning and tossing flag after flag, all I could think about was how much I aspired to be one of those people on the field. Color guard could be my next soccer, except color guard would be something that I wouldn't dread to do. So, I decided to also sign up to join the color guard. After long weeks of practicing in the hot sun during band camp, I learned how to properly spin a six foot flag. Color guard didn't feel pointless, like soccer did. Color guard is physically demanding, which gives it a sporty feeling, but it's also art. Instead of being sweaty and chasing after a flag, I was sweaty awhile elegantly performing a flag routine. If I hadn't failed at making the soccer team, I would have never joined the color guard. I would still be participating in the sport that I absolutely hate. I wouldn't have learned the valuable lesson of why it's so important for everyone to do what makes them happy instead of what they're used to. My failure of making the soccer team doesn't define me, instead, it made me learn my true potential.

Music is an important part of anything and everything. Personally, I don’t like awkward silences, I doubt anyone really does. They’re unsettling and just plain uncomfortable. Music is present almost everywhere, and it's something that’s taken for granted everyday. Most people are barely even aware of this sole fact. Seriously, just take a split second to think about it, think of normal things people do everyday. Driving to school, going to the grocery store, wandering around the mall. What do all three of those things share in common with each other? Music. Cars have this contraption called a radio, some lucky individuals even have access to the holy grail known as an aux cord. This amazing machine called a radio plays what's known as music, to cancel out the painful silence present in the car as the driver operates their car. When someone goes grocery shopping, even though it's usually the same four awful songs playing over and over again, the music is still present. Gorillaz has been and probably will continue to be my favorite band of all time. All of their albums are so different from one another, each one containing a different tone than the other. On top of that, each individual song is its own unique little thing. Some of their music is sort of deep, with hidden messages in it. For example, there’s “Dirty Harry”, the lyrics in the song suggests that George W. Bush doesn’t care about soldiers in the middle east. Even with the deep meaning hidden in the music, the song is really upbeat and catchy, which makes it easy to miss the message. This happens with a few of their songs, deeper meanings are hidden within the lyrics and are easy to overlook. Then there’s songs like “Superfast Jellyfish”, just by glancing at the title it's clear it's a playful song. There's not really a deep hidden meaning, or anything serious in the song. It’s just a happy song with some rap thrown into the mix. There’s no two songs by Gorillaz that are like each other, which is probably a solid reason their music is so good. So why am I so infatuated with a simple concept such as music? Because I like it. Music matters because I, as well as a good portion of people, like it. As basic as that sounds, it's how I feel. It matters because it's something that exists that brings me joy. Music is something that exists and snatches hold of my interest.

In January of 2020, my house caught fire in the middle of the night. The next day, my family and I returned to the house to see what had survived. Everything was covered in a layer of black smoke, it was all I was able to smell and taste for a week. In the image provided is exactly what my hand looked like after only rummaging through my closet for clothing. Going through my house and throwing all of my belongings into trash bags was a very challenging ordeal for myself. In the end, however, the experience made me stronger.

School has taught me, as well as everyone else, the basic foundation of knowledge. This basic foundation of knowledge is rather essential for everyone's survival as a citizen in society. Before thinking about how dramatic that sounds, I advise taking a step back and just thinking about it. Basic math was something everyone went ahead and learned at school. Along with basic math, reading is another thing that everyone's been taught how to accomplish. If reading isn't good enough, the bare knowledge of writing was also taught to most children. Oh, and don't forget history, the reason everyone knows George Washington was the first president of the United States of America is because everyone's been in a basic social studies class. I really could sit here and list off all of the basic, common knowledge everyone has all thanks to attending elementary school. Education has had an astronomical role in my life, seeing as how I'd be completely lost and oblivious to the world around me if I hadn't received an education. Continuing on with that, I believe that education has had a big impact on everyone's life, not just my own. Imagine what our world would look like today if most people weren't given an education. What would happen if someone needed to figure out how much money they can spend on groceries for the week? How would that someone do that if they don't know how to perform basic math? No one would know what they're doing, society as we know it would collapse. It would be a train wreck, and I for one do not particularly like train wrecks. I whole heartedly believe that everyone should be passionate about their education.

Everyone has that person in their life that is their 'ride or die' friend. The friend that's the very best out of any friend they've had in their entire life. The friend that they can depend upon no matter what occurs. I have a friend like that, and her name is Sabrina. She's been there for me since the beginning of my high school experience, and through everything we've been during our crusade of high school, our friendship has only grown stronger. Sabrina and I have gone through so much together, and through thick and thin, we've always been there to support one another. Even as we part ways for college, we still keep in contact with one another, and still are best friends with one another. I'm very thankful to have a friend like this in my life, and I don't know what I'd do without her.

It’s January 4th, going into the morning of January 5th. You’re asleep. There is nothing but darkness, your mind is too tired to dream up much of anything. For the past few days, you’ve been having trouble sleeping, you’ve either been laying awake, or waking up around 2 in the morning, feeling sick. It’s Saturday night, after a few rounds of Tetris, you decide you’re tired. You put on your alarm for your shift at Giant the next day, before passing out in your bed. That’s how you’ve gotten to this point: asleep in your bed. Suddenly, you’re not asleep. Something pulled you out of the nothingness of your dream. You’re awake, you hear footsteps rushing up the stairs, and a deep voice. Lex? Is it Lex? What’s the voice even saying? “There’s a FIRE! THERE’S A FIRE!” There’s a fire? Instantly, you feel a surge go through your body. Your heart is beating, fast, you feel… … You can’t feel anything, right now, actually. You somehow open up your door without even twisting the knob, or maybe you did twist the knob, it just happened so fast you can barely recall it. You see Chase, barging into your sibling’s room. You absentmindedly run down the stairs, upon reaching the first landing, however, you stop. There’s a fire? If there’s a fire...why are you running away from your siblings? Your granny? You turn back around and run upstairs. Run? Are you running? Why...is it so hard to move? You’re climbing up the stairs. It’s hard, you drag one foot in front of the other and climb back up the stairs. You can’t breathe. It feels like you’re sucking air out of a tiny plastic straw, it feels like you’re exhaling more than you’re inhaling. You finally make it to the top of the stairs and storm into the room that your siblings reside in Chase was shaking the two children on the top bunk awake: Zaine, your brother, and Jojo, your cousin who was spending the night. Your eyes land on the bottom bunk, where you see your sister, Heidi, and your granny laying there. Somehow, you land your way over there and begin to shake Heidi, as soon as her eyes open up, you somehow speak without feeling your mouth move “Run” You said something like that “Get out of here” Or maybe it was that “Go outside” Perhaps even that. She shot right out of the room and disappeared down the stairs. That’s when your eyes fell on your granny, who had gotten out of the bed in that process and was… Standing there. She was staring at nothing, she was engrossed in staring at nothing. She didn’t seem like she’d move anytime soon. “Granny” Oh, would you look at that, you seem to be speaking again. Did you tell her something? Did you scream? Did you pat her to get her attention? What did you do? You don’t remember. You remember running down the stairs, gasping and heaving desperately for breath, with Chase, the two little boys, and Granny. As soon as you burst through the front door, you see Amel and Heidi. You’re coughing. You’re coughing so hard. It hurts, you want it to stop. Spit is dribbling down the sides of your mouth, and you can’t stop. There’s a lot of panicked talking, screaming, voices...and you can’t hear any of it. You..can’t feel any of it. You’re wearing a tee shirt filled with holes, shorts, and socks, and you can’t feel how cold you are. You can feel your saliva dripping down your chin as you continue to cough and dry heave. When you stand up straight and perk your head up, you notice Amel and Chase are gone. You look at granny, she’s just standing there, staring at the smoke pouring out the house. You turn around, you see Heidi, crying, and Jojo, also crying. Heidi...Jojo.. There were three kids, weren’t there? Where’s the third one? You turn your head back around to see Chase, carrying your brother, the one kid who was missing, out of the smoke filled house. Wasn’t Zaine with you guys when you ran out of the house? If he was, then why did Chase come out of the burning house a second time, carrying him? “SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE!” That was Amel’s voice, wasn’t it? That was Amel’s voice screaming hysterically into the night. What did she say? Now you had to think…. Oh, the police. Right. You dial 9-1-1 with the phone that was conveniently being gripped in your hand and listen to the phone ring, your entire body is shaking. You can’t feel anything. “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” It was a woman’s voice. You took a moment to think, there’s an emergency? “Fire” you croaked out, because your house was, indeed, on fire. “Where are you?” she asked. “My house” you responded, staring at the smoke pouring out of the front door ahead of you. “Where is your house?” this was going nowhere “Elm Street?” you didn’t understand why your answers weren’t satisfying the woman’s questions. “Is that in St. Lawrence?” the woman shot another question Was it? Weren’t you in Reading? Or Exeter? “Uh-” Before you could further make yourself sound like an idiot, Amel snatched the phone from you and began to talk. As you stood there, staring at the massive heaps of smoke pouring out of your house, you can't help but to realize that you almost lost your life. You could have stayed inside that house, inhaled too much smoke, and stopped breathing. This could have been the last night of your life...but it wasn't. It was at that moment you've finally seen how fragile life truly is. It was at this moment you told yourself that you are going to live your life to the fullest and do everything you want to do. So, that's exactly what you do.

Children in elementary schools are always taught what to do during the emergency of a fire: stop, drop, and roll. In January of 2020, I came to learn that there's a lot more to a house fire than stopping, dropping, and rolling. There's the aftermath: the sole fact that everyone who once lived in that house have no house to live in anymore. If it's not obvious enough, my house caught fire on January 5th, 2020. I woke up that night to the sounds of screaming and a smoke detector blaring. I'm lucky enough to report that everyone made it out of the house safely. Alas, what followed that fire would lead nearly a year of hardship and confusion. The night the house burnt down, I slept at my uncle's house with my grandmother. My two little siblings were sent up to New York, to live with my aunt until further notice. My mother and her boyfriend lived in a hotel for a little bit, before moving into a model house. I was all over the place, it was a hot mess. One minute, I was living with my cousin, then hopping back and fourth between my mother and my cousin. Eventually, a month or so after my mother moved into the model house, I moved in with my mother. Then, at the beginning of the summer, I stayed in New York, with my aunt and siblings. I was moving from place to place, nothing felt permanent. After the third time I moved, it became rather easy. I could pack up all of my belongings in a matter of minutes, I became so used to moving around. At the end of October in 2020, our house was finally rebuilt. To this day, this house still doesn't feel permanent to me. After all, I've moved around so much, I've gone nearly a year without having a place to call 'home', it's hard to process that the struggle is over. I understand what thoughts are flowing right now, 'gee that's great and all, but how is this an accomplishment?'. I've always gotten great grades throughout my high school experience. I always worked hard to get these grades, because I want to go to a good college. After the fire struck and I was cycling from place to place, maintaining these grades became rather difficult. Instead of paying attention to my AP government teacher, I found myself staring out of a window near my desk, thinking about nothing but the fire, my younger siblings who were missing from my life, wondering when I'd see my mother again. At that point, I had to motivate myself to concentrate, to maintain my grades like usual, to push through the rocky road I was trudging through. My greatest achievement in life is overcoming this entire situation. I finished my junior year in the honor roll, got a 4 on an AP test, and made it through to the very end of the road. My family is reunited once more, my mother can finally live with all three of her children underneath the same roof. I can wake up every morning to the sounds of two children causing mischief. Everything is okay, once again. In the future, I wish to go to college. My mother is a waitress, and won't be able to be a waitress forever. When it's time to retire, I want to have a steady job, with a good income to take care of her, since she's taken care of me throughout my entire life. I want to set a good example for my two younger siblings, I want them to work as hard as I did in high school, and get into a good college as well. I want to be a strong supporting chain in my family, since they've all done nothing but help me, even through the challenging hardships we've all faced.