Page 52 - The Muse 2021

I wrote my address in the note and folded it up, he would know who it was from. I looked for his locker and slipped the note in through the small slits on the top. I had no idea if he was going to show up or not, but I wasn’t going to take any chances.
After school, I raced to my apartment and got everything ready. I cleaned everything up to make it look as if I had my life together. At 7:30 sharp I heard a knock on the door. I slowly walked towards the door and opened it, revealing Diego standing there with the note.
“I got your note,” he said as he handed me back the crumpled piece of paper.
I took the note from his hand and gestured for him to come inside. I really didn’t know how this was going to go. We made small talk for a few minutes and then he asked to go to the bathroom. I pointed to a small room where the bathroom was located and watched as he hastily walked towards it and shut the door. There was no way to escape from the bathroom so that wasn’t a problem. I quickly decided to go to my room and get a box of matches. I remember buying these the first day that I got to Illinois, just in case. You never know when you might need emergency matches. Then I jammed the door shut, slamming a chair and a sofa against it so he couldn’t get out. Then I set fire to the couch. This felt all too familiar. When Diego finally realized he couldn’t open the door, he started shouting, “Luna! What are you doing!”
“My name is not Luna!” I screamed angrily.
Diego started to get desperate, feeling the heat of the sofa pressing against the door, “I have to tell you something!”
I started getting nervous, “What?!”
“You do know me from somewhere,” Diego started saying, “Your mom’s new family’s pictures.”
“What are you saying?” I asked
“I’m your brother Luna!” he finally blurted out, “Our mom had me the year that she left you. I knew that I had to
follow you, I had to know what you were doing!” I started getting dizzy. I knew that my mom had a kid, but I had only seen him once on an old Facebook post that I came across a couple years ago. This couldn’t be real. The room was already filled with smoke, I couldn’t see clearly. The point was that Diego knew my real identity, and that was a problem.
“I’m so sorry Diego!” I screamed at the top of my lungs before finally escaping down the emergency exit and getting in his car. I stole his car keys while he was in the bathroom, not knowing if I was going to need them. I quickly got into the car, looking as my apartment went up in flames. I felt horrible but relieved at the same time. I needed to get out of there. So, I got in the car and started driving, with no destination in mind, just driving. I had to start over, again. I just drove with the radio at top volume and the windows down, feeling the cool breeze on my face. That’s how adrenaline can kill you; by making you feel numb, by giving you the feeling of immunity.
Beauté Volcanique by Kelly Svendsen 8th Grade
I mean if I didn’t post the Instagram story, did it even really happen? No, Lizzie thought selfishly.
Throughout her ferry ride and arrival on the island, she had made sure to take pictures of the views and post them to her Instagram story. It was a brilliant day with a beautiful sun when Lizzie Jepson decided to visit Beauté Volcanique—the largest, designer mall in the world. The mall had views unlike any other, and brand names no other generic mall could compete with, but it happened to be located on top of a dormant volcano. Lizzie was narcissistic; she wanted to go to take photos and make sure that her high-profile followers knew that she was on such an exclusive island having a shopping experience everyone wished to have. Along with the haul of pictures she took, she also planned on lugging as many designer bags that she could carry with her. Lizzie pridefully walked around wherever she went with a snobby, stuck up look on her face. It was Lizzie’s world in her mind.
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Helena Froes Hermann, Grade 8