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a space for youth writing on mental health & identity
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a space for youth writing on mental health & identity
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![]() It’s quiet here & the birds have stopped their call, probably to sleep for a few hours, which i carve into my mind in the luminous red numbers on the clock which read too late, too late, too late the creeping tick-ticking of the pipes in the walls begin, then cease, begin, then cease, a cycle of every seven minutes, which i count inside my head & calculate the hours lost i would get up & turn on the light but each time i sit up the drowsiness washes over me like a wave & then i wonder why the rest has not yet come, i imagine the quiet outside, a late-night worker though none as late as me, i look at the clock again & it’s been twenty minutes, i have school tomorrow, the thoughts pour into me & finally i give up & concede to just laying there, eyes wide open, waiting for sleep, waiting for the moment my eyelids droop closed, the twilight walls bathed white in moonlight, should i close the curtain? plug my ears? i roll over in my bed & the covers twist & tangle, ringlets & ringlets of forever coils, binding me in chains too hot, then too cold, then too hot again, i pray but my mind wanders, i have a headache, i switch the light on to go to the bathroom, listen as the obsolescent floor creaks, lightheaded & ghostly, until finally, when the first bird calls & i reach a trembling hand to the nightstand, the clock reads a blur & in a half-dream i realize i am finally asl e e Hallie is a Chinese-American writer and a sophomore in high school. She uses writing as a way to make sense of her own life, and the world. Her work has received numerous awards from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Outside of writing, she enjoys debating philosophical topics with friends, running, and creating digital art!
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October 2023
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