The Sky We Call Heaven

Days of rain had swelled the river, floods threatened to break loose.  The storm had continued on for the past week, leaving the town in terror of what would attack next.  While rich folks had been trapped in their houses, huddled up next to the radio, listening through the static, many others hide in the alley…like me. Cold, scared, and alone. We all sat, waiting for our worlds to end. We were done with the suffering, or I was at least.  I was tired of the tethered up clothing, the scraps of food for dinner, the cold, wet, stormy nights.  I wanted to be inside, next to a fire with my family.  I wanted to eat a dinner, a real one.  But most of all, I wanted to get away from this storm.

I live in New Orleans; storms are normal.  I'm used to living on the street, having it rain every night or so. I know how to avoid lightning and stay safe from tornadoes; it's second nature to me. However, the last week has been worse than I could have ever imagined.  It all started with a spring shower, the beginning of May, it seemed pretty normal to all of us. It was heavy rain, all of us huddled together on the streets, but still, pretty normal.  We waited the storm out, hoping it would last only a day.  There was at least three days of consecutive rain, with only breaks for short amounts of time. We all prayed to God that he would make this horrible storm stop, but we hadn't even faced our worse offender yet.

Four days into the storm, we had received word from a local shop that there was a tornado spotted, and was looked to touch down near us.  We all appreciated the kind word and thoughtfulness of telling us, but we still had no where to go. We were still stranded on the road, waiting to die.

As more talk went around about the tornado, we knew there was a less and less chance of surviving. Families slept together, not sure if they would make it another night. Little kids, still running down the street, laughing and screaming -- like nothing was wrong.  It broke my heart to imagine losing them, or them having to live without us.  Every rain drop that fell was just another second ticking away from our lives.

That night, while we slept, a tornado came crashing through our city, our alley...our home. I survived.  I don’t know how, or why, but I did. I was one of the few.  As the morning sun grew, people emerged from the rubble. Some heartbroken by the loss of loved ones, others reaching out for the hands of their family.  Standing water surrounded us, buildings fallen to the ground, crashing into the remains of our city.  At this point, I was questioning if it was better to be alive, or better to be watching this from the sky.  The sky we call Heaven.

Saving Grace Essay

In the novel Saving Grace, Grace's brother, Matt, dies in a car accident and  she completely changes.  Things she used to love, now seem foreign to her.  She can't remember the last time she saw one of her friends, or the last time she played lacrosse, or even laugh. Because of this, her personality changes when she goes back to school and is approached by a 'popular' girl.  She decides that since she's sad it's okay if she wants to rebel.  She starts to drink, fall behind in class, and steal things, all because she lost her brother.

Death isn't an easy thing to handle, especially when your brother dies.  Grace didn’t know how to cope with the pain, the only thing she knew how to do was rebel because of it.  She thought that she had an excuse to act out, since she was sad because of her brothers death.  Because her brother died, she thought that it was okay to act out. The effect of her brother dying was Grace rebelled because she was trying to get away from the problems that occurred to her. She wanted to escape the pain, and to do this she completely changed her personality.  Failing in school, sneaking out, and lying to her parents...Grace wasn't sure what to do anymore; she just knew that she had gotten away from the problems.

Her brother dying wasn't the only thing that caused problems.  After her personality change, problems arose from that. She lost her old friends, because she made new ones.  She started to drink, go to parties and illegally buy alcohol -- because this was the new Grace.  She lost her head in all this, all because her brother died.

Saving Grace isn't the only book that uses a cause and effect structure.  There are many books that use this as a way to express the lesson.  Thirteen Reasons Why explains this perfectly.  Every reason is an effect of the previous one, a never ending chain.  Everything in the book leads after the first action.  Both books have a great lesson, telling us that many things can occur after one small issue.

In life, things happen.  Problems arise, people change, and things we do have effects. Every single thing you do or say has an effect.  Some are bigger or more important, but still caused by the thing you did. One thing leads to the next, and before you know it, you've completely changed.

Love

"And love will hold us together make us a shelter to weather the storm, and I'll be my brothers' keeper so the whole world will know that we're not alone."
-Hold Us Together
Matthew Maher

Love. It will bring people together and pull others apart.  I will make some happy and others sad, leave some with a partner, and others lonely.  It will heal hearts, and break others. Love isn't assured, were not promised a soul mate. We have to look for them, and might never find them.  We have the risk of losing everything, just for one person.  But once you find them, they'll change your life forever.  Love is the only thing that can save us, it's the only thing that can make us feel cared about, feel special. Love can't fix everything, sometimes it breaks things more.   It builds us up and tears us down.  It won't fix our problems, but whenever you have love, everything feels okay.

Silence.

Author’s Note: I wrote this poem to describe the feeling of death, or when you lose a loved one.  Comments would be highly appreciated, since I do not normally write poetry.

Silence.

You are not alone

Subtle footsteps stalk behind

Silence.

You are not alone

Watching you from a distance

Silence.

You are not alone

Though I have chose to hide

Silence.

You are not alone

Long nights you spend waiting for my return

Silence.

You are not alone

Yet you cry into the early morning

Silence.

You are not alone

I will always be by your side

Silence.

Alone All Along

Rushing down the hallways of a hospital, Julie was being wheeled to a room. She was about to give birth. The baby she had been carrying for nine months was about to be here. There was no more waiting, no more pretending that this wasn’t happening, he was being born.

This was not a planned pregnancy.  Julie and her boyfriend of three years had unexpectedly become pregnant.  Then Mike left her. He said he would pay child support, but wanted nothing to do with the baby’s life.  Julie had no family.  No one that was there for her, no shoulder to cry on…nothing. All she had was her son.

Born at 11:11 on June 19^th, Jackson was rushed into the ICU because his heart didn’t work properly. It was decided he was going to need heart surgery, at less than a week old, just to figure out what was wrong.  There was a low chance of survival, low chance of making it, a low chance of bringing happiness to the world. But there was hope.

11:11. Many believe this is a lucky time. A time where you can make a wish, take a chance, make a change. Julie thought this was fate. Her baby was born at a time that was meant for hope.  Jackson was full of hope. 

The first two days of Jackson’s life were hard.  Nonstop crying, no rest for either Jackson or Julie. Jackson, barely able to breathe on his own and Julie filled with fear.  Watching her baby struggle, watching him cry….watching him try to survive.  Nothing was easy for her; it hadn’t been for a while.

On the fourth day of Jackson’s life he had an emergency open heart surgery.  There was no time to waste, Jackson was dying and he needed help. Surgery at such a young age was risky, but was the only option at the time.  He had a problem, and this was a solution.

At two months old, Jackson was released from the hospital.  He was normal.  The surgery had worked.  There was no pain in these little boys’ eyes, no sound of terror in his cries. He was better. Julie had a real smile back on her face, not the one she faked every time she saw her son.  Pretending that everything was okay, pretending that none of this was going on…pretending.  But now she was back in reality.  Her son, was just like any other two month old; a pain.  He stayed awake late in the night, and didn’t want to eat when he was supposed to, but everything was normal.

July 17^th

Two days and Jackson would be at a year.  He was a miracle baby, the doctors said he didn’t have much chance of living, but he did. Julie was driving, Jackson in the back seat, going to the airport.  They were flying in to visit her sister, who had planned a elaborate party to celebrate little Jackson’s one year.

It was particularly stormy that day, on and off showers, leaving rainbows high in the sky.  Not a bad day to be driving along, looking at the view.  Jackson was giggling along to the music, smiling like happiest person in the world. Julie driving down a busy highway, concentrating on the road.  But all it takes is one moment, one second, one cry to change everything.  

Jackson, who was happily playing with his Fischer Price fish aquarium just a second before, had burst out in to a terrible screech, a screech because he dropped his toy. Memories came rushing back to Julie; memories of the days 10 months ago in the hospital. This was the same cry, the same kid, and possibly the same situation.  Without thinking, Julie turned back to see what was wrong.  She lost control of the wheel.  The car jolted to a stop, but the driver behind them didn’t notice. There was a thrust of power, lots of loud noises, lots of heat, lots of terror. There was a second where everything went wrong.

Jackson died.  The back of his head was attacked by the hood of the car, damaging the brain instantly, killing him within minutes. Julie, still alive, lay beside her now desisted son, crying.  She was the reason he died.  If she wouldn’t have turned around, they would be boarding a plane right now, but instead, she’s alone.  She has no family; she has no one to care for her, no one to care about.  She has no reason to live.

Presents

Author's Note: The purpose of this piece is to figure out what really happens when you open up presents. The symbolism behind it is so much more, i hope you realized what I was trying to accomplish. 

Running down the stairs, jumping up and down.  Looking at the presents under the Christmas tree, waiting until you can rip them open. Wrapped in a box is a toy, book, gift card- a present.  One that you received from someone....someone who loves you.  Not just anyone will take the time to buy something for you. Wrapped in the box may be something you can play with, but emotionally- it is a different story. A present is a present, until you look further into it.  There is an emotional balance to this, too.  Love.  Presents are love, the amount someone cares about you.  It's their gift to show their love to you.