What Nobody Knew
Zoe C.Z.
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[Due to the severity of the situation, my piece contains mature, dark, and mildly graphic recollections]. Over the summer of 2023, I was taken out of school, away from my phone, my friends, and my home. Instead of finishing out my freshman year of highschool, I stayed in a place I like to call: not home. In the house where I lived for six weeks, I was surrounded by people my age who were undergoing similar experiences as myself. None of us could contact our friends from the outside so we grew into a tight knit group. We broke the rules together and we comforted each other on the neverending days. Even though I will never see those people again, I am forever changed by who they are and what they mean to me. Returning home has not been easy. I kept a journal throughout my time there, and wrote in it each night. Over the past month, I reopened the journal to draft my recollections, but I struggled because I could not fathom how to explain such a time of my life. I reference my experience amongst my close friends frequently, but there’s nobody to actually talk about it with. Here, I recount the time of my life that nobody knew. I share this writing to offer perspective to whomever comes across it, and to those that can relate: I hope you win the war you tell nobody about.
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I believe that to have creativity means to have the ability to freely depict and address opinions, thoughts, and emotions through non mechanized forms of expression. Being a creative person means being someone who thinks beyond an instructor's directions and/or defies what is “logical.” Creativity's powerful. Creativity is our future.
