Lynsie Lucas

Mel S

Sunny Anomaly

Leyre Garcia

emily wahl

English

"Happy birthday!" they sang—but it wasn't my birthday.

I tried to play it off cool; it wasn’t my birthday but I wanted those presents I could see on the table behind them.

“Yeah!” I said, letting the awkwardness drain from my voice. “It’s totally my birthday! You remembered and everything!” As I said this, it dawned on me that from now on, I’d probably have to pretend that my birthday was on this date. But the presents glistened before me, and I

would have to pretend that I was excited, everything was confusing. "Happy birthday!" they kept saying

over and over. Have I gone insane? Did I know these people? All of a sudden, I heard a bell toll. A warm sensation took over me. That’s when I knew this wasn’t real. That fall wasn’t just a dream. This coma is where my thoughts are. And someone’s birthday is in the room over.

I feel my body…in pain. My legs are being squeezed rhythmically with some kind of machine. So much pain— the fall? The sunlight was shocking as I opened my eyes for the first time in— how long was I asleep? A hospital room. Happy voices from the other room. Happy birthday, kid.

Birthday at the Edge of Death Day

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KadKad Kad

Sam Becker

Even1o2

"I only agreed to this because you told me Danny DeVito would be here!"

“I am here,” Danny DeVito chuckled as he stepped out of the shadows with a katana gripped in his hands.

He looked like a black chicken but I did not laugh nor did I look scared. Luckuly he didn't see me and only Bob.

We already knew what will happen to us. Bob shuffles for his shattered glasses on the floor. His eyes began to focus.

As if by a true miracle, he realized he could see without his glasses. He saw where they lay on the floor and picked them up, just in case. But he truly hoped the miracle would last.

It's a DeVito Miracle!

Emma Mazzucco

I finally got on dance moms but Abby lee miller kept screaming"...

"You're not prepared for that show! You have no idea what it takes to win Dance Moms," Abby cried. I thought for a second. Was she right? Had all my training been for naught? No, I decided, and booked my ticket to Reno.

Once I'd hit "confirm," the reality of what I'd just done didn't hit me right away. At first, I was filled with more excitement than anything else—maybe even relief, because I'd made a decision. Now, what filled me with anxiety, was the realization that I had to follow through.

I think that having made that decision has done me worse than I imagined, the worst thing I did in my life

Do I even come back from this? Probably not. I made my bed. Now I have to lay in it. I could’ve done more to get the kid back home and I didn’t. What kind of person does that make me? I don’t think it makes me a person...

It makes me a monster. Knowing this decision would haunt me the rest of my life, I began to recluse myself, not wanting to ruin anyone else’s life. Maybe in another 50 years, I could emerge again. Or maybe I would just be the crazy shut-in for the rest of my life.

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