Strange: The Senior Young Writers Group Zine 2023

Tile 15
I stare back down the winding path of colourful numbers, each
one individual and unique, like the year I was that age. Facing
the other way, I see only blue. A flat, medium blue. Entering
this new chapter will be like school, only the test comes before
the lesson. I would do anything to live the red year again. An
innocent 8-year-old without the crushing depression and
anxiety of being something in this world. Without worrying
about making someone proud. Knowing myself. After blue
comes a bright orange-yellow. Tile 20 escaping my teens. But
for now all I can focus on is the tiles in between, and the fear of
falling into the dark void below with no one to notice.
Sometimes being everything isn’t enough, and I am still yet to
realise that.
19