Personal Narrative: The Make A Wish Foundation

For once I felt the sudden need to be near other people, so I headed for the door quickly. The street was deserted. Strewn across the road were all my belongings. Why were they here and not in my cardboard box where I slept in Well Street? Who had done this? Were they thieves? Not that I had much to steal. I began gathering everything up. My blankets had been shredded. There were dents in things, bits pulled off other things and generally messed with. Even the things that used to be usefully were destroyed. Why would anyone even bother to do this? As I looked at my surroundings I began to feel a little disorientated. The ground seemed to move. Then I felt distinctly uneasy. Was he back? At a distance I thought I could see people so I hurried in their direction but they never seemed to get nearer. At once, I was then surrounded by them! No faces! They’ve got no faces! I closed my eyes and when I opened them the people were gone. I suddenly felt as if I was being watched. I glanced around furtively and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a lion! I screamed but it was gone. As I again looked around I thought I could see dozens of pairs of eyes behind every window staring at me malevolently. I turned and ran. Breathlessly, I re-entered the church and slammed the door behind me.

I covered my mouth to keep it shut and not say anything. He was wearing black boots and black pants. I could see him running towards the open window in a hurry. Maybe he thought i jumped out or something. He began to run towards the stairs. “He’s leaving” i whispered… But there was no answer, I realized that the call was cut. The man was stepping down the stairs… when all of a sudden there was a loud ringtone coming from my hand. There was then a panic in my heart. The man rushed back into my room and entered, There was a moment of silence when all i could see was the man’s black boots staring straight at my eyes. When suddenly there was a powerful pull dragging me out of the bed. Closing my eyes all i could feel is was extrucenary pain all over my body, every second. I reached out for anything near by so I could at least fight. I felt something from the tip of my fingers. I got a grip of something and swung as hard as I could, I hit him hard. The man fell back. I opened my eyes and there he was, Lying on the ground. Weak and hurt i got up and slowly started walking out of my room and down the stairs. My whole body hurt it was hard to move. I heard the man start to get up, I was terrified. I decided to walk to the basement door to try and hide. I remembered the small door that was in the basement. And went gently to open the door. Weak and in pain I was able to get down the old sketchy stairs and move some boxes to open the door. I opened the door. On the other side was a little room. It was dark and had a little bit of light coming from the outside. Maybe the moon light from the outside. I sat on the small corner of the room.I wrapped my arms around my body to try and stay warm. It was quiet for a second. Until I heard the basement door slam open. The man's foot steps were loud and you could tell he wasn't very happy. I could easily read exactly where he was. He was looking for me,

Deafening screams ricocheted off the gray, blood-smeared cement walls.  My body became blanketed with a cold sweat, that made it hard to decide whether I was warm or freezing.  I received small glances of my surroundings as the strobe light blinded me.  My nose was filled with a pungent odor, making it impossible to breathe.  I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but I was wrong.

People always tell me I’m lucky. I am blessed with parents who advocate for me to receive the best in life regardless of their financial setback. So, in the fourth grade my parents greatly encouraged me to apply for The Steppingstone Foundation, a program that prepares urban students in Boston for admission to independent, catholic, and public exam schools. After Steppingstone, I applied for seven private schools and was only admitted into one, Newton Country Day School. It was intimidating at first; an all girls, independent, catholic school in Newton. Honestly, I had no idea what I was getting myself into and I had a rough time fitting in with all the other girls.

I woke startled, dazed and confused basically drowning in my own sweat. Where on earth am I. I got up and spun around and all I could see was four blank walls that seemed like they were closing in on me. The only thing that stood out was a lone door placed right in the middle of one of the walls. Without even thinking about it, I started to carefully creep forward towards the door, but as I did this I could hear movement on the other side and the door began to open. I was lightning quick to react and rushed up to the wall right beside the door and nervously watched as a large figure began to enter the dimly lit room. He looked around and noticed the empty space and shouted out in surprise, but I was quick and without a second thought grabbed him and slammed his head against the wall, knocking him out cold.

Hospitals are not the best places; no one wants to stay, but one was my favorite place for six months. People think of hospitals as some place to sit and wait for bad news. Brunswick hospital is the hospital I visited every day. It had plain white walls, red seats to sit in while waiting, and had a great staff. I was in sixth grade living life as any normal eleven year old. Life was a breeze. Then on February twenty-sixth, my whole world changed. My mother found out she had stage three Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. “Mom was going to die,” was the only thing running though my little scatter brain. She would not see my graduate or follow my dreams.

Hell, If I could, I would have turned right around. But I couldn’t. There was still something blocking my free will. It wanted me to go inside one of the buildings. Seconds later I feel the same force dragging me towards the A lettered building. 4 windows covered with dust shadow the view from the inside. I can barely make out the structures inside. Obviously everything was abandoned, so the sound of nothingness, not even the wind, was very eery. I arrived to the front entrance. You could clearly see how old everything was. The brick and concrete were beginning to crumble, chunks of rock falling from the building's sides. A large rusty chain was keeping the twin metal doors locked with a simple padlock on them. The rust seemed as though it was severe. A simple pull and the whole thing came apart with the lock on the ground. “How long has this been here?”, i question. Rust shouldn’t have weakened the metal that much. My legs alert me once more and I continue forward march. Through the twin doors, I was in what looked like an old, burned office. There was a receptionists desk in front of me charred black, filing cabinets all around were also charred. Everything in there was burnt to a crisp. There was no smell in there, so this was not recent. I continued up to some metal stairs which made some uneasy noises. Once up there was only one place to go, a conference room of sorts. Charred tables and chairs, but my legs keep me moving. They take me

I jolt awake. “Must have been a bad dream” I thought to myself. I looked around and was shocked at my surroundings. A destroyed hospital room. The paint on the walls is peeling and it smells like old sheets and medicine. The beds are covered in rust and pieces of the ceiling have fallen on the floor. The room is dark, but the sun is shining through the barricaded windows. I rip the needles out of my arms and struggle to stand up. I put on my clothes that were still neatly folded under the bed. I walk out of the room. There were blood stains on the wall and random hospital supplies thrown on the floor. My heart starts to race. I try to think of what could have happened. While I was thinking I was snapped out of my thoughts by a banging behind me. I turn around to see a door, bolted shut. I decide not to open it. I begin to walk

As dawn began to break across the beautiful sky, I heard the powerful iron doors of the main building being closed and locked. Dawn to me is the most beautiful part of the day. Colors streaming across the sky make me forget about the horrors of the world. Under me I heard some sort of loud bombs or grenades being thrown into the lowest hall and exploding there; they seemed to make only smoke, but they may have been incendiaries. Later, the ground floor began to burn a scorching heat. Perhaps benzene or petrol had been poured around. Sadly I was still lying among the bodies of others. The bodies smelled awfully and were terribly wounded. Since they were wounded I got streaks of blood on my face and body.

Three brothers behind a sagging rusty banquet table hastily covered with a cheap plastic table cloth that couldn’t hide the stains from years of family dinners held upon it. The sign, painstakingly written in patriotic red and blue Crayola markers, in a 10 year-old’s best printing,

All of a sudden the paint off the walls start to peel and burn away like paper bits. I opened the door and closed it behind me. The walls in there also were peeling and burning away. I was shaking in fear, the walls were nothing but cracked red brick that looked blood stained. I tried to rush down the staircase but the stairs were broken off. As I turned around a large human like figure stood there. I froze as this muscular figure stood in front of me. The abyss below me from the broken staircase started ablaze. What was going on? I wondered, the only thing I knew is I was gonna die right then and there. The muscular figure grabbed me and lifted me up and

I can still feel the perspiration saturate my skin, the agonizing throbbing of my own eyes. Since the incident, 3 days before, fear still overwhelms my body. I can't comprehend it, I can't believe it, and I can't accept what happened. Until I’m clear, I cannot leave the hospital. *Pause and look down*. I’m glad I can’t. Every time I stare at the bleached polystyrene tiled ceiling it takes me back to that day.

Finally, we had raised enough money for The Envision program, and the date was set. We left for Boston the 21st of June, it took us 13 hours to get to Boston! Shortly after we arrived in Boston; I had my first day of the medical conference. It was scary at first, I was all alone with thousands of people. However, I found a seat and introduced myself to the people around me, and made some new friends. When I got back to my hotel room around 11:00 pm, I told my mom all about my experience while we ate donuts for dinner.

My head was sore, my body was aching, and everything seemed hazy. I was in a room, a dark room, which had an unpleasant odor to it. I was tied up to a wooden chair. My hands were wrapped up, and my legs were pinned down to the the legs of the chair. I was struggling, trying to get loose, every muscle in my body was fighting against the pain. I held in my tears, hoping that I can get out of this diminutive, and enclosed 4 by 4 room. Many hours had passed by, and there was still no ray of hope in sight. Unexpectedly, a shadowy figure approached towards the room. The man was wearing black jeans, a black sweater, and a black hat, and carried a

I stared in horror – that wall was stained with gruesome blood stains. What the smell was became all too obvious and I felt the need to vomit… that motion put away and forgotten in an instant when the shuffling of feet rustled behind me. Panic. I turned around in a blur, my eyes huge and watering. My stomach stirred in the slightest. A lamp? Indeed, a tall standing lamp radiated a warm light only a few metres in front of me. Was it real or a figment of my abused mind? Curiosity would get the best of me, lending me a tiny spurt of energy to boost me on my feet. Teetering footsteps led me forward cautiously, random tremors reminding me of my weakness. The lamp was close enough to touch, its friendly warmth the only hope in the world to me. Basking in it for some slow seconds, I wondered, maybe there were more things in the room that hadn’t been revealed to the naked eye? Turning sharp on my heel, I let out a blood curdling screech as I came face to face with the most horrific thing I had ever seen. Huge fly-like eyes took in my paling complexion, and a lopsided smile of stinking razor sharp teeth mocked me. Rancid skin that looked like the algae layer that sat upon a swamp bubbled and oozed, trickling down a sharply shaped ‘face’. Flight or fight reaction chose the obvious option and I turned back again to run. Where, I did not