Personal Narrative: Where

Even though she was at her house, she still hurried to get to school for the feeling of satisfaction and safety instead of staying at her house which is filled with fear and discomfort. Barry uses the main character’s actions to convey that the narrator only feels comfort when she is at school and that she always urges to be there. Secondly, in the passage that follows, Lynda Barry writes the narrator’s thoughts to show that just the sighting of someone’s safe haven can relieve panic. “ All I knew was a feeling of panic, like the panic that strikes kids when they realize they are lost. That feeling eased the moment I turned the corner and saw the dark outline of my school at the top of the hill” (Barry 1). The quotes conveys that just when the protagonist sees the outline of her school the feeling of discomfort simply disappears. The narrator’s mind finally went calm, as shown through the thoughts that went through her head. Thirdly, in the next excerpt, the author uses first person narrative to express the thinking of the central figure of narrative. “It’s only thinking about it now, 28 years later, that

“Dad, can I go over to Ambers’ house to study tomorrow?” Our daughter Catherine asked the question, from about halfway up the stairs. Only her face could be seen as she peered at my husband hopefully, over the banister. I looked over at my husband, knowing what he would say, before he spoke. “Ask your mom.” My husband said to her, while glancing at me, expectantly. I smiled at him, knowing why he was telling her to ask me. He had worked all week, making the long drive from our home in Ashland to his office in Richmond and was hoping I would drive her to her friend’s house, so he could relax at home. My daughters’ hopeful gaze turned toward me, as well. “Madre?” She didn’t bother repeating the question. I hid the little sting of pain, that I always felt when she called me that, behind a smile. “What time are you supposed to be there, and do I need to bring you over and pick you up as well?” She nodded as she answered me. “Yeah, her mom can’t do it today, but I told her I would help her with her math.” Catherine had always made high marks in her school studies; it was something I was exceedingly proud of. “Yes, I’ll drive you, but make sure your phone is fully charged.” I have always been protective of the kids, and it was a long standing rule that they didn’t leave the house without a way to contact me. “I will.” She called out as she went the rest of the way up the stairs, disappearing from my view.

The sparks fly in the air, there are marshmallows in your hair, and you’re with your favorite people in the world. This is called the best place on earth, for me at least. I enjoy camping so very much, you meet new people, experience different things, make new memories, and have a blast. You also see new sights, smell some things, and always wake up to the birds singing and not the bustling streets of the city. Camping is my go to activity.

“I’ve missed you, since you move up there,” she said, beaming. “I’m sure you could get a job at one of the galleries downtown. They would be crazy not to hire you. I could send Henry up there to help you pack up everything and you could stay in your old bedroom, while you look for an apartment in Indianapolis.”

This past year, I have been apart of Naperville Central’s brand new Special Spaces club. When my friend approached me and asked me to join, I agreed even though I had no clue what I was involving myself in. In retrospective, I can honestly say that becoming a part of Special Spaces has been one of the most meaningful, fun, and fulfilling experiences I have had in high school.

“Where are we going?” She then looked at me and said, “We’re moving to Texas.” Out of all places, Texas? We lived in southern California our whole lives, so moving to Texas was definitely a shock to me. “What about our family and friends?” Her eyes began to water, so I knew talking about it further would only make things worse. Texas. It was stuck in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The more I thought of it, the worse it sounded. The worst part was that it was so sudden, so it didn’t seem real. Because my parents are divorced, I spent the weekends at my dad’s house. He was torn that I was leaving Riverside, which of course meant that weekend visits would turn

The most important game of the year was coming up and I was ready. Everything was going perfect for me, because I was the starting QB as a freshmen at Englert High School. We were playing Joston High School the number 1 team in the nation since 1960, it was going to be a tough game because they had the number 1 ranked defense, but we had the best offense. The day before the game was just a normal day I went to school and had football practice after school. A couple weeks ago one of the other teams that we had played earlier in the year wanted another game so we decided to play them. They had been the hardest team we had played all year, we had only beat them by a last efforts field goal it hardly went in as it bounced in off the crossbar.

She reached over to the table beside her and grabbed the glass of ice water, sipping it before placing back down where it belonged and diving back into her computer again “Starting when I was around 3, I always had a constant obsession with one boy band or another. I jumped from one teen heartthrob to another over the years. Most of my conversations with my mother from about age 5 'til my early teens revolved around “my future husbands” as I called them.” Her fingers moved nimbly as the story began to unfold, “I would describe the life I plan to lead with them or the children I wanted to have. Within these conversations with my mom or grandma, they always managed to throw in things like ‘What if you bring home a girl instead’ or one would say ‘Well I can’t wait to meet this husband’ and the other would shout ‘or wife’ from the other room. At the time it made me mad and I would always respond with things like ‘MOMMMM I LIKE BOYS STOPPPPPP’ and storm out of the room. When I look back, I often wonder if they were trying to brainwash me or if they just saw something I didn’t, but it was a sweet way of reassuring me no matter who I love they would always accept me. At the time I never thought anything of it, I liked boys, boys were cute and that’s what the world had taught me. Girls like boys, boys like girls, and

“Ok, let's get you and Karl some food.” Kathrin replied, “I have the same kind of dog at home so we will have a nice place for Karl to sleep and lots of food too.”

“They’re coming to help you, Mama,” then I looked at my sister, tears strolled down her cheeks and her eyes glimmered with worry, “Taylor grab some clothes and whatever you don’t want

I buried my head into my mother’s shirt. My warm tears dampened her shirt, but I could tell she had no intention of pushing me away. There were other voices around me, but her’s was the only one that I cared to focus on. “You’re a strong and brilliant little boy,” she said to me, “you shouldn’t let this move break you down like this.” I knew she was right, but I was just so furiously confused that I didn’t want to acknowledge it. “How could you know?” I howled, “you’re not the one who’s spending hours alone every day because you’re too terrified to ask anyone if they want to play a game or hang out or even have a conversation!” My sobbing intensified. “No,” she quietly said to me, “but you’re not the only one who left Costa Rica to come here.”

It was a hot sweltering Saturday in August, August twenty-seventh to be exact. I remember waking up that morning with my stomach in knots we were to play the Hot Springs Bison. Sure, I played JV last year and practiced all summer with the first team but now all the hot god awful gut ranching two a day practices were about to pay off.

all the people, you widely look around and see everything is already going to be so much fun. We finally pull up, and found a spot, and we started walking up to the entrance we had to get tickets first it was definitely a nervous experience we finally get to the gate, and walk in, and we started deciding which side to go on so we decide to start at the mummy that’s something I got to talk about. Ok so we go and get in line, the line was long. So we waited and waited and finally got a chance to go on but before we got on, me and my friend saw this one sign that said, high speed roller coaster and we lost it! I have never been on a roller coaster before. So anyways we got to the front,

I wake up to a red blaring light haunting my face. As I start to regain my vision, I see a contraption of some-sort, wires, buttons and the salience of the contraption, the display. The display is made of red digital lights and a steel frame. A stale 60 is written on the display. I look around the room and it's an eerie white colour, it's empty and bleak. I assume it's a white void, It leads to nowhere as the door must be seamlessly integrated into the wall. Then on the corner of my eye, I see a body. I assume it's a female as it's long silky blonde hair fills a fourth of the room. She's wearing a puffy grey jumper and black jeans with strands of fabric hanging out. From my angle, she looks dead, but I want to inspect her body. I creep towards it, realising this floor doesn't creak like home. I proceed cautiously. As I

I always wanted an all-terrain mountain bike. That finally happened when me and my family went shopping at Walmart for a new bicycle because recently I learned how to ride a bike with two wheels. Due to my practice behind the handles my parents thought since that it was summer and I needed the physical exercise, that I should get a bike. Also that I couldn’t ride my original small dirt bicycle. It was a jolly experience on a large bike for the first time.