Mind's Promise - Best Essays on Campus Life

Author: Yuanye
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: A Rebel's That Year in Midsummer, it was hotter than any summer memory. Tears streaming down, I wrote a note: "I'm leaving, and I won't come back!" Then, I picked up my shoes and tiptoed out. Mom was in the kitchen preparing dinner, the sound of the knife on the chopping board "," making my heart race. Once outside, I didn’t know where to go. Suddenly, I saw Lulu, who played with me all day, running around the yard with a soccer ball, drenched in sweat. He asked where I was going, and I said I was running away from home. Speaking those words, I felt full of righteous indignation, as if I carried a deep, bitter grudge. Lulu looked at me with an admiring gaze: "That's cool." After thinking for a moment, he added, "Liu'er, let's go together. I've never wanted to practice the piano anyway!" "Okay, okay!" I nodded eagerly, afraid he’d change his mind. Two silent kids strolled down the street. When we reached the community square, I saw my dad playing chess surrounded by people. As my mom would say, he was "wasting his time, living a wasted life" again. I carefully dodged around, not wanting him to see. But honestly, I thought playing chess was pretty good. But Mom hated it, maybe she just loved controlling others. Oh, poor dad, now only you’ll suffer. I silently mourned in my heart. We walked aimlessly. Dinner time arrived, and the street was filled with the aroma of food. When we reached the convenience store, I said in a tired voice, "I'm tired." But what I really meant was, "I'm hungry." Lulu looked at me: "Then let’s watch TV at the store." Now that I think about it, that was the dumbest suggestion I’d ever heard. We sat on the stools outside the store, and the TV was playing the animated series Shuke and Beta. But I knew neither Lulu nor I was watching—it was the shelves with sugar, bread, and soda that had our eyes fixed on them. I remembered a word I’d just learned: dazzling, and maybe that was the most accurate understanding I’d ever had of it. Perhaps my eyes couldn’t take the torment anymore, and they finally closed. When I next regained consciousness, I found myself lying on my small bed. In the living room, Mom was complaining to Dad in her high-pitched voice: "This girl is crazy—running to the store to watch TV during dinner and falling asleep! Are you going to do anything?" I was puzzled—hadn’t Mom seen the note I left? Later, when I looked through my diary, I realized the note was still there, and I’d forgotten to tear it out. Years later, thinking back on that failed escape, it always brings a smile. When reading novels or watching TV, almost every story about youth includes an escape scene. Maybe only we, young and foolish, would do such a thing. (Yao Liuliu) P2-3