Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Falling Up

Melanie stared out the classroom window and watched snowflakes tumble down and fall back up into the sky. Gravity had no effect on the frozen flecks; sometimes she felt like gravity had no effect on her. Junior high was impossibly difficult. Everyone around her seemed to have developed an identity over the summer and hardened into a clique by the winter. Melanie felt like she had missed out on this miraculous transformation, and rather than being a social butterfly who could navigate through the school, she felt like a snowflake pushed aside by the force of some proud butterfly's confident wings.

When the bell rang to end class she stepped through the doorway among the throng of thirteen and fourteen year olds rushing to enjoy the flaky precipitation. The other students were screaming and shouting in delight. A snowball fight broke out within seconds, but Melanie was on the outskirts of the battle. Even now as her peers rushed through the door to ravish the snow covered playground they pushed past her, tossing her to the sidelines of society. The snow still flurried from the sky and Melanie watched the kids influence the path of the snowflakes by simply running past.

She didn't like that other kids could influence the path of her own life simply by running past, but she had no idea how to change that unfortunate insecurity. How could she discover her identity?

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