V2

Author's note: This was from a stream of consciousness.  We had to look at a picture of a Ferris Wheel and write a piece about it.  I wanted to write about how I went to a park and went on rides with my friend.  Actually this is based on true events that really happened! What happened on both rides actually happened to me and my friend on the same day!



The squeaky rusted ride slowly stopped to a halt.  Getting off I felt dizzy and got off the gray walkway down to the concrete ground.  My best friend hobbled over to me to discuss the next ride we were going to go on. 
"Let's go on that!"  I exclaimed pointing up to the giant drop ride.
"Ok, " She sighed a little nervously and walked over to the long line twisting around the fences to the ride.  There we sat for a while impatiently leaning up against the rusting peeling paint of the ancient poles holding up the fence from collapsing.  All of a sudden I heard screaming.  Looking around I spotted that the car to the drop ride was stuck up on top, not coming down.  My friend looked at it wide eyed and staring at the people's dangling limbs off the ride.  People started to part from the line frightened and amazed that the people were stuck on top of the ride.  Without a word we departed from the line side by side still shocked.  

"Those poor people..." I muttered as we came across a bright sign.  Inscribed in the sign, it only said V2 on it.
"OMG that sounds like fun!!!! "  my friend screamed.
"Wow that does look awesome!! " I yelled.  Talking we went up to the line and waited forever to get to the front.  Finally we were second in line.  Excited we waited until the cars came for the people in front of me.  Mumbling my friend nudged me.  
"WHAT? "  I asked because it was so loud I couldn't even hear her when she was standing right beside me. Then she pointed her finger at the line next to us for the other cars in the ride.  A kid that looked to be about a fifth grader was standing there hunched down and looked like he was spraying a water bottle through the gates.  But what I soon realized was that it wasn't water!!  Some workers  just stood there and looked at him with eyes filled with disgust and just disbelief. The station went quiet wondering what was happening.  Some other workers came and quickly tossed some nasty yellow powder at the ground and had the others scoop it up cleaning up the mess.  Everybody was shocked and didn't even know what to say. 
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!  THEY ARE SHUTTING DOWN THE RIDE!"  my friend angrily cried.
"Why are they shutting it down??"  I cried.
"It is a bio-hazard so they have to shut it down for like twenty minutes, "  she sadly answered. 
 "Aww...well we can wait, " I sighed.

There we stood for twenty minutes waiting to finally go on the ride.
"THIS IS TAKING FOREVERRR!!! " She exclaimed leaning up against the bars of the gate.
"THE RIDE IS CURRENTLY UP AND RUNNING.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME." the speakers crackled down to us.  The crowd sighed, shifted around,chattering and cheering.  Clanking the ride stopped in front of us. Silently the gates opened up releasing the people at last and had them hurrying to get on.  Both of us go into the seats and pulled the metal harnesses over us.  But neither of us were prepared for what was about to happen.  We were pulled forward having gravity taking over and pressing us up.  Then giving in and bringing us back down to the ground and pulling us up once again. After a few more times we halted to a stop at the station.
"WOW that was awesome!!"  we both smiled.
"But freaky in a way."my friend pointed out as she steadied herself on a post.
"I want to go again!" I cheered.
"The line is so long..." she answered looking at the long curling line.
"Yeah.. maybe we can go on that?" I questioned pointing to another.
"OK!" she laughed as we got into another line waiting for what was next.

Alone and Hurt

Author's note:  You might not think that this has to do with a scene in the book that relates to real life. But the entire book is reality and people have to deal with others not being there for them when they are going through a dark time and that is what I am saying in this piece.  People are unreliable and being lonely and rejected by some people is reality and Melinda is dealing with that in the book.

Everyone feels alone once in their life.  Alone.  Lost, rejected and unloved.  This isn't an uncommon or strange emotion for anyone.  It happens all the time all around us, even if we don't realize it.  Melinda was  all alone and people didn't even seem aware of it, maybe even taking advantage of it.  Both of her parents were blinded of the situation having not a clue what was happening in Melinda's life.  Her friend's hearts were filled with hate not caring what really happened to her.  They don't want to be there for her at all.   I could honestly pick a lot of scenes in the book that can relate to real life because this whole book is reality.  Nothing is made up, fake or flawless  Every single person has dealt with these same feelings and situations being alone and rejected as Melinda did.

It's the first day of school and Melinda is all alone. Not one person to hang out with.  Knowing she won't be accepted by anyone but her best friend, Rachel she looks to her.  Without a word they eye each other and Rachel silently screams,

 "I hate you."

  A strong emotion with so much hatred and dark feelings.  Melinda was just standing up for herself and trying to do something to help a situation.  It only made it worse just because her so called friends didn't support her and later on didn't even believe her when she told them the truth!!  Friends are supposed to be there for you.  But the thing is in real life the people you love most can take advantage of you and hurt you the most.  She knew them so well so it hurt her even more in her heart when they left her all alone.  Everyone knows this also.  Friends can take advantage of you or in Melinda's case really hurt you by leaving you all by yourself.  For standing up for yourself and being strong her friends leave her alone..who deserves that?

Sad, alone and hurting in an lonely solitary cell of your heart and mind trying to be strong but having no one their to support you if you fall down.  Melinda is living in that without a friend to be their beneath her to support her from falls.  She is falling down faster and faster going darker and deeper making it harder to hop back up to the light.  Ex-friends, situations, teachers and parents are pushing her deeper not doing anything about it to help her.  Every single person has dealt with a dark time being alone.  It is a hard time and may feel like no on is there.       People don't always help you or build you up.  They can use you, abuse you, hurt you or leave you all alone to fend for yourself.  People think that Melinda is a freak and can't seem to step out and care for her.  She stand up for herself not relying completely and surely on someone but climbing up and reaching toward the justice and light of the dark silence and speaking out clearly.  Many have dealt with these dark problems but can't stand up and do the same that Melinda did.

The High School in Speak

The scary part of this book is not just that Melinda is suffering or the kids in it are horrible.  This isn't a fictional story, this is true to life and that is the horror of it.  High school is a true thing, a real place that you have to attend to have a good future.  Its like you are trapped and Melinda feels like that, too.  It isn't like this fairytale world that no matter what you do everything is fine. This inspiring story is all reality.  The events and everything could happen.  It could happen to you and honestly that is frightening.  There isn’t the comfort of this being a fantasy world and it's a made up thing.  People act this way, do these things and this has happened in the past.  It will keep happening in the far future as well.  Reality is a chilling, scary thing and Melinda is living right in the middle of it.

Melinda is standing in the lunch room awkwardly waiting to see if anyone will accept her.  She finds one person who even later on fails to be there for her.  People are unreliable.  They can be cruel and not accepting of others for their own twisted reasons.  Some people just don't fit their standards in high school and don't even have a friend to count on because no one wants anything to do with them.  The setting is the perfect place for this story and the characters because either you are accepted in high school or you are just not.  She isn’t and people aren't very reliable to be your sturdy foundation to make mistakes with.  Whatever she does no one even wants to look at her.  As I said the setting is the only place that would work for this and embraces the story well.  High school is not always as grim but the author made it a very dark thing.  High school can sometimes be the start of a young adult life but the author made the characters misunderstanding and had the high school a dark, dead place.  If the plot and characters had a different past then maybe Melinda would have had a place to sit at lunch and friends.

Reality is the shadowy thing we live in and it has always just been.  Melinda goes to a high school that fits that very description.  The high school was made into a scary thing to fit the book.  She is a lonely girl in a dark high school with misunderstood people that don't want to be kind or reaching out.  Her story and the characters would be very different if the setting was different. It is essential and a main piece of the book. Change one thing and you have a completely different story.  Make it happy and nothing would have happened the way it did.  The setting was chosen because of the reality clinging to it making it a real thing with realistic characters with normal human actions and emotions.  High school is as real as it could be which makes it frightening.

Let me tell you about it....

Me:  "Let me tell you about it."

 Melinda is a girl with many thoughts and emotions running through her mind, but doesn't express it.  This quote is significant in this book.  It is fairly short, but it is powerful and has a lot of emotion.  Those words aren't significant or even special, but the character is talking and telling her feelings to others.   It's like color is being painted on her as if she is a lifeless, emotionless canvas.  The truth is coming out and Melinda's voice is being heard. Not a small whisper, but a strong voice that has colors and inspiration.  Strong, true and wise.  Suffering through so much in silence, she speaks and that is what everyone is trying to make her do through the entire book; To simply speak.    Then finally, she is and it’s a golden moment of truth and strength for her.  If that one little piece of the  story wasn't in there, it would have turned out so differently. It is, and makes everything different for her.  If Melinda didn't have this moment of her speaking, she would have died inside of her and suffered through it the rest of her life not expressing anything to a single person. 

The streets were covered in quivering light being reflected off the carlights.  It smelled like gasoline and smoke as I walked out of Starbucks.  People walked quickly from all directions bunching up at corners waiting to cross the busy street.  I heard shouts from behind me, but I was used to it and pushed it out of my head.  Water sloshed around me seeping into storm drains being carried away from people's sight.  Looking around I slipped off the curb and tripped into a murky puddle.  Wincing I got up and silently looked around casually to see if anyone had saw me slip.  Everyone was hurrying to get out of the rain.  When I didn't want to be noticed no one saw, and when I wanted so badly to be seen I was looked past.  Zoning out an impatient person shoved me out of the way and onto the concrete again.  Sighing I got up and dragged myself home to my grubby little apartment and just sat there in the dark not rising to turn on the lights....(to be continued....)

The Setting of Speak

Speak is a story of different people, a regular town with a painfully dark high school.  Melinda is an ordinary high school girl with a dark secret wrapped in her brain, printing itself on her,leaving a dark smudged spot covering up parts of her life.  She finds a friend to count on, going to her house and in silence hanging out with her.  But, at school, she doesn’t talk to anyone except to herself or maybe to Heather.  Even then Heather does most of the talking.  Then, at home, Melinda’s parents are usually spending their time obsessing over their job or yelling at Melinda to get her grades up or to just simply speak.  Every place she peaks in at or goes into she is frightened and doesn’t want to talk to anyone.  If the world was a frightening, unfriendly place every single day you live and everywhere you go, would you want to even look into the eyes of the people you come across?  No.  You wouldn’t.  This is a  story is a normal book with pages and chapters about the characters living sadly everyday lives in an everyday place.  This isn’t one of those pretty books with pictures and a perfect world with flawless, happy people;it is a scary, dark reality of what life can throw at you.

Speak

           Speak is a book of many emotions, people and memories.  Dark, memories festering in Melinda’s mind driving people away from her.  This secret keeps her from sleeping at night, causing her emotional pain scaring her heart and physical pain to her.  She is always in a deep, depressed pain every day.  The hole ripped through her heart is unraveling from the edges and widening every day.  Her mind keeps her in a closed in little world all alone in a solitude jail of her own secret wrapping around her, tightening and keeping her captive.  High school is hard already, and her dark secret occupying her mind makes it even harder.  No one wants to be her friend, yet even look into her eyes processing the truth of the lies spreading and being turned into darker things against her.  The Ironic emotions of this book are depressing. Nothing is expected or good in this book. The memories of Melinda and the people filled with hate and lies just get worse and worse throughout the book no matter what is happening then and in the memories of the past.