My belief is that silence is the golden key. My name is Melinda Sordino. My story is in the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and it is here again. I walked into 9th grade as an outcast. "I have entered high school with the wrong hair, wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don't have anyone to sit with." (page 4) I know many kids enter high school like this but I might end high school like this. I can't even occasionally wave at an old friend because I did something terrible. I called the cops at a party. "I was drunk and too young to know what was happening." (page 198) There is more to my story that nobody knows, well except for Andy Evans. I prefer to call him IT. IT raped me. This was a secret that remained for a long time. Silence was my golden key. This silence kept the sorrow feelings and terrible memories hidden in my mind. No one could judge me for drinking or not wanting to talk about my problems. No one could remind me constantly or call me a wimp. No one could know. I did not want to be the weird, hated outcast but I was. I did not want any of it. No one would. I believed that I had nothing to say so I did not say it. "IT happened. There is no avoiding it, no forgetting. No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding. Andy Evans raped me in August when i was drunk and too young to know what was happening. It wasn't my fault. He hurt me. It wasn't my fault. And I'm not going to let it kill me. I can grow." My silence was the golden key, but I grew stronger. If i hadn't i would be holding this secret. I loved my life before and I am ready to love my life again.
Elizabeth McClure
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