The Girl With Her Hood Up- Submitted by Adoniah K.
The Girl With Her Hood Up
By Adoniah Koenig
She puts her hood up in the crowded halls. She pulls her hood further down so no one will talk to her. Turns her music up loud enough so she can’t hear her own thoughts. She lets nothing but doubt, anger, regret, and grief take over her life. Inside, she thinks she can’t keep going. Thinking that 2020 practically ruined her life.
She walks into her classroom and sits by herself. The teacher begins to speak, but she can only hear the thoughts in her head.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Why are you even trying to keep going? You can’t!”
“Just give up no one loves you.”
“You’re stupid.”
“Your so ugly!”
She tries to listen to the teacher, but the thoughts just get louder and louder. Music is the only thing that barely helps her get those thoughts out of her head.
The bell rings for study hall. She puts her head up and walks out of the class with no delay. She gets to study hall, sits by herself, and begins to work on homework. She takes a break and looks up from her desk. She sees the most popular girl whispering to her friends and pointing at her, laughing and giving her an evil smirk. She looks back down at her desk and begins to feel a tear fall from her cheek. She quickly grabs her headphones and turns the volume up loud so she can’t hear the thoughts in her head. But there is one feeling that music can’t keep her from feeling. The feeling that she has no one to talk to you, no one to turn to.
Loneliness.
The bell rings so she grabs her stuff and runs to the bus as quickly as she can. When she gets to the bus, she sits down and begins to listen to music. But another girl decides to sit by her. In deep shock she puts her head up and scoots closer to the window, away from whoever this is. But she realizes that she’s never seen this girl ever in her school before. The girl looked at her and smiled, so she pulls her hood further down and stares out the window. Then the other girl says, “Hey, can I tell you something?” She pauses her music and says, “What?”
The other girl grabbed her hand and said in a kind voice, “ I feel like you’re going through a rough moment in your life right now. But just remember, you’re not alone! God is waiting for you to talk to him, he loves you! Everything will be OK when you trust God.” The other girl lets go of her hand and continues to read what looks like a Bible.
All she can do is just sit there. She has never heard anyone say anything like that in her life.
The bus came to a stop at her house. She turns to say goodbye to the other girl, but before she walks away the other girl grabs her hand and says, “find hope!”
She nods her head, and walks off the bus. She walks into her house and goes straight to her room and begins to look for a Bible. She finds one under a pile of books on her desk. She flips through the pages and finds Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
She takes her hood off of her head and looks out the window. She sees a beautiful sunset as the sun glows on the pond in the yard. She watches as a few birds fly across the sky, as the graceful wind makes the trees dance. With tears of joy she looks at the sky and says, “ I trust you Lord, thank you for giving me hope in the darkness, I give all of my stress and anxiety to you!”
After she prays she feels a feeling she hasn’t felt in a long time. A peaceful feeling, a joyful feeling.
Hope.