Hi everyone!
Welcome to another of our competition series’ blog posts! This week’s featured writer is Reika Echizenya, from Te Atatu Intermediate School, who placed FIRST in the Y7-8 category of Stylefit’s 2021 Student Lockdown Writing Competition! Reika wrote a beautiful piece entitled ‘Vengeance’ and won an Android Tablet. Well done, Reika!
Now, put your hands together for this talented young writer and have a read of their amazing story just below!
Vengeance
Helpless. Useless. Or perhaps spineless? The thoughts spiralled out of control in Yuria’s mind as she desperately scampered across the deserted streets at night. She needed to find reliable people to save her, or better — answers to her seemingly endless arrays of questions. Yuria abruptly halted at a lone lamppost in an empty parking lot to catch her breath. She needed to tame the guilt that was steadily increasing inside her. But that was when she sensed something oddly peculiar yet familiar all the same.
Although the parking lot was devoid of living things, Yuria could feel a strange presence that made her insides feel uneasy. She nervously glanced around the areas surrounding her despite knowing that it was futile. Then, almost simultaneously, memories came surging back to her. Yuria did not want to remember. She had spent months, even years, trying to forget those painful snippets from the cruel reality of her world.
People had said different things; revenge, forgiveness, acceptance — they were all separate routes that led to their own endings. However, she had forged her own path of oblivion. Up until moments ago, this method of treatment had been effective since all she had to do was bury the unbearable memories and create new, pure ones that had not been tainted by evil. But ultimately, vengeance was there to serve its purpose. By unlocking your impure emotions of hatred, you were exchanging your humanity in return for a chance to fulfill your rotten desires.
As Yuria crawled across the concrete that was laced with weeds, she knew she had committed something unforgivable, yet continued to stride forward with vengeance by her side and her vision blinded by rage. The last thing anyone would see of Yuria’s human traits was her tortured smile streched across her face.
