Breathing deep I can feel the cold air rush through my lungs, biting at the warm tissues.

For the first time all day I feel alive. Surrounded by darkness and walking down this gravel path I feel liberated. No need to worry about what the parents are thinking, or if grandma is going to be okay. School is just another hazy obligation of tomorrow, hours away.

I step over the frame work. Little pieces of tire stick to the bottom of my shoes making the ground feel awkward beneath my feet.

I look up at the rusty monster with six plastic arms. This metal monster allows me to sit. Like a friend it holds me and allows me a place to think.

Sitting on the swing I push myself higher and higher. I close my eyes, my stomach flips. It is like I am flying, flying away from all my thoughts and feelings. I push for greater heights and faster speeds. But still they catch me; that essay due for American history, the feeling of being all alone, of being left behind and not understood.

I realize that even out here away from everything, I am still bound by laws. Gravity and life weigh me down making me come back to earth. Again and again, down…slower…down…slower…till…stop.

I was free…for a moment…wasn’t I?
My feet meet earth with a clash of tire and dirt against sneakers scattering debris from the wreckage all over my jeans.

“I was never free. I will never be free. As long as I am here on earth I will always be… forever bound.”