YTIRUTAM

Mae Pierce
 She landed on her toes and friends’ laughs in my ears.

Maturity her arm extended into My smile grew as I distinctly

the air. The girl recalled the hilarious

enthusiastically called to the mannerisms of the friends I

The thick, nostalgic air of team, had once known

my former school gym filled so well. My vision was

my lungs. The laughter of my “Alright! Let’s do blurred; I missed them.

old middle school basketball some free- My warm cheek bounced

team rang in my ears. They
throws!” in my hand as I chuckled. It

had been like a second family was typical of Riley to be

to me. The cold metal of the The girls scurried around sporadic and cheerful, I

balcony rail I was leaning on the free-throw line to get the mused with an

dug into my elbow, but I was best spot. They began taking understanding smile. I shook

indifferent to the discomfort. turns shooting the my head with a grin as I

My eyes drifted closed, a basketballs, just as I had once reflected on how small, yet

smile made its way across my done. The younger ones just as passionate, she had

face, and a wistful sigh threw their balls into the air been when I was in her

escaped my lips. I attempted towards the basket using all position, leading her. My

to absorb the girls’ laughter, their body and strength. My brow furrowed as I

pretending it was my own. I eyes squinted in amusement contemplated how odd it

had once known the same, as I watched them and was to observe her being the

joyful laughter with a handful recounted being in their leader of the team now.

of them. I missed my second place. A smile crossed my My jaw became clenched

family. lips. I remembered how my and my eyelids snapped shut.

One of the eighth grade friends would make fun of me I looked up in the darkness of

girls geared up, shot, and when I shot, all in good my eyelids and into my brain,

made the ball fly in a perfect humor, because I would stick as if this would stop the

arc through the basket with a one leg out as I thrust the ball sudden tension I was feeling.

‘swish.’ into the air and missed. I

could vividly hear my
My lips pursed as a distant
doubt whispered,

“You’ll never see
them again.”
I had to escape my
thoughts. My feet made no
sound as I slipped down the
stairs of the balcony. I
inhaled the crisp rush of cold
air that blasted my body
when the heavy front door
swung open. My eyes
fixated on the buildings and
trees towering above me.
The confusion that
accompanied the
sentimental gym air was
expelled out of my lungs,
and I allowed the crisp, clear
air in.
“I’ll see my friends again.
They still live in the
same city,”
I reassured myself. My foggy breath appeared in my line of sight
as a new uncertainty let itself into my head,
“That’s true, but you won’t see them again.
 You’ll see them physically, but they have
changed.  You have changed.”
I blinked and my face remained expressionless. The truth hit me
like a freight train. If a group of people had walked by me at the
time, they would have seen a calm, content girl sitting on the
entrance stairs, picking apart leaves. However, I was internally
writhing. I yearned to be in control of reality and of truth.
I longingly exhaled as it occurred to me that being mature comes
with unexpected tension. Raising an eyebrow, I snickered at myself.
When I was younger I was excited to grow up, but I never would
have dreamed that accepting reality could cause this much internal
struggle. Clarity was drawn into me along with another breath of
clean air. I realized that
“maturity is achieved
when a person accepts
life as full of tension.”
I resolved to embrace the truth that people change, I change,
and life is constantly in flux.
“Maturity is achieved when a person
accepts life as full of tension.”

-Joshua L. Liebman