Dear Lauren,

Sometimes I feel like an asian stereotype.

My grades never seem to be good enough, and I'm never in control of my life. I'm not sure if that's part of the stereotype, though. My mom scold me for talking back. All I said was I didn't want to go to martial arts today because I'm tired and no one told me we were going. I can't even call someone an idiot without her getting upset.

Why can't I just live my life? Why can't she just let me be free? Just let me live, let me live, LET ME LIVE, LET ME LIVE!

I'm not an adult yet, these are the years I'm supposed to enjoy and find out who I am as a human being or something like that. How can I do that when I'm constantly kept in a cage?

It's not a healthy way to live. Why can't she see that?

We're starting a writing project in English where we write a story using the guidelines of a writing contest. When we're done, my teacher will submit 25 of our stories to the contest. 2 of her kids have gone to New York.

I want to do it, I want to enter into the competition, but what if I'm not good enough? What if I just fail? Maybe I should give up. New York's a dream that's just too far away.

When I think of dreams, I think of an endless body of water I call the Sea of Eternity. When you begin to sleep, you bob upon it's waves, slowly rocking into a soothing rhythm and you close your eyes before being pulled into terror or wonder.

The Sea has no true bottom, but nightmares are the closest to it. It's wear the monsters swim and swarm around you, circling around you so you think there's no escape. Sometimes they'll be so ferocious that they won't let you escape to get air.

On the other side of the septum is dreams, the beautiful coral reefs they are, brimming with possibilities and shining with hope. It's so hypnotizing that you'll forget you need air at the end of your life.

I think my coral reef with New York is at the end of Eternity.