Older, Wiser

• Tazmeen Khan, Grade 9, The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School -
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

Walk through the forest.
See the trees? See the world? It’s alive but in a calm, deft manner. It's humming underneath the layers of busy urban life.
Look up and watch the clouds moving across the sky, always seeking a more ambitious destination.
Sight a bird.
Hear the crickets.
Step on the ants.
Watch it all spiral, but not around you. You’re not the main character here - there’s no attention on anyone in particular.
Feel the peace. You’re in the forest but you’re not trapped. You don’t know your way but you’re not lost. You’re safe and exploring, instincts calling, following the walls with your hand pressed against it. You’re safe.

Hear that piano in the distance? That’s the sound of love.
Smell the fresh sheets dreamy in the wind, fluttering from the clothesline as the wind gets louder? That’s life.
Live while you can before you get swept away, like that time you saw your new mustang at the dealer. Be free while you can before you get smothered by riches, crushed like ashes, awe-eyed at money and power. You’re no longer a little kid in the trees now, higher up in the trees than the aeroplanes that you now realise pour bombs like soda.
Feel the fear? Are you going to run or dance to it? Are you still the fool you used to be, no care in the world? You’ve hit the ground running, running, running in green.
Watch the cash pile up. What will you do with it?
Watch the planes at the airport. Where will you go?
You see families walking through the city streets.
You feel so alone on a Saturday afternoon. What happened to your sister all those years ago? Was it really a car accident?
You don’t really care anymore. Life gets tough and rough but you move on. Choose your battles, pick your last words.
I was so confused as a little girl, taking the answers I could. But honestly, what’s the point now except getting rich? The life philosophies are rolling in. You’re getting wiser, huh? You’re a big girl now, aren’t you? Let’s see how long you last in the real world.