A Well Needed Change by: Sarvessh Senthamarai Kannan

 A Well Needed Change

by: Sarvessh Senthamarai Kannan

Finally, the week was over. Well, the first week of strenuous tennis summer camp was over. I

slumped down into my messy sofa, which I never cleaned due to my lack of time over the past

week. While every one of my friends skipped the last day of school just to get a headstart to

vacation in Bora Bora, I was practically sentenced to solitary confinement in my 4-hour tennis

camp that took place in the unforgiving and scorching heat. All I wished for was a change, a

meaningful change that could potentially drag me out of my never ending vortex of

tennis,study,eat,sleep repeat.

I sighed, “My fate for the next 2-months is sealed shut with an elephant sitting on top.”

I forced my legs to push me out of the couch and onto the study table. As I opened my

Geometry textbook for my fourth study interval of the day, my brain fell into a trance, blindly

following the preset “never ending vortex.”

An unfamiliar voice spoke out of my mothers phone, “We are going to go to the Sourland

Mountain Preserves for a hike. Would you like to join?”

It was my mother’s close friends. I genuinely did not care where we were going. All I wanted

was a change. 30 minutes later, I laced up my Nike shoes as we all piled up into the car, half of

us knowing the purpose, the other half just trying to get out of the house.

“Is it going to be fun?” my sister questioned.

“I don’t know, it's just a hike,” I replied.

Little did we know the plot of this story was going to go much deeper. As our blue SUV pulled up

into the rocking parking lot of the the preserve, our friends happily waved at us. As the parents

talked about work and how much it takes to take care of us naughty kids. I noticed that there

were extra two adults adults talking. Me and my sister gave each other one look and new what

was happening. We started our search for their kids, what age could they be, boy or girl? Then

we found them, sitting alone on a wooden bench full of slabs. One was a screenager, barely

looking up as we introduced ourselves. The other boy, small and reserved, was a shy one. Later

while we were eating lunch, I struggled to believe he was the same age as me. As we ate, I

couldn’t help but think about the trail. However, I knew the time would come. Sure enough, 1

hour later, we walked up to the start of the trail. Meanwhile, my dad hyping up the kids about

how fun this hike would be, a horror caught my eyes. Unable to believe my own sighting, I

slowly walked up to the “Welcome Bulletin Board of the Sourland Mountain Preserves.” The

board projected two bright snakes in which under captions it stated, “The Eastern Copperhead

and Ratsnake might encounter you on the way.” At that moment though brighter than neon

green and faster than a bullet shot through my head Holy smokes, this is what we are in for, I’m

out of here. But it was too late, the rest of the group had already started treading into the

wilderness. I looked at the floor, if you don’t feel me again, remember you were the last thing I

ever thought about. And so, my fate towards encountering a snake began. I sprinted up the trail,

up to the point where my sister and the group were walking. While everyone admired the beauty

of the wilderness, I couldn’t stop inspecting every hole we walked by, snake or no snake? To

make my paranoia worse, this trail was full of huge rocks that we had to walk on. Even as we

passed a sky view point, I couldn’t stop thinking about a snake slithering under the rock I was

standing on. I had never been so scared since the time my parents forgot me at a supermarket,

which explains the other side of this story.

“Buddy, how was school this year,” one of the uncles asked.

Unable to speak with proper confidence, I gave a truly disrespectful and dull reply, “Good.”

However I didn’t have enough time to further critique my disrespectful response to an adult as I

heard a bush make a noise. Now, I knew I wasn’t hearing things because my startled sister

turned around at the same time as me. We both slowly approached the bush when suddenly a

small creature leaped out.

“Snake, Snake Snake,” I stupidly yelled, unnecessarily causing commotion among the group.

That’s when my observant sister laughed, “Brother look, it’s just a chipmunk.” That was it I

thought, things can’t get any worse. Everybody just laughed it off, I laughed too, the only

difference being that I forced it. I truly still didn’t recover from what had just happened. As we

reached the end of the trail without encountering any snakes, I looked at the bright side of

things. That was a well needed change. Even if it was horrifying, it still pulled me out of my

never ending vortex. At that moment, I was the most relieved person there. I learned that

sometimes, the most horrifying experiences can give you the biggest happiness, even if it is

hard,

“Let’s go get ice cream,” my dad yelled. Everyone excitedly ran towards the car, except me. I

smirked at the snakes contained within the vibrant ink and paper.

“Can’t get me now can you!” I laughed.

I slowly picked up some dirt from the ground that held a familiar Nike pattern as I too ran

towards our car, content with the well needed change.