22
Niamh Burn
The Barlow RC High School
Today was meant to be the day. The day everything changed. The day everyone looked down on, would stand together. The day we would finally make a difference. Butterflies were zooming around my stomach. I was so excited. Wish I knew. I wish I could have stopped it. I could have stopped my Mother and Father from taking us. We would all have been ok. We left first thing in the morning. I’ll never forget the feeling of happiness and excitement that we were finally free to say what we wanted. Now it is replaced with a deep sinking feeling of dread. We didn’t mean to start a fight. We were just peacefully protesting.
When we got there hundreds of people were already gathered. There was a buzz of excitement throughout us. We had been waiting for a day like this our entire lives. People were swarmed like bees in the streets, weaving in and out of each other, completely unbothered and unaware by the world around us. Maybe that was the problem. We were in denial. I will not let my hope and excitement make me stupid again. Ever again.
The protest began. It was incredible. Hundreds of different people joined together all with one thing in common: we were all poor. We were all looked down on by society. We were all stuck at the very bottom of the social ladder.
