‘Endless Days Trapped in this Game’ by Ruth, age 14, Cantell School, Southampton

I remember before they came

Incapable now I’m stuck in this dystopian game

Intrusion into my perfect fantasy

Is this my fate? Leave it to destiny.

 

Fear consumed me at first

Frozen, they all were

Fast the boredom made its way

Free me! Here, let me have a say!

 

Stony cold silence

Still, stale rooms

Shocked lonely mind

 

Tiptoe down the stairs

Tiptoe even though no one cares

To the empty kitchen

To the vacant stares

 

Captured by the rift of society

Conquered by the endless pain

Come help me here in this fretting state

Come here my mindless friends

 

Walking down the haunted streets

Watched by empty eyes

Willing them to rise

Wishing them to stay in this uneasy compromise

 

Arriving in an abandoned school

Accepting frozen greetings and melancholic glares

Achieving the best with pathetic competition

 

Helpless wishing I could help

Holding onto love left untouched

Hostile love and hostile hate alone in this state