this is not a drill

By Mia Remience

“we are entering lockdown. this is not a drill.” we pulled down the blinds and locked the door and bunched up in a corner of the room. we had practiced this so many times, but never like this. one girl had her earbuds in. another was scrolling on her phone. a whole bunch of them were giggling about how if we died, we would die together. i couldn’t understand why everyone was taking this so lightly. i started to wonder what happened after death. did it hurt? where did we go afterwards? i thought of all the things i hadn’t done. i was fourteen. i had never been in love. i had never gone to college. i had never held a job. i had never fallen in love. i had never given birth to a child. i had never had the chance to truly experience life. had i forfeited that chance the second i walked into school that morning? the loudspeaker crackled back to life. “you may resume class as usual.”

we had all survived
and i would never take life
for granted again.

Mia Remience is a teenage writer whose work ranges from sharp to reflective. Her writing has been recognized by Scholastic, Write the World, the New York Times, and the National Council of Teachers of English, and her poetry was featured at the JFK Library Foundation Earthshot Gala.