Back to main Creative Writings page > My Life Michael R., teen One time I was on my way to school and I see a crowd of people running away from the bus stop. It seems two guys walked up to this kid and just started shooting him in the head. I’d never seen anything like it before; it was hectic, crazy and pretty haunting too. I remember it to this day. Unfortunately. He must have done something, because usually people don’t go up to people and shoot them in the back of the head. People said he started walking away in the opposite direction, when they got him. And I saw him lying there. I’ve been in this neighborhood, eight years, near Humbolt Park. I see these guys around, I assume they are gang bangers. It’s gotten better since I was young; I live on a good block. My neighbors are pretty nice people. I don’t know anything about their lives, I rarely come out and talk with them. But then, I live in the back; my neighbors are garbage cans and garages. When I get angry in order to relax, I listen to classical music. I like violin music the most. All that stuff. I don’t’ like hip-hop or R & B. I use to listen to classical music to fall asleep when I was little. But it also scared the crap out of me. It had chords that would come out of no where. I use to wake up and it scared me, so I stopped listening to it. But I liked the instruments and I started listening again. I’ve knew I was a writer because I would write and I would enjoy it. It always flowed with me. When I walk down the street, I notice things other people don’t notice. I see things on the street and I write. Like the shooting I mentioned before, I had to get that out. I write about feelings. The ever so common," I’m pissed off I’ll write something about it." But I haven’t been inspired for a long time. In eighth grade I wrote poems on a daily basis. When I read a book I like personal stories. Real life stuff. The best book I ever read, My Bloody Life. It all took place in my neighborhood. I can go to the places where things happened. I like the part when this girl Rose tries to get him to go to a kill party, only it’s for him. And they find out and they shank her. I have this saying " strength is in numbers." Strength is in numbers is something I have noticed. And I think about it a lot. It’s not a personal thing, because I spend a lot of my time alone. But it is a visual thing with me. I see people from distance alone and I imagine how much stronger they would be in a group. One of the officers in the group has inspired me to be a cop. I never thought about being a police officers, I had no idea what I was going to be. I walked into the 134th district and asked if I could volunteer for high school. He was the first person I met. Since then we’ve become friends, we talk, But he keeps his own life under raps. But he is very, very smart. That I know.