Wishing for the End
by Aren Lau
Why does the world have to be round? Why can’t it be flat, so I could run to the edge away from responsibility, from fear, from this cycle of stress, Everything? Why do I have to be human? Why not a rock, or a maple tree, or hell, even a Dachshund? Why not a cheetah, so the highway in front of me doesn’t seem endlessly far away despite how far I’ve come despite how tired my legs are, how empty my lungs? Why am I alive? Why am I stuck here? I didn’t ask for this. No matter how far I go my identity always follows Why, my god, if there is one, Why am I trapped? The sun takes so long to rise So long to set If there’s an ending in place, I’d like to see it And I’d like to go down with it, smiling, in flames.
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Aren Lau
Aren Lau is a half-HongKongese author of five finished novels, including one unpublished adventure series and half of a duology. A Posse Scholar and upcoming freshman at Middlebury College, studying history, he is currently a senior at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, NYC. He wastes all his money on coffee instead of saving up for a publishing agent as he should, and is a huge fan of Wong Kar Wai, Neil Gaiman, and Tatsuki Fujimoto. He has hosted writing workshops at the Central Brooklyn Public Library and is a prose editor for the online magazine, The Verity Review. Aren's work has appeared in: Girls Write Now 2022 Anthology: Taking Root, HarperCollins 25th Anniversary Anthology, The Battle for the Right to Read What You Want: panel at Center for Brooklyn History & hosted by Brooklyn Public Library, The Murrow Magnet (‘21-‘22), Scholastic Gold Key in novel writing “Sage Lagoon” (2022), Gold Key for “The Stolen Solstice” (2023), Silver Key for “Oasis Zero” (2023)
