A difficult decision

By Maddie, age 13

One day, I came downstairs to my parents talking quietly. My brother, my mom and I had to go back to America, where it was safe from Covid-19. My dad had to stay in China for his work, but there was a plane for all the families to go back.

I rushed upstairs, and I stared at my closet, not sure what to pack. There was no way to know when we would be coming back to this house.

We decided to stay in China, which ended up being the right decision. But we had to do e-learning, and it crushed me. I had school during the day, then dance in the afternoon, all isolated in my house. I longed to see someone other than my family. I lost motivation to finish homework. We hadn’t seen our distant family in two years.

The only thing that got me out of that situation was hope.

The only thing that got me out of that situation was hope. Every day, even now, I hope that the pandemic will end soon. I hope we can get back to our ‘normal’ lives, but they will never be the same as pre-covid.