Imagine this: you are sitting in a hammock on the beach with your favorite book in hand, a warm summer breeze tugging gently on your hair, the smell of the salt water in your nose, and the taste of fresh squeezed lemonade on your tongue. You are so engrossed in your book, watching events unfold as the characters make mistakes and solve problems, that you are able to completely ignore the other people on the beach.
As you turn the page, the book is suddenly yanked out of your hands. You look around the beach and see that everyone has disappeared, just as you fall flat on your butt because the hammock has vanished as well! You begin to frantically move around as the sand under you begins to slide, taking you with it into a black, bottomless pit. Just as you begin to fall, you jolt awake in your bed, suddenly realizing it was only a dream.
This is the reality of a high school student. On the weekend everything is blissful, but when Monday rolls around you are yanked back into the dark abyss falling down, down, down. Tuesday you crash into the bottom – although you thought there was not one – and by Wednesday the walls have caved in, suffocating you in a mountain of homework. Thursday you begin to dig yourself out, and by Friday you are just breaking through to the surface. Over the weekend, you magically float out of the pit, only for the cycle to be repeated.
Finally, in May, you discover a break in the seemingly never ending cycle. Teachers and students alike celebrate in this joyous occasion by swimming, relaxing, and playing sports. They quickly become ignorant of their impending doom, because the pit has been filled and will not be hungry again until August. The days pass by in a happy blur until suddenly the ground begins to tremor. The abyss has its stomach growling and is awaiting food. Frantically, you begin to do those summer assignments that you’ve put off for so long, but by then it is too late. The abyss is starving and will not be satisfied for another nine months.