A Personal Essay on Myself

SECTION B: WRITING

You have to make choices even when there is nothing to choose from, that is what I told myself. I was a simple girl living with my last remaining relative; my grandmother. She did not care much for how I spent my days and whom I was associated with, but there was one thing that she was very clear about. She told me that the one place which I was not allowed to enter, is and has always been, ‘off limits’ to anyone who had decided to enter her house. She gave me very vivid instructions, to never ever enter the prohibited space. Ever since ‘that’ incident, no one had been in that room, and she told me that she was planning on keeping it that way. I remember that day well, when I first came into her life and was curious about why I was not allowed to go there. Unable to stand the thought of not knowing. At night, I slowly crept my way up the wooden stairs and stood still in front of the forbidden room. My mind told me to keep out but my body just could not stay out. The idea of discovering my grandmother’s secret was just too much for me to bear. I stayed standing in front of the door, until my mind just could not keep resisting anymore.

As I entered the strange looking room, the only thing I could see in this empty space was a wardrobe which was covered by a bedsheet, in an attempt to disguise it with a white wall behind it. Not knowing why, I carefully treaded toward the concealed piece of furniture and decided to take off the bedsheet. On the front of the furniture, there was a little piece of bronze. I saw it and immediately thought that something was off. My distinct told me to wipe the dust off of the sign, so I did. Engraved in cursive writing, I saw a symbol, which said ‘Montgomery Tate resides within here’. I remembered that my grandfather was also called Montgomery, and that our family name was Tate… Startled by my sudden discovery, I chose to further evaluate my situation. As I reached to open the door of the wardrobe, there was a swift creak, and then the silence returned. I had been wondering why there was no need for any key, but the inside of the door had answered all my questions. There was another bronze object on the inside of the door, before it was a symbol, but now it was a key. As I lunged forward into the wooden wardrobe, I could see many desperate phrases all over the interior. Some said ‘help’. Some others said, ‘Save me’. And still some others said, ‘Get me out of here’. After seeing this I suddenly understood why the room is and had always been ‘off limits’, and it made me wonder, just how many secrets my grandmother had kept from me. The only thing that I could think of doing now was leaving as quickly as I could, by any possible means necessary. As I grabbed the side of the furniture to pull my head out of the wardrobe, I realized that my hands were shaking uncontrollable. This caused me to unintentionally fall into the wardrobe. As I was inside I stumbled across a big box, my hands clutched it and I tried to push the door open. However, all my effort had gone to waste with the door not moving so much as an inch. As I thought back about how to get out, I realized that there was a way, I just had to find the key. Slowly turning the ancient key, the door made another creak and opened with ease this time. I stepped out of the wardrobe and decided to inspect this newly attained box.  Although it seemed like something special, it was not, it was only a board game, an old labyrinth puzzle.