Sitting at my desk for hours at a time. Feeling tired? Energy drink. What time is it? Not a time that I should be awake at. Why am I still awake? School. Homework, tests, quizzes, studying, make-ups, late work. Everything that plagues teenage life sits piled on top of my desk. Finally done with studying. Prepared for my math quiz tomorrow. Done with Chemistry and Spanish. What’s left? English. But that’s not so bad I tell myself. It’ll be quick and easy, right? So what’s the task; what needs to be done? The assignment is called mentor comic book. That doesn’t seem so bad. Take a comic or manga page and use it as a mentor to create your own comic page. Oh. I reach for a pencil and paper, and think about my choices. After what seems like 5 minutes I settle on using a scene from a One Piece manga as my mentor text. I copy the panels onto my new sheet of paper, and say, “This will be quick.” 

Uh oh. What do I write about? My dog? No, that seems too basic. I’m stumped. After sitting there for what feels like an eternity, I decide just to throw in my life. I draw my desk, painstakingly erasing each mistake that I make. Next is the bookshelf, and that’s pretty tough. All the books and assortments of items take a long time. Finally, I finished the first panel. What time is it? 2:47 AM?!?! Jeez, I better get a move on. Whoops, knocked over a can. Here comes my dad.

“What was that? Why are you awake? Is everything alright? Wait a minute… What’s with all the energy drinks?!?!”

“Nothing happened, I’m fine. Just finishing up some school work. I’ll be done in a minute.”

As my dad takes his leave, I pick up the ruler, one last time. It’s the last panel, I’m almost there. But what do I finish with? A good grade on a test? What about something peaceful? Or… I go with what just happened, remembering my encounter with my father. Finally. 3:56. Only an hour and a half. Not bad.The bags under my eyes are as dark as the night sky. But I’m done. Snap, and the picture is submitted. That’s it. As my head hits the pillow, everything goes black. Finally, I’m done…