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Home
Orange rays of light shone through the window pane.
They created shadows, stretching long and ash-gray.
They touched the dust-covered furniture, passing slowly over the splintering wooden table.
A bowl of apples, bruised and fading brown, placed in the center.
A single orange lay in the bowl, no juiciness, no moisture remaining.
The skin was crippled and dry.
Still and lifeless in the bowl.
The house, which used to be full of joy and laughter, was now empty and cold.
The fireplace in the living room used to give warmth on the freezing days of winter when the family gathered together.
They would huddle around it and play cards, their love and happiness being illuminated by the waves of orange light.
Now, only blackened, burnt-out wood remained.
The fireplace, the house, they had all slowly faded away, but the love and joy, and happiness would always remain in the families’ hearts.
A few days ago, I was sitting down at the wooden table in my house, and I suddenly began thinking of what the house would look like if my family and I moved out and it became abandoned. I began to feel a bit frightened at this thought, because my family and I had made so many happy memories in our house over the years, and I didn’t want to leave all of that behind. But then I realized that the true love and joy my family holds for each other will never truly go away, and I decided to write these thoughts and feelings into my set piece. I titled my piece "Home" because I wanted to show that my love for my family and their love in return is the real home. No matter how abandoned or broken down our house becomes, that's only the place we seek shelter in currently. The real home is the feeling of love and safety. The literary device I tried to use was imagery, and you’ll hear this when I describe the setting in detail. Something special I liked and noticed about my piece of writing was that I didn't use any actual characters or dialogue, but you can still picture a story in your mind.