Dirty Laundry | Teen Ink

Dirty Laundry MAG

April 2, 2009
By Zero_K DIAMOND, Moosic, Pennsylvania
Zero_K DIAMOND, Moosic, Pennsylvania
83 articles 0 photos 435 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Life's no fun if you're not insane, otherwise you grow up to be an accountant." -Moi


He is your world. He is the one you would live and die for. You love the color of his skin – different from yours – the perfect balance between light and dark, day and night. You love the way he tells you he loves you. He says he'll marry you someday.

But your mom does not approve. You wonder every day how anyone can be so bigoted. Has she not felt the way you do at some point in her life? She doesn't understand, just rants and raves about your “taste in men” in that nasally voice you hate – the one she only uses when she's angry.

Later you sit on your bed, and turn up the volume on your iPod. “All the Same” by the Sick Puppies blasts through the ear buds.

Wrong or right … black or white … if I close my eyes … it's all the same.

Your mom has forbidden you from seeing him again, and Dad's taken to keeping a shotgun in the living room.

In my life … the compromise … I'll close my eyes … it's all the same.

You remember telling him you were afraid but that you wouldn't stop seeing him. He asked you to run away with him, just drop everything and run, figure it out as you went. But you said you wanted to wait and see if it would blow over. The look in his eyes was sad, as if he knew your parents would never accept him.

You hop off your bed and start shoving clothes into an duffel bag, making a trip to the bathroom for your toothbrush. You head to your desk and stare blankly at a piece of paper, pencil in hand. You write a quote that has been in your heart from the minute your parents told you that you were making a big mistake. It's short, but it's all you need to say.

You head down the hall to the laundry room. Your mom has piles of clothes on the floor, organized by color. You grab bits from every pile and toss them to the middle, creating a mound no longer separated into lights and darks.

Green, yellow, red, blue, black, white – all heaped into one huge pile. You lay your message on the top. It doesn't say who you're with or where you're going, but it wouldn't be hard to figure out.

“Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.”



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This article has 455 comments.


on Feb. 28 2013 at 6:22 pm
TaylorWintry DIAMOND, Carrollton, Texas
72 articles 0 photos 860 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby." - Unknown

Perfect. Nothing else to say. (:

on Nov. 3 2012 at 4:36 pm
amelia.estaire SILVER, Osceola, Indiana
7 articles 0 photos 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I take real people and put them in extraordinary situations." - Robert Cormier

I really loved the last line...so powerful.

KaTie98 said...
on Oct. 17 2012 at 8:45 am
KaTie98, Reykjavík, Other
0 articles 0 photos 5 comments
I really liked your story, especially the last sentence! This story actually made a point and left me thinking about it. The beginning did not catch my attention and it was a bit confusing so you might want to work on that. Your strong point is that you can end your stories very well.

on Oct. 10 2012 at 10:22 am
Music-Maniac1498 BRONZE, Spencerville, Ohio
3 articles 0 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
If Love isn't a game then why are their so many players?

I can relate. I'm going through the exact same thing with my boyfriend and my parents. We're thinking about running away. He's been working hard and we have about $5,000 saved up.  Think i should do it?

on Jul. 14 2012 at 10:25 pm
JacqueleenDubois PLATINUM, Levittown, Pennsylvania
24 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Of all the words of Mice and Men, the saddest are what could have been."- Kurt Vonnegut

Perfection.

on Jul. 14 2012 at 9:59 pm
PhoenixCrossing GOLD, Tinley Park, Illinois
14 articles 0 photos 178 comments
Short and simple and straight to the point with a super powerful message. Love it!

on May. 31 2012 at 8:24 am
ms.liz2015 BRONZE, Newport News, Virginia
1 article 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren't any other people living in the world.

i can relate to this a lot. MY mom dosn't appove of my boyfriend because she thinks he a player. she has barly talked to him and he is really sweet about this. But my mom still thinks that i am not seeing him but i still haven't told her and i am planing on telling her after graduatoion but i don't kno9w how tol. helpful tips please

on May. 31 2012 at 7:52 am
Great job!! This was a truely touching story and I agree with you so much. :) 

on May. 31 2012 at 5:41 am
ashley112027 BRONZE, Grand Rapids, Michigan
1 article 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery, and I promise you, something great will come out of it."

Such a touching story... I think you should write more romance.... :) Keep up the GREAT work!!

on May. 31 2012 at 5:41 am
ashley112027 BRONZE, Grand Rapids, Michigan
1 article 0 photos 19 comments

Favorite Quote:
"All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery, and I promise you, something great will come out of it."

Such a touching story... I think you should write more romance.... :) Keep up the GREAT work!!

on May. 31 2012 at 5:35 am
kate12345me GOLD, Sydney, Other
11 articles 0 photos 69 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth." - Thoreau
"Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on."

THAT QUOTE MADE IT FOR ME. Honestly, I thought the work was just 'alright' till I read that last line. Being racially discriminated (because I was brown) when I was younger myself, I find that absolutely AMAZING! Great work :)

bluhs said...
on May. 9 2012 at 5:54 pm
bluhs, E, Alabama
0 articles 0 photos 111 comments
YES!!! You're amazing! Loved the last line!!!!

on May. 9 2012 at 2:57 pm
Adi-heid BRONZE, Triangle, Virginia
1 article 3 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures.
Jessamyn West

Sooo amazing! I love it so much! The message is great, and it's written wonderfully!

Katie-jo said...
on May. 9 2012 at 2:55 pm
Katie-jo, Triangle, Virginia
0 articles 0 photos 61 comments
This was so touching! I loved this so much! Congratulations on writing such a heartfelt story!

on May. 9 2012 at 11:56 am
curlygurlray GOLD, Visalia, California
18 articles 1 photo 36 comments

Favorite Quote:
you have the life you let yourself take.

wow i honestly could have never thought up a story like that amazing job(:

on May. 9 2012 at 8:40 am
TheDoubtMachine BRONZE, Mumbai, Other
4 articles 1 photo 10 comments
What a beautiful way to look at things! Splendid! 

Annette11 GOLD said...
on May. 2 2012 at 8:19 pm
Annette11 GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
11 articles 24 photos 18 comments
fantastic!!! never saw the ending coming but wouldn't want it any other way, awesome piece!

cmgia BRONZE said...
on Apr. 17 2012 at 11:47 pm
cmgia BRONZE, Avondale, Arizona
1 article 1 photo 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
" Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. " -Maria Robinson

I loved this, even more so since I could relate, fantastic job :) x

on Apr. 17 2012 at 1:57 pm
sOmE_nIgHtS SILVER, Wayne, Pennsylvania
5 articles 0 photos 39 comments

Favorite Quote:
Yes it's hard to write, but it's harder not to.

Wow. THis is beautiful. The ending is amazing and it really stands out to me. I love it :)

on Apr. 5 2012 at 9:55 am
_ella_herondale BRONZE, San Diego, California
4 articles 2 photos 222 comments

Favorite Quote:
"...If the Thames that ran beside them...recalled a night where the moon shone as brightly as a shilling on the same boy and girl... and thought to themselves, 'at last, the wheel comes full circle,' they kept their silence."

This is such an amazing twisted story and I love how it is is just sooo touching, and that the girl in the story is able to look past her parents beliefs and all that. So pretty. SO touching