Systemicoppression Stories

A young woman escapes from the tyrannical island on the water world where she and her family are enslaved, and - via wormhole (where infinity is compressed into a singular space) - lands on Earth in the present day, to her abundant relief... and her abundant regret. This story, told in two parts (I separated them into two chapters on this platform for ease), is a speculative allegory for real-life past and present-day accounts of forced labor and how they tear apart families. In the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, it won a National Gold Medal - the competition's highest possible award - placing it in the top 0.35% of entries out of over 310,000 entries from all over the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, it was published in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards' Annual Anthology: Writing Selections from the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, which only chose 55 pieces of writing to be published in print out of roughly 155,000, placing my story in the top 0.035% of all entered works in the 2025 competition. Scholastic's word limit is 3,000, and my original story contained exactly that amount. This expanded version is 4,600 words. I added lots of dialogue and extra description that I thought would elevate the story. The narrative, plot, characters, and everything else are exactly the same. Feel free to leave feedback and comment on anything!!!

Janelle is a single Black mother doing everything right in a world built to keep her trapped. Two jobs. Stretched bills. A neighborhood laced with addiction, violence, and the shadows of dreams deferred. But when she begins to awaken, really awaken, everything she thought was real begins to fracture. Guided by late-night whispers, spiritual teachings from Neville Goddard and Joe Dispenza, and the haunting presence of a mysterious woman named Zahra, Janelle peels back the layers of her reality. What she discovers? The system is more than financial, it's spiritual. The struggle isn't just economic. It's energetic. The Watchers have been feeding on her pain. The mirrors are portals. And the life she dreamed of was a prison dressed up as peace. As she fights to reclaim her mind, her power, and her children's future, Janelle unearths a truth buried beneath concrete and silence: the land remembers. The ancestors are watching. And the system she thought was real... never was. But awakening comes with a price. And as Janelle breaks the illusion, the Watchers evolve-taking human form, targeting her bloodline, and forcing her to face the ultimate question " What if freedom was never outside of her, but something she had to remember to unlock? This is not just a story. This is a spiritual war.

Cassandra Morgan was sixteen when her first kiss killed a boy. In a world where magic is illegal and hybrids are hunted, Cassie's uncontrolled power makes her a Category Three threat-marked for termination by the ruling Council. Rescued by a father she's never known and a resistance willing to turn children into weapons, Cassie must decide what's worse: becoming dangerous... or becoming obedient. Control the fire. Or let it burn everything. ⚠️ Content warnings: Death, grief, trauma, mentions of execution/violence, emotional manipulation, morally grey characters

A poem about oppression