Personal Narratives 2025

Editor’s Choice

The seven essays below were the editor’s favorites. A PDF of all essays may be downloaded HERE.
*Listed alphabetically

Flynn Han

From Soccer to Chaos

There I was, groaning in agony as I clutched my arm, barely able to move it without feeling like it was on fire. But to understand how all this started, let’s rewind to 3 hours earlier.

I woke up feeling great. It was game day: our team versus Westville. If we win, we get the championship. If they win, they get the trophy. It was an all-or-nothing match. After breakfast, I hopped in the car with my family, heading to the pitch. As we arrived, I felt the nerves hit. The heebie jeebies, the chills, and every other thing you could imagine. Luckily, my teammates Andrew and Oliver were there, and we talked to distract ourselves. After discussing the plan for 20 minutes, we headed out to the pitch. I grabbed my goalkeeper gloves—after all, that was my position—and realized I didn’t bring my extra thick gloves. I figured I’d be fine without them.

The game started smoothly. We scored first, then Westville got an easy shot through my legs. 1-1. Then, Westville broke through our defense, shooting from about 15 feet away. I dove left, my instincts taking over. The ball hit my left forearm and bounced off the post. Pain shot through my arm like fire, but I didn’t stop playing. I tried flexing it, but a streak of pain shot down to my hand, as if my bone had dislocated. It hurt, but I kept playing. At halftime, I grabbed some ice from the cooler, removed my glove, and saw that my forearm looked crooked. I didn’t want the coach to know, so I pressed ice on it and tried to hide the pain. My brother handed me an apple juice box (I kinda have the taste buds of a 5 year old). After a few minutes, I couldn’t feel much of my arm, so I went back into the game.

The second half went on, and the score was tied at 2-2. Then came the penalty shootout. A penalty shootout is a tiebreaker used in soccer when a match ends in a draw after regular time and extra time. Each team takes turns shooting from the penalty spot, with the goalkeeper trying to block the shots, and the team with the most goals after a set number of attempts wins. We scored twice, and Westville missed twice. It was 4-2. If we scored just two more, we’d win. But then, I made my mistake. Westville took their shot, and I was stupid enough to save it with my left forearm.

The pain was instant, and my arm went limp. I couldn’t hold back the temptation to flex it again. The pain shot up to a 50 on a scale of 1-10. I collapsed on the grass, unable to move, twitching like a bug after your mom whacked it with a slipper. My coach quickly subbed me out since I was kinda flopping around like a fish outta water. My family rushed me to the hospital. After a few X-rays, the doctors confirmed it was just a sprain. A day later, I walked out of the hospital with a cast. I had to wear it for a month, unable to play soccer, baseball, or golf. The moral of the story? Never push your body to the limit.

Michael Kim

A Scarf

The sweat on my neck. The tears in my eyes. The sheer amount of pain. Incredible. In an academy, barely living. Why, oh WHY did this happen to me? Oh well. I guess I’ll never know.

It all started in winter, when I was a helpless 4th grader. I was at my academy, and I was waiting for my mom to pick me up. After a while, my mom came…with my brother. I wanted to go home and play, but I got the devastating news that my mom had a parent conference. So after my mom went into my teacher’s room, me and my brother started playing. Before that, my brother has some characteristics. He is very funny, but when he roasts me a bit too much, it gets very annoying, and I just want him to stop yapping. Oh yeah, his name is Richard. I guess that’s kinda important, too.

Also, try using your imagination. What do you think would happen if 2 unsupervised, and mischievous kids can do whatever they want? Well now I know: whatever comes out of their tiny, minute brains. Sadly, I found out the hard way.

Anyways, me and Richard started choosing a game, and we decided to play “make the other guy ugly”. This game consists of 5 turns, and you must make 1 change to the other person per turn. You can make small changes, or distinct ones. You may also undo your last move. After the 5 rounds, the players will look in the bathroom mirror at the same time, and repeat the process. The point of the game was supposed to be having fun. But sometimes, things just don’t go your way.

The first round went pretty smoothly. It was all fun, and Richard even stopped roasting me when I was starting to get upset! Most of the rounds went like this…until the last round. This one also was going smooth, and after I finished messing up his hair, he decided to use a scarf to tighten around my neck. After that round, we went to the bathroom and laughed a lot. My neck was starting to hurt, so I told Richard to get the thing off my neck. There was one problem with that: the scarf didn’t come off. You’re probably thinking: ‘But Michael, you just said you laughed a lot, wouldn't you be low on Oxygen?’ and to that, I can’t deny that! Yes, I couldn’t breathe because of a scarf. Yes, I was low on air. So naturally, I decided not to scream because of air conservation. After 30 seconds, Richard somehow got the scarf off, and I was surprised that he did it, because he couldn’t for the life of him open a delivery bag.

Anyways, I kicked him, and he said that he was sorry. At the time, I wasn't satisfied with this low-effort apology. I wanted to scream at him, but I couldn’t because I also knew that my mom would rant at BOTH of us.

Now, I still laugh when thinking about it, but I still haven’t forgiven Richard for that.

Jeein Min

Blacked Out

I never imagined how close I’d come to disaster that night. One moment, I was in the shower, the next, our house was plunged into darkness—followed by a spark, a flood, and the terrifying realization that one wrong step could be my last.

“Wash up and go to bed. It’s past midnight,” Mom told my younger brother, Ryan. “I’ll go in a minute,” he replied, eyes glued to a comic book. Knowing his “minute” would stretch into an hour, I headed for a shower. With music blasting from my phone, I hummed along, oblivious to the disaster about to unfold. Suddenly, I heard it—a bubbling noise, like something thick boiling over. Before I could investigate, a crackling pop sounded, plunging everything into darkness.

“Cut it out, Ryan!” I pounded on the door, thinking it was a prank. “It wasn’t me! I swear!” His panicked voice sent a chill through me. Then, a bright orange spark flickered from the electronic multi-tab near the sink. Electricity. A scream of terror escaped me. Heart pounding, I lunged for the door with shaking hands, yanking it open. The hallway was eerily silent. Flashlights clicked on as my parents emerged from their room.  “Is it a power outage?” Mom asked uneasily. Dad checked the power generator. “Nothing’s wrong with it.” I rushed to the window. Most homes were dark, but a few still had lights on. “It’s just us.” A chill crept over me. Dad grabbed his coat. “I’ll check with security.” Sorely, sorely regretting watching the terrifying movie earlier, I went to grab my hoodie to go outside when a flicker of orange caught my eye from the kitchen. I froze.

A single light glowed from the multi-tab. That shouldn’t be possible. The whole house was dark. Cautiously, I pressed the lamp’s button—it flickered to life. “The lights are on!” I called. “Not the ceiling lights,” Mom answered. “The TV is!” Ryan clicked the remote. A home shopping channel blared to life, absurdly cheerful in our tense atmosphere. “I need my phone for more light.” I turned back toward the bathroom—then stopped abruptly. Something slick squelched beneath my slippers. Water. My breath caught. The shower I’d left running. The bubbling noise. The spark. The blackout.

It could be electrified. A strangled squeak escaped me as I stumbled back. “What’s wrong?” Mom and Ryan rushed over. Their eyes widened at the flooded hallway, their faces paling with horror. The front door swung open. “Security has no idea what’s wrong,” Dad said—then fell silent, seeing the water. He pulled on rubber boots and waded toward the bathroom. We held our breath as he bent down, picking up something wet and dripping. A sopping wad of toilet paper. Water dripped from the multi-tab, slithering into the pooling water. A faint tendril of steam curled into the air. It had been electrified. If I had stepped forward, I would have died.

Mom and Dad turned on Ryan at once. He burst into tears. Later, I pieced together what happened: while I was at PEAI, Ryan had tried to drill a hole in a bar of soap using an electric water jetstream teeth cleaner. To clean up, he had used toilet paper to soak the water—then carelessly dropped the wet wad onto the multi-tab. Slowly, water had seeped in, short-circuiting our house. 

We had learned about electrical safety at school: Keep multi-tabs away from sinks, and be cautious around wet surfaces. I had always ignored it. I never would again. That night, we made a silent promise to be more careful. Next time, we might not be so lucky.

Justin Moon

The Outlaw

I don’t know if I can flee from a full-grown man, but I know that I’m about to faint from this situation. I don’t know if anyone can help me, but I know that everyone else is terrified. I don’t know what this stranger will do to me, but I’m aware that he’s not the nicest person in the world.

It was an excruciating summer day with my sweat stuck to my T-shirt. My friend and I needed to get back home together without our parents, so we headed to the subway station after a break in the air-conditioned convenience store. We were not willing to get out of our newfound haven, but we had to. We trudged to the subway with heavy footsteps. When the train arrived, we quickly took a seat. Time flew, and there were only minutes left of our journey.

I was getting sleepy when this unusual man boarded. He was short, and he had a cap. He had curly hair, and his jacket seemed old. He was the perfect example of a strange stranger! He asked the other passengers for something, but they were all declining his request. I was thinking about scenarios when the man approached me and my friend. I could see a hint of depression on his face. He quickly struck up a conversation, and he explained that he had been released from jail three days ago.

The man continued. He requested 100,000 won for a do-over, and waited for our response. However, we were in no shape to help. We were bankrupt at the moment, so I did my best to apologize that I was truly sorry, and I tried to empathize with him. We had no idea how the man would react. Our choice was the obvious choice and the only choice, but it would grow to become the worst choice I ever made.

The man didn’t seem to accept it. What he did totally knocked us off balance. The man flailed his hands, and he cursed passengers. I figured he had finally lost his marbles. Unfortunately, that was exactly the case. He grazed my face with a mad swipe, and he screamed on top of his lungs. How he knew so many inappropriate words, I have no idea. I was confident that he was ready to go to court again, and I braced myself for another assault. The annoying voice of the subway announced that it was Maebong Station, and that was far to my destination. However, my friend and I left the passengers behind and ran out.

Again, luck never seemed to follow us. We had forgotten to bring our phones, so we just walked, looking at the billboards. However, my friend and I are mediocre way-finders. We were possibly getting further, so we just borrowed a stranger’s phone and called my friend’s mother. After 20 to 30 minutes of waiting, my friend’s mother arrived. Thankfully, she hadn’t been too far asway.

Then, things began to untie. My mother and my friend’s mother began a serious conversation, and we were eventually prevented from the subway for a time being. At that time, I never knew I would be writing a narrative to explain this dangerous station. Who could’ve guessed so? Now that I think about it, I learned more about the outside world through that time.  When I tell people my story sometimes, half don’t believe me, and half are quite interested. When they ask me how I felt in that hazardous situation, I just smile. There’s no way they’ll understand unless they experience it.

David Oh

The Fridge Door of Ultimate Doom

When you ask people what they are most afraid of, most of them are common phobias, like arachnophobia and claustrophobia. But most people also don’t expect for you to say “... a ten pound stainless steel fridge door” as an answer. But for me that was the case for approximately… 1 hour. This is the tale of the horror of the fridge door of INEVITABLE DOOM, which caused me mass amounts of pain, almost certain PTSD, and suffering to my heart’s content.

It started around the time of 2024, July 5th. It was just another normal, boring day after school, and I was just doing my math homework. But suddenly, I struck with a drought in my throat. So to satisfy my thirst, I stood up, and headed to the kitchen, where I thought salvation lied. Little did I know that what was actually lying in store for me there was far, far different from what I expected. I bee-lined toward the fridge, where all the goodies lay, ready for consumption. I opened the fridge door, and reached my greedy little hands towards a small, inconspicuous milk carton. But of course, karma finally caught up with me, and my slippery,  little hands caused my milk to slip from my grasp. Annoyed, I reached down to pick up the liquids that I was so desperately wanting.

It was at this moment that I knew something was going to go wrong. Some sort of otherworldly force sent shivers down my spine, but being the ignoramus I am, I completely ignored these sensations and grappled in an intense battle against the floor to reclaim the position of my precious milk. Perhaps some sort of god or eldritch deity was annoyed with me foolishly ignoring their clear-as-day warning, and used their powers to punish me, as the overhead fridge door swung slowly, in a completely wind-less room mind you, for all those fellow ignoramuses who do not believe in the non-existence of deities who treat us pitiful humans like a SIMS game, right over my small, soft head. You can probably guess what happened next. As I finally succeeded in my desperate battle with gravity herself, I started to stand up, and found a 3 pound steel door crashing into my poor head.

For about 3 seconds, I couldn’t feel anything, as my nerves had just gone numb with the impact. Then the pain started to drown me in a tsunami of suffering. My small insignificant soul slowly began its descent to the darkest pits of hell. This cycle went on for about 30 minutes, and then my body slowly began to recover from nearly being blown apart by the impact of the fridge door. It was still painful, mind you, but it no longer felt like I was being flayed alive by Satan himself.

My mother, after she was done with her 3 hour phone call where she talked about my friends and how they were with their mothers, rushed to my side, where she witnessed the pitiful form of me kneeling with an empty look in my partially dead eyes. She checked my head for any damage, and most surprisingly, there was no visible crack to my soft little head. She checked for any sort of brain damage, and in her words, there wasn’t any.

In the end, this wasn’t really a near death experience, but in my opinion, it was pretty close to death, as immense pain is the annoying cousin of death. So, no brain damage, just extreme emotional damage and possible brain damage. I guess that’s sort of a win…

Laura Oh

Doomed in the Dunes

“What’s going on?” My heart is pounding; I can hear it loud and clear. My body feels hot yet cold at the same time. The car was in danger. I was in danger. It all happened so quickly. Nature has the power to do all sorts of things. Especially the small, light pieces. They might seem small, but they make the biggest difference in one’s life.

It was my first day of school in Dubai. I was a 6-year-old shy girl, nervous for this very day. My mom, dad, little brother, and I were all in the car. This was all a new experience for me. The roads, the car, and the environment all felt so strange.

Almost there, I felt something weird. I just thought I heard it wrong. However, there was constantly a small ‘thump’ filling the atmosphere. I was worried about what’s going on, to the point that my parents didn’t seem to notice a thing. I was confused yet scared of what would happen next.

The thump vibrated louder like a “zing.”. It was an endless humming sound. Because of this, it cooled my body slowly. My hands were sweaty; I couldn’t even feel the skirt I was holding onto the whole entire time. I sensed the danger. My dad finally noticed that he took the wrong road. But that wasn’t the only problem. There was a huge difference in level from the other cars. Our cars seemed lower, yet far away from the surface of the road.

I was mad at my dad. He ruined my first day of school. Looking back at my ugly behavior, I don’t know why I only cared about my life at school. My mom's voice got as loud as an earthquake. I knew my dad was disappointed in me for what I said. So, this led to a family fight, and we all forgot about what really mattered. My dad tried to move forward, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t take my eyes off the brakes. All I could hear was the car making noises.

Beep…Beep…Beep

I looked outside. All I could see was sand. The desert. A place where even Mother Nature suffers from. We were sinking slowly in the hottest place of all. I tried to escape this mess, but the force of the sand was too strong. My heart was beating faster. I was so frightened. I was experiencing the worst possible death. I didn’t think about school anymore. All I thought about was my safety. Then, the darkest moments came. I had no hope and emotion left. Only regrets and worries. I closed my eyes tight.

Suddenly, a miracle came to my family. I saw a tow truck. I opened my eyes once more. The man driving said he would help. I felt a slight shiver along my spine. I don’t remember the man's name or even his appearance, but I was so grateful that he found us. He was my lifesaver. The tow truck pulled the car smoothly onto the road. We thanked him once more. When I came to school, I wasn’t even late. Things turned out the opposite of what I had expected.

Looking back, I can’t understand how okay I was with the accident. My heart and mind were strong. I learned that in the hardest moments, I could really earn help from the younger me. I even changed perspectives of danger. Danger is scary, but it helps the heart and mind to strengthen. Danger is all about how well you overcome it.

Soobin Peck

Car Escape

A press. A click. A smile. I really didn’t know how these could put someone in danger until I actually experienced it. On my own.

It was a sunny day, a day perfect for a picnic. The day was a weekend, and there was nothing unusual. I was at a parking lot of a department store. I was there with my mom,and I was only one year old. Mom put me in my car seat, which was in the back seat of our car. She was going to get on the driver’s seat after putting me in my car seat. We had just finished shopping, and we were planning to head home. My mom put me in the car seat and closed the door.

I got in the car with Mom’s bag in my hands, so I played with it. I liked to search for items in Mom’s bag, so Mom put me in the car with her bag to entertain me. I got Mom’s lipstick out, opened the cap, and shut the cap. I put the lipstick back into the bag, and I finally found something that appealed to me. It was a car key. The car key of the car that I was currently on.

I fidgeted with the key. I tried to take off the car key’s cover. I played with the ring attached to it. Then, I pressed a button. Click. All of this happened in barely 10 seconds, which was about the amount of time Mom took to reach the other side of the car, where the driver’s seat was.

When my mom heard the click, she looked at me through the car window, her eyes wide open. She realized that I was locked inside the car. Alone. It turned out that the button I pressed was for locking the car doors. I looked at my mom. She looked back. I smiled, not knowing what just happened to me. Mom almost fainted, her head full of all kinds of thoughts.

All of a sudden, Mom started screaming from the outside of the car window.

“Soobin! Press the button on the top of the car key you’re holding!”

Of course, I was too young to understand what my mom told me to do.

Mom started to use gestures to help me understand. She gestured pressing a button. I still stared at Mom, smiling while thinking about why Mom was acting so crazy.

“Click”

I finally pressed the button. It wasn’t because I understood Mom’s words, but I just did it. As a result, I never knew what happened until my mom told me about the event when I grew up. My mom opened the door and hugged me, nearly crying and letting out a sigh of relief. Mom opened the door of the back seat where I was sitting on, got the car key and her bag from me, then got on the driver’s seat. She still seemed to feel frightened. Mom called my dad to explain the situation. Dad was shocked, too. Mom started the car engine, and the two of us finally got to head home.

When I grew up and heard this event from my parents, I thought that you have to be extra cautious when you are with young kids. As a result, even though it wasn’t that my mom wasn’t cautious enough, I really try to pay attention to babies when I am next to them.