Her velvety little hand glides across the white sheet of paper. The blue pen guides her hand in a flowing rhythm. The muscles in her tan arm flex. Her hold on the pen tightens after every word she scribbles. Her thoughts show on her face as they travel to the tip of her pen and reveal themselves on the page.

Portrait of my Sister

Her hair falls down her back in thick black waves. Her tapered fingers hold a cup gracefully. Sitting on her slender wrist is a silver watch. Her dark eyebrows veer to create her little nose. Her raised cheekbones stick out of her light brown oval-shaped face. Her eyelids are sheer. Her almond-shaped eyes slope down at the corners. The two small mountains forming her upper lip are pink and full. Her ears, like two spirals on the sides of her face, are pierced with diamonds. The semi-circles below her eyes look like two shadows in an alley. The brightness in her dark eyes brings out the laughter in her face.

Roxanne at the Club

Music thumps and thunders. Lights splash in everyone's eyes. Her knee-high, hot pink, five-inch platform boots slam against the silver-tiled floor. Around her, college students gulp Heineken and hoot laughter at the other dancers. She shrieks as cold beer streams down her back.

Inside Outside

The sunlight shone brightly through the small window in the room. The flowers stood high on a shelf, their colors lighting everything. The baby-blue couch held four small children comfortably. The children's laughter echoed gently throughout the small room. Outside the wind screamed, sending messages through the crack of the red door. The white porcelain cat fell slowly from the shelf to the tiled floor, crashing into millions of pieces. The dishwasher, left running, created squashing sounds.


Samantha Wilhelm attends the City and Country School in New York City. Samantha was born in Paraguay. She is from an international family of four adopted children. She has a sister from Thailand, one from Chile and another from the United States.

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