text: A lot can happen in only a year. People change and so did I. Last year I was only a high schooler that should have graduated that year. In school I was this popular girl with rich parents, good looks and her perfect little life. Or so everyone thought that my life was like that. Some wanted to be my friends for my status in society, others thought I was this mean girl and tried to stay as far away from me as possible. And let's be honest, everyone felt intimidated by me, even my 'so called' friends. They all thought I only cared about my looks, fashion, money and all those sort of things. In reality though, I didn't care much about those things. Of course, I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy all the amenities that my life came with. However, my life could become pretty lonely sometimes. In spite of this, I was willing to put up with my loneliness as long as I made my parents happy and proud of me because I loved them too much. My parents wanted me to be respected and have a safe and wealthy life. They wanted me to become a doctor, a politician, a lawyer or a CEO of our family's business. And so I made a promise to myself to follow my parents dream for me even if that meant I couldn't have a dream of my own future. And so I held myself to that promise. I was a straight A's student and always acted reserved in public to keep my image clear in the society. You know, I always followed the rules even if sometimes I didn't agree with them, I always thought before speaking and kept my opinion to myself if it didn't agree with the public's. I also always cared how I dressed or, well, at least acted as if I cared about all those designer clothes that I owned. But everything changed on that terrible day in spring. My parents and I were in Spain. They had a business meeting here with all the important CEOs of Europe and I tagged along since one day everything my parents own would be mine. The thing is, I didn't expect that day to come so soon, so I wasn't paying much attention to it. And that is the only reason why I am still here and my parents aren't. It was the day of the meeting, the 14th of April. That morning my mom and dad went to the meeting, but I decided I wanted to explore the city rather than listen to a boring business talk from all these older men and women even though my parents tried to convince me to go along with them. Well, I didn’t. It was a sunny day and I was sitting in the shade under a tree, exhausted from all the walking I had done, when I decided to see how my parents were doing in their meeting. And so I didn't hesitate much longer. I got up and went straight to the building where the meeting was supposed to be held. But what I found there shocked me to my core. The building was surrounded by police. Everyone outside was panicking. I saw a few people standing there in disbelief, tears falling down their faces. I believe they were relatives of some of the people inside the building. I was immensely confused on what was happening so I went to one of the officers. The young officer kindly explained to me that somebody had leaked the information about all the important people being here today, all in one place and so the criminals had planned their attack. They had managed to infiltrate the building and all the people inside were now taken hostage. The police forces outside were working on a plan to save them all as we were speaking. Unfortunately, at that time no one knew that it was a very well-planned terrorist attack so the criminals inside could not have been reasoned with. The terrorists knew really well that by entering the building they had written their own death sentences. They didn't want riches or anything else because their only goal was to kill everyone inside. And so only a few minutes have passed since my talk to the officer when the building suddenly exploded. Everything was happening so fast but at that moment it seemed as if the explosion somehow managed to slow down time. The image of it was so terrible that every time I close my eyes I can still see that explosion in vivid colors. Everyone who was inside it, including my parents, had died that day. And so in the span of minutes the world I knew was crushed and I became an orphan. I still had my wealth and became a legal owner and the CEO of our family business but I no longer had any family left. That incident was like a brutal wake up call for me. Then a realization occurred to me - there is no point in living a safe life and being respected if you cannot save the ones you love. Thus, that day changed everything for me. Don't get me wrong I still graduated high school and kept my grades up. I had to keep on living. Though, I can swear, if a year ago someone came up to me and told me that my life now would be like this, I would have laughed in their face. But here I am. I, Andromeda Perrel, am pledging my loyalty in the army to defend my country from all enemies and am vowing to dedicate my life for the greater good of those who are defenseless. And even if this time a year ago just the idea of joining the army seemed absurd to me, somehow now I know that it is the right path for me. It always has been, because there is no point in being respected if you didn’t earn that respect in the first place.