The Truth Will Set You Free by Lucas
	My name is Dylan Andersen and today I know the truth, and despite popular belief, the truth is not out there. Rather, it is in here. Read on, if you're really interested... It was about ten years ago now that my whole world was turned upside down. My father got some new job on the coast, and so the whole family had to move. I was ripped away from my friends, my school, my town and the life I loved. For a sixteen year old, that's a fairly apocalyptic thing to go through. The worst part of it all was starting a new school – it was horrible. For about a week I had no friends, I hated all the teachers and my life was at what seemed liked an all time low. Looking back on it all, it seems fairly dumb, but at the time it was huge. Anyway, I finally managed to make some friends. I made some absolutely hilarious comment about my teacher's haircut which earned me the respect of all the cool kids in the back row. That very same day I was invited to a party on the weekend to which I replied "Yeah, I suppose I could make it". Of course I was ecstatic on the inside, but I didn't want anyone to see through my sensitive-but-to-cool-to-care faηade. So that weekend I went to this party. It was at this party that I made some stupid decisions which would pretty much ruin the next few years of my life. I tried too hard to fit in, and I didn't try at all to be true to myself. So I sacrificed it all to become just another face in the crowd, just another cog in the machine. For the next three years I was caught in a vicious trap of drugs. But it wasn't just the drugs that really messed things up for me – it was everything that went with them. The distrust my family bestowed upon me when they found out, the physical and emotional side effects and the sense of failure. My grades at school went downhill until they hit rock bottom. I failed most of my subjects in year twelve, because the lifestyle and the attitude to life I had chosen through drugs inebriated my senses and my drive to achieve. I lost three years of my life to drugs. I spent those years stumbling through what should have been a time of self-discovery and decision making for my future. Now this is where the story gets kind of loopy, so get ready for some eye-brow raising material. It was about 5AM or so and I was fairly trashed. From out of seemingly nowhere, this guy walks down the road and sits on the gutter next to me. He was dressed in some faded blue denim jeans and a simple white T-shirt. He had longish brown hair with fairly defined facial features. The weirdest thing though was how clean he looked – well, looked probably isn't the right word. He... felt clean. I immediately felt safe around him, like I knew him really well... but I didn't. Anyway, he says to me "Who are you Dylan?" "How do you know my name?" I retorted, more slurred and rudely than I intended.He shot me this really sincere smile and said, "Where are you going, Dylan?" Finally I started to sober up. Of course the question kind of threw me – no one had asked that question with such care in a long time. "I'm going home I suppose..." I glanced off down the road in the direction of the mate's house I had been staying at for the past few months. "Home is that way" he said, tilting his head in the other direction. He was right – my parents lived a suburb over in the direction he was indicating. Who was this guy? What did he want? He had this... aura about him that kept me from dismissing him as a freaky dude or some figment of my imagination. He was so unbelievably sincere. Then he said, "Dylan – you're lost. If you don't find your way home soon, you might lose yourself forever. The truth is you know what to do. You know who you are and where you are going. All you need to do is remember that and you'll be right. Good luck buddy." Suddenly the sun erupted from behind him. I raised my hand to protect my eyes while they adjusted to this new fury of day. When I lowered my hand to make some smart-ass comment about how my parents didn't want me at home he was gone. I stood up immediately, still kind of wasted but I had my wits about me now. He was nowhere to be seen. That day I stood in that damn street for about half an hour and had a good hard think about the questions that dude had asked me. Who was I? Where was I going? I didn't know the answers for sure, but I knew I wanted to take a stab at finding them. I was suddenly sick – not from the drugs, but of the drugs. I was sick of what they were doing to what was left of my life. I took the road that lead to my home – to where my family and future were. On that long walk home I left my past behind me – and I didn't look back once. Today, a few years down the track I'm still trying to answer those questions. In the meantime, I'm helping other kids who have fallen into the drug trap – I work at a youth rehab centre. I'm not trying to force these kids to listen to reason or statistics or some stupid story about how I escaped from drugs. What I am trying to do is ask these kids the same questions that helped me. Who are you? Where are you going? The truth is not written on a piece of paper, nor is it a secret that only the most wise of men can comprehend, the truth is inside you – the truth is what will set you free; from inhibitions, from fear, from the square you live in, from the monotony of impermanence and inevitability. My name is Dylan Andersen, and this is my truth. I am who I am, and I'm going to make a difference. What is your truth?