I know this is gonna sound super dumb and like, not even a real problem but I just gotta get it out because it's eating me alive. I feel like such a POS. So my mom works at this architecture firm right? Like a small one, just a few people, and she brings home drawings sometimes, whatever. And I was looking at this one set, it's for this HUGE award they won, like the biggest deal ever for them, and everyone is SO hyped up. My mom says it means they’ll actually make rent this year, like they were almost gonna have to close down before this. And I was looking at the plans, like the whole thing, and my stomach just DROPPED. Because I know those plans. Like, I’ve SEEN them before. My friend from art class, Maya, she wants to be an architect too, and she showed me her portfolio stuff last year, for like, college applications, and it was almost THE EXACT SAME THING. Like, not just similar, but literally the same weird curved roofline and those crazy windows. Maya is so talented and she worked so hard on that, and this guy, Mr. Evans, he’s like, the fancy one at the firm, he just… took it.
And I don't know what to do. I mean, it's NOT a big deal really, it's just some drawings, right? But it feels HUGE. If I say anything, like to my mom or whatever, everyone will hate me. Like the whole firm would probably just shut down, my mom would lose her job, and she’s already so stressed about money and how expensive everything is here. She keeps saying we might have to move to a smaller place or even out of the city if things don’t get better, and I CAN’T. My friends are here, my whole life is here. But then I think about Maya and how excited she was about those designs and how proud she was, and how someone just… stole them. I feel like a total traitor either way, like I'm betraying my family or I'm betraying my friend. And it’s not even MY problem, it’s just something I saw. But I can't stop thinking about it, like my head is going to explode with all these thoughts.
It's just so messed up. I just want to pretend I never saw it, like I never looked at those papers. But now it's in my head and I feel like I'm part of it somehow, like I'm helping them get away with it by not saying anything. And Maya is so sweet, she would never even think someone would do something like that. She's so innocent about stuff like this. Ugh. I hate this. I just wish I could forget it ever happened. Like, what even IS the right thing to do? This is so stupid but I can't sleep, I just keep staring at the ceiling and going over it again and again.
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