Iria's Smile II

1st PRIZE

CATEGORY I:

1st/2nd ESO

CAROLINA BLANCO 2ESO

THE LIKE

I opened my Instagram account. I knew I should be studying, but I was also going to fail, so why should I study then? "Monica has published a new photo". I didn't even look at it and I gave it a "like". Well, after all, she is my friend, I'm supposed to. I sighed and I turned around to see my father's photograph. If he was here... Nothing has been the same since he left, and I've had to act like I don't care, I have to pretend to be the tough one and it doesn't affect me, but... how am I not going to care? He was my father. And cancer affects. Whether you like it or not, it is a long illness, and although you always have some hope when you least expect it, it takes it away from you.
I looked at my phone again, and my mom just posted something. I decided to take a look, she didn't post things very often. And then I saw it. It had been a year since he had died. It was a picture of him... with me. Wait a minute, with me? But no one knew. How was it possible? I didn't care about him. I had to be an example. I had to be my family’s pillar. Without me, they would collapse. I read the description of the photo.
“It’s been a year since the death of one of the most important people in my life. A husband, a friend, a teacher, but above all, a father. A father who loved his children dearly, a father who would have done anything for them. And he was a wonderful father, but he left. Today I apologize, daughter, because I have focused so much on your father this last year that I didn't realize that the rest of you were still alive, and you needed me, and I am very sorry that you had to be the one to take the role of calming us all down. But you didn't have anyone. I can't imagine how

difficult it must have been for you, as I can't imagine myself without you this last year. If your father was still here, I know that this isn't what he would have wanted. From now on, I want to help you, and I want to show you how much your father fought because he fought for you, he fought to see you every day, to hear you every day, to love you every day. It was all for you. Never feel guilty about anything that you have done because your father has always loved you, and so have I. Although sometimes it may not seem like it, I love you. And I'm not your father, and I've already accepted it, he's not coming back, but what I want now is for you to come back. I want you to return to be the singing, smiling happy and funny girl that you have always been, for your father."
I froze. Tears kept falling from my eyes until I burst. My mother came and that's when I told her. I told her everything, Everything I had suffered this year and I had shut up.
We hugged each other in the dark room, except for the light from my cell phone, which showed the red heart in the post.

By Carolina Blanco 2S

A True Like

For years we have lived daily with something we call "social networks", which allow us to learn new things, and discover even hobbies. Such is the influence they have on us that they can even allow us to find love and make new friends. In this way of communication, millions of people share their daily lives, the things they do, what kind of hobbies they have, what they eat, where they buy their clothes...
As you know, there is a small and innocent red button in the shape of a heart that allows us to point out if we like what people share. Well, that tiny button can be the mental and psychological destruction of many people.
My name is Chloe and that adorable red heart ruined my life and my way of seeing things.
It all started the day I decided to open an account on the well-known Instagram app. At first, I downloaded it just because everyone who had it installed on their mobile device kept talking about the good times they had at seeing what people from all countries in the world made in their daily lives. Obviously, my intention was never to become famous, I just wanted to understand what my friends were talking about.
I remember the moment I uploaded my first post, it was a picture of a landscape from a trip I had gone on with my parents to a small island in the Caribbean. My account was private, so only people I knew were able to see the things I uploaded to my account. My small group of "followers" pressed that damn red button and commented beautiful things in the comment box, and that inexplicably made me feel so good that, suddenly, my whole being had the need for more people, even strangers, to say nice things to me. Then, without even thinking about it, I changed the status of my account to public and started uploading more trips and places I went to.

What began as landscapes, continued to be photos of me, and by having the account public in just a few weeks I began to gain many followers from all places. I uploaded practically everything and they enjoyed that. They used to say that I was very close with them and made them feel as if they knew me in person, and those nice comments made me feel great. Therefore it was a never-ending story, I shared my life to entertain the public and they praised me by saying nice things.
At first, everything was really great: I received a salary, and although it wasn't much and it allowed me to buy myself a whim. People on the street asked me for pictures and made me feel like I was a Hollywood superstar.
But as always, all good things come to an end and my little perfect and pink world was not going to be less. Anonymous accounts started insulting me in the comment box, which I didn't pay much attention to at first. Over time, those accounts multiplied and my followers dropped, so there was something in me that broke and I began to get obsessed over the number of likes and followers on my account. I stopped meeting my friends, I lowered my academic performance, I hardly slept, and all to try to recover the likes I lost. Those anonymous accounts ended up attacking my physique and since my Instagram account had become the most important thing in my life, I stopped seeing through my eyes and was only able to see through the eyes of those who were mad at me. I did very strict and extremely dangerous diets that made me lose weight drastically. I thought that by losing weight all the nice comments would come back, but it was not like that. People who want to harm you will never be satisfied. My friends realized about those comments and the change in