For Parker Haymart, a junior at CHS, writing has always been a getaway car to escape reality. Over the pandemic, Haymart needed more than ever to escape. Little did he know this would lead him to write and publish his very own novel: “Loose Change.”

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, during virtual school, Haymart’s eighth-grade English class was given a short story assignment. Since he was forced to spend most of his time inside, he started writing as a way to distract himself.

“I wanted some sort of escape,” Haymart said. “I used writing as a way to go on an adventure that I couldn’t do because I was stuck in my house.”

This specific assignment led him to create a plot that entranced his writing abilities. As soon as he sat down, he knew the plot would involve a bank heist of some sort and the personalities of the main characters.

“I wanted two main characters who were polar opposites,” Haymart said. “I wanted them to represent the two different sides of me; the part of me that wants to meet the expectations of others and the other that wants to live in the moment free from the worries of what others think of me.”

Once these essentials were planned out, in one sitting Haymart wrote an eight-page short story.

He had his friends and family read it, who expressed they were mesmerized by the plot. For a while, Haymart didn’t do anything with the story.

But the story just wouldn’t leave him.

Then during the summer going into freshman year, he started writing and working on his short story to cure boredom and create something for himself. This once-short story prompted him to write continuously and started to become quite long.

Haymart would never plan when he would write — it came naturally. The loose structure of zoom school combined with a surplus of time proved to be advantageous to Haymart’s writing process. He had plenty of time to write and would even write in between zoom classes.

Haymart would never plan when he wrote — it came naturally. Additionally, due to the virtual and flexible format of freshman year, he had plenty of time to pursue writing his book.

Haymart morphed the story into something larger. The plot still involved a bank heist performed by two polar opposite main characters like in the short story, but now had deeper themes — themes that he himself experienced during quarantine — like exploring your purpose, enjoying life in the moment, not reliving the past and expecting fulfillment and happiness in the future.

When Haymart went into writing this book, he never thought he’d publish it, but when he took a look at the finished product, he found something he was proud of and decided to share his story.

Haymart hopes reading this book is as much an escape for others as it was for him writing it.

“I hope this book creates some sort of levity in readers’ lives and leaves them thinking about what matters in life,” Haymart said. “I think everyone will take something different from the story.”

“Loose Change” is available on Amazon, and Barnes and Noble and can be purchased here.