drifting endlessly, nothing is stationary, just on different time lines. I woke up, strong smell of cat urine permeated the... my head!? Meow-pur, the recently acquired alley cat had pissed on my head(well, in my hair). I was 8 years old, late for school, no time to take a shower, so I just splashed my face, stared at the peach fuzz sprouting from my lip, along with the scar that I received from the family cat just a couple weeks prior, and then hopped to it. Cold day out, ocean breeze, and a low fog--June gloom. Not much passing through my mind, just the lunch my mom had packed, and the nic-nacs I had collected from the dumpster the night before; I used them to barter with the kids at school for some fruit roll ups, or, if I was lucky, some rice pudding snacks. The walk to school was an easy gradient until you got to diamond st., that's where things got tough, not only because the grade rose a bit, but its also where Santiago, Manuel, and Pedro use to hang out before school started, and sometimes they'd just hang out there all day. On this day I was lucky, and they'd decided to get to class like normal kids.
as I walked into class, into the stale room with staler faces, the smell of the cats urine began to return, it started growing in intensity. At first waft you may be able to mistake it for a boiling pot of Beef Top Ramen, not soon after such a scent made its way through the nasal passages does it transcend this harmless association, and Soon send the children within a five feet radius into a fit of nostril flaring. So it was no surprise when the student next to me, this pastie white freckled kid named Chris, began to pick up on the scent. Now, usually Chris was subdued, most likely replaying his most recent traumatic experience from having an abusive alcoholic for a father, meaning he's was known to keep to himself. But not on this day, this day was the day he chose to no longer be the victim, and this day he knew he had the fodder to do so.
A steady hand leapt from his side and pointed in my direction, "HE PISSED HIMSELF!!!", were the words that came from of his mouth, his lack of experience in the department of humiliating others was so obvious, for in those moments in which he proclaimed to the class that I had indeed pissed myself, it seemed as if he startled even himself. suddenly the 3rd grade classroom became an arena of insult, as every gap filled mouth began exploring the possible reasons why I had pissed myself, and perhaps it wasn't my piss at all...
Yes, this is but the beginning
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