Paradise was no longer only a few minutes away, but a now unapproachable status in my life, and things were no longer going to be about me. My whole life, I was the main character, and though I still am, a new gang has joined the story to detract a good portion of the attention away from me. My ego can still inflate, yet every time I think of myself better than the rest, a needle will burst my isolation from reality’s harsh truths. Things are going to change around here, and I don’t think I’m going to like it.

Ever since the unspeakable events, the town’s thought process has morphed into an insufferable need for change and a renewal of life’s ways. I personally doubt that things will ever change, because if they could then the events would have never even happened in the first place. I’ll tell you what the town should do. They should get everyone to forget about it, and go on with their lives. I’ve already forgotten what occurred yesterday. Did it happen at three o’clock? Four? I don’t even remember, or care for that matter. I’ve already done what everyone else should do: forget about it and move on. Nothing good will happen if you live in the past. Isn’t there a quote or something about it? ‘Those who dwell too long in the past are doomed to repeat it.’ If it were up to me, they’d just ban guns and be done with it.
“I don’t like your attitude, boy. Please come with me to the office.”
After a brief walk through a hallway of disastrous excuses for ‘art’ and a memorial to retired professors, the professor and I finally reached the headmaster’s quarters. As soon as I walked in, he recognised my prowess and stood up, straightening his posture from its original plebeian-like folded nature.
“What brings you here with this young man, Missus?”
“This ‘young man’ had the audacity to talk back to me when I was discussing the events that transpired yesterday, only before spewing his irreverence to the class.”
“Is that true?” he said, throwing me a condescending glare as if I were inferior to him.
“I only said what I believe to be true. I said nothing with the intention of offending anyone, and if they were offended, then they need to grow up and learn how to respect people’s opinions.”
“You’ve got quite the mouth on you for a second grader. And what makes you think that you know more about the tragedy that happened yesterday than the teacher?”
“Holy God, why must you insult my intelligence solely based on my age? I’m sure that I don’t know more than you do about some things, but on a whole I’m fairly certain that I’m more culturally experienced than this swinehead,” I said pointing a thumb to the gawking professor next to me.
This sarcastic comment was a big mistake. The next thing I know, my parents are being called because I was being ‘disrespectful to my teacher’ and for ‘talking back’. I’ve already been given my fair share of warnings from my mother, and this will only be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It’s a shame too because I was just getting on my mother’s good side. It doesn’t help matters that her sister who we were very close to died yesterday in the shooting.