A Quiet Breath

half of me went to school today.

she went in my place, because this part of me was stuck on a ferris wheel that wouldn't stop to let me off. she took the bus to school, and managed to make her way to the correct classroom in a blue building. upon her arrival, she greeted everyone who acknowledged her presence, and smiled whenever somebody waved at her. she sat down at the back of the room, and observed the the man who was standing at the front of the class. the man would alternate between speaking and acting, and the class broke into hysteria everytime he did the latter. she tried to listen to what the man was saying, but somehow the words that came out of his mouth hung momentarily in the air, only to disappear before she could match them to her vocabulary. however, she managed to disguise her disorientation by laughing along with the crowd or nodding everytime the man finished a string of words. and occasionally her hand shifted to the paper in front of her, so that she could scribble down a few words that she saw on the screen in front. all these were part of the plan to fit in, to camouflage, and to go unnoticed.

during the break, everyone was ushered out of the class to sit at a porch outside the block. everyone sat in rows so she slipped herself into one of them. in front of them, was a small black box that stood on fours. somehow, she picked up that she was supposed to smile whenever the little orange light at the corner of the black box flickered, so she acted accordingly. several flickers later, two girls appeared with two gigantic round bread that had a lot of colourful ingredients and some candles on them, and the class broke into a song. then four people in the class closed their eyes for ten seconds, and blew off the candles. everyone put their hands together in a rapid motion, so she joined in the symphony of claps as well.

unfortunately, she wasn't made to last through the afternoon. during the second half of the lesson, she started to feel very sleepy. thankfully, when a woman with big round spectacles and curly hair appeared on the screen in front, somebody switched off the lights so that the on-screen image could be seen more clearly. she took it as a cue to plop against the wall behind her and shut her eyes. when the lights came on, she saw everyone packing their bags, and thought it was time to leave. but a couple took over the class, and started talking about this "envy pc" thing which didn't make much sense. she hid her boredom behind an earnest-looking face, and even asked a three-word question! but the speaker's reply failed to infiltrate into her brain.

so that summed up her day. she survived the trip to school and has finally returned to me after a long and dreary afternoon. and still, i'm stuck on the ferris wheel. still, i feel less complete than i should.