The man in this room had turned from someone I might’ve been able to love;

To quickly become someone I was terrified of.

He acted in small ways that wouldn’t be scary;

If you counted them each individually,

but I wasn’t stupid.

He was too suspicious.

“What?”

He asked.

He looked confused,

But was that real confusion…

Or were my eyes deceiving me?

“You! Who are you!”

I yelled.

”What do you mean?!”

He finally got up;

After falling onto the ground coughing from eating Kimchi.

At that moment,

His tall figure was more demeaning.

Commanding.

I’m trapped.

I left all my stuff here,

and I already talked to my landlord.

This is my new home.

“Never mind…”

If he was really going to hurt me;

I didn’t want him to know that I knew.

“No, what do you mean?!”

He was scared…

of me.

What should I do?

I’m not even sure anymore.

Do I tell him I don’t trust him,

Or do I run?

I Don’t Know.

How pathetic; I’m just like always…

I wish I was like Brad;

I wish I could confidently choose my own path.

All I’ve done is gotten older,

But I’m still the same person.

The same girl from 9 years ago,

That needed help.

I was

…

…

…

I’m hunched over in one of the bathroom stalls;

Afraid to leave.

I’m counting down the minutes until Lunch Break is over,

But maybe they’ll find me soon.

Maybe…

I just put my feet up onto the toilet seat,

As I hear some girls enter the stall.

Their steps each echoed in my head painfully.

I wish someone would help me.

I was their target;

because I was odd.

My first day of class was normal,

And I wasn’t very social;

Since my parents recently moved to Seoul for more job opportunities.

They tell me that at least,

But I think it was cause the kids there didn’t like me either.

Two girls entered,

And I thought I was lucky, that they weren’t the ones looking for me…

“Hey you hear about the weird kid from class 1-2?”

“You mean the one, who got in because of her parents?”

“Yeah, the one that didn’t do the entrance exam!”

“Yeah, if you’re not here to study then get out!

You know what I mean?”

She started growing angrier the more she spoke.

“Like some of us care about our future,

And have to work for it.

We don’t just have parents in the industry that hold our hand when it gets hard.”

“Yeah who does she think she is?!”

“If she was here!”

She kicked over a trash can and yelled.

It wasn’t true;

I passed the entrance exam.

I had a barely passing score,

But I did study a lot to get into this school.

Rumors don’t care about the truth though…

It was also scary how those girls also started to hate me.

Terrifying even.

I had to watch how easily it could happen.

I just checked the time on my watch,

And it read “12:50PM”.

Barely any time had passed, but it already felt like an eternity.

Trapped within the walls

they protect me from outside

Yet they trap me too.

I want to leave, but there’s no good that’ll come from that.

I’ll just get bullied by one of the kids in my class.

I’ll be grabbed and have insults hurled at me.

It’s easier to just hide and not do anything.

Tears ran down my face;

Like always. I had no control over them.

Today was the day we were supposed to get a transfer student in our class,

But he never arrived.

I wish I had the courage to do something like that.

I, on the other hand, was all alone.

I was eating a lonely piece of bread,

In a lonely stall,

And crying lonely tears.

I wiped my tears away.

I should get used to this at some point,

But that day hasn’t come yet.

I should at least try to act like I’m fine though,

otherwise they’ll make fun of me for that too.

By now those girls were probably on the other side of the school,

But I was still scared they might be around here.

I don’t know what to do…

I was scared of bringing my violin;

Since they always liked destroying my stuff,

but it was what calmed me.

I just feel useless…

I’m going to leave this place,

When the clock strikes “1:00PM”.

I made a promise to myself, as I watched the clock hit “12:56PM”.

I wanted to get out of this cycle of hiding,

And finally fix all my problems myself.

 I want to be able to do something!

The short minutes passed,

And as it counted down to “1:00PM”

 I was scared.

Why do you even want to leave?

I just want to be able to get out and escape the prison.

Outside the stall is just a greater prison.

I don’t care I just want t-

You will only get hurt.

I kept doubting myself,

But just as the clock hit “1:00PM”

something terrifying happened.

The girls who were looking for me came out,

And I suddenly remembered I set an alarm at 1:00PM to eat food.

It was after I cried for the whole lunch break,

And had to come up with an excuse why I didn’t eat any food that day to my parents.

“Who’s in the stall?” One of the girls asked.

I could tell she was talking to me.

It was the leader of the people who bullied me.

She might’ve even spread the rumor that I got in because of my parents.

“What? How am I supposed to know?” The other girl responded.

She sounded like she was doing her makeup,

and trying to divide up her attention.

“I’m not talking to you!” She kicked against my stall.
“HEY! Who are you?”

She sounded more annoyed than angry;

Since she probably didn’t think it’d be me.

This was a new spot, that she never found me at after all.

Why would I be here?

I could have even kept the lie up.

I took some vocal classes, and had learned how to change my voice,

So I could sound like someone else.

I could have avoided all of this,

But for some reason… Maybe it was the promise to run out at 1:00PM.

Maybe it was something else,

But that was what I did.

I put both of my feet on the floor, and stood up.

I opened the stall door,

and sprinted as fast I could.

They probably didn’t even recognize me;

since I ran past them so fast.

That’s what I thought.

They had seen me, and were chasing after me.

I sprinted faster,

But they were much faster than me.

Every step I took only resulted in them getting closer.

I decided to look over at the window for some reason on that day.

I saw a young boy about my age,

With blonde hair being dress coded at the front gate.

Is that the new transfer student?

I should stay away from that guy;

Don’t want to become a delinquent like him and ruin my future.

That’s what I thought at that moment.

A thought I would laugh at many times in the future.

I was still running from them,

When I realized that the 3rd floor was where the music room was.

The only room that no classes took place in,

And could be locked by anyone from the inside.

I used it as a hideout,

But they always checked there now.

Plus, they would just wait outside for me until classes started,

So I would always be late to class hiding from them

If I locked myself in the music room.

No one used it after all;

Since the school became a specialty Science High School.

After all, the old school apparently was terrible.

Probably would’ve been better for me.

I sprinted into the room,

And quickly locked the door.

Seconds later I heard banging, and the taunting they did to me a few weeks ago.

“You’ll have to come out!”

”You don’t want to miss your classes do you?”

I honestly could not care less.

I just wanted to hide in here forever.

I began singing the tune that boy had written all those years ago,

And it calmed me like it always did.

Even if some parts of it made me tear up.

“You still singing that stupid tune?” The leader yelled taunting me.

“Do something that matters!” One of the other girls yelled.

“Then again she is useless;

since she couldn’t even pass the entrance exam by herself.”

Then I heard someone sprint up to the third floor,

And it was probably the delinquent.

He walked in front of the music room,

And asked the girls standing just outside the door:

“Heya you guys know where the music room is?”

They were stunned to speak for a few moments,

But then answered:

”Oh it’s right there,”she pointed, “but why are you looking for a stupid place like that?”

“Does it matter?”

“Well, we’re just waiting for this girl to leave,

So we can punish her; because she didn’t do the entrance exam”

“Wait!” He seemed cherry, but then switched to a cold tone.

“Where’s ya proof?”

“Are you seriously defending that girl?”

They were stunned in disbelief.

“So no proof…” He muttered like he was taking notes; before saying loudly.

“Could you just leave then?”

“No, she needs to get what’s coming to her!”

“I. Don’t. Care.”

At this point I heard the girls scream in fear.

I assumed he threatened them;

Since he looked like a delinquent, he probably was one.

“Hey I got rid of them,” he whispered before asking

“So could you open the door?”

This sounded like a trap,

But what choice did I have?

It was him or those girls, and at least most delinquents wouldn’t hit a girl.

Most.

I slowly slid open the door,

just as the time hit “1:11PM”.

“Heya, I’m Brad. Nice to meet you”