NEON

65. Damamged Paper

Booker.

"Write down one thing you feel at the moment." I tapped the eraser against my paper up and down several times. Nothing came to mind. "Take that feeling, the paper of course, and crumple it up."

I wrote down "nothing" and crumpled it like everyone else. "Now throw it on the floor." I did so. "Step on it and destroy it as much as possible." I did as so and for some reason Kaplan's face came to mind. The face she had when Askins was speaking to her.

"Pick it up and unwrinkle it." I did. "Try to make it a straight piece of paper again." Everyone groaned and Mr. Dominic glared at them and they stopped, doing as asked.

"It's impossible." We all stopped and sat down to listen. "You can't put something that is destroyed back to the same way it was. It's not gonna happen. So the reason for writing down how you felt on the inside was so you realize, other people feel that way too." He sat down as well.

"When you say something to someone, no matter what it is, it could affect them, good or bad. That paper, their feelings, get destroyed in some way, and they will never be the same again."

Kaplan needs a new paper.

"Do you all get that?" Some of us nodded, the rest just stared blankly and made jokes about it. Like putting the word penis or drawing one on a piece of paper is funny.

I mean it kind of is but all I can see is Kaplan's face and how damaged her paper is.

"Any discussion?" He asks. Some people raise their hand and talk about it and how it has touched them in some spiritual way.

I write a little note on the side and draw two hearts. One of them is perfectly fine and even oozes out little hearts and the other is completely broken and has cracks all over.

It's Kaplan's heart compared to everyone else's. Including mine. I admit with the little heart breaks I have been through, Kaplan has been through way way more. Nobody here can hold a knife to her needle.

I just came up with that. I like that metaphor. I'm using that forever. I smile to myself and realize that other people can see it. Including Mr. Dom.

"Booker? Do you have anything to add?" He asks, walking closer to my desk.

"I was just thinking that, well the people that have had a lot of detrimental experience in their life that have caused them grief," I hate using big words, "I just think that the heart break is worth it sometimes when you come out a fighter." Mr. Dominic smiles at me and moves on to someone else.

I hate this class sometimes. He always makes us use at least one vocabulary word in here and it's usually one I can't pronounce.