Hostile Environments

Marble Hallways and Other Hostile Environments #

School corridors in winter feel intentionally designed to destroy emotional stability.

Cold marble floors.
Grey light.
People moving in aggressive clusters.
Teachers appearing suddenly behind doors like exhausted prison officials.

Every morning I arrive thinking: maybe today everyone will behave normally. Ridiculous optimism honestly. By second period somebody was already crying in the bathroom because of mathematics or love or both, which at fifteen are basically the same category anyway. H. and I spent most of Latin exchanging deeply spiritual looks of suffering while Prof. C. explained grammar like Rome itself depended on our declensions. Meanwhile E. developed a crush on somebody new again.

Dangerous.
Recurring.
Practically seasonal.

Erick declared winter uniforms “a crime against beauty” and then spent fifteen minutes criticizing boys who wear too much cologne. According to him: “If your perfume enters the room before your personality, you’re already losing.” Honestly excellent rule. When I got home the apartment was quiet except for Mam working near the windows under white lamps while rain covered M. in silver fog outside. Sometimes surviving school feels less educational and more architectural. You just learn where to stand emotionally.

Remember me,
Eclipse