Foresight

"No," you say to Robert. "I don't think I want to go there."

He looks baffled, as though anyone denying an invitation from him is a complete lunatic. "Why the hell not? You got plans?" The way he says plans, you know he doesn't believe it can be possible.

"Yeah," you say, lying through your teeth, "I have to baby sit my cousin."

Robert laughs at you. "Baby sit?! That's a woman's job! You a woman now?"

"No, I just-" You begin to explain. But he cuts you off.

"That explains those man titties of yours and all those tears at lunch." He says. His friends, unsurprisingly, laugh hysterically at this.

"Sorry I can't go," You tell him.

"Yeah," he says. "Me too."

He slams a fist down on your desk, gets up and walks away, his groupies following along behind him.

This is why there are so many school shootings, you muse, assholes like him.

The rest of art class goes by without any more occurrences, and you leave the room when the bell rings to begin your journey home. You live too close to ride the bus, and aren't popular enough to get a ride from anybody, so you are left to make the trek on foot.

Cars full of your enemies pass by and they honk their horns and gesture rudely at you as they go. You wish there was something you could do to end their constant ridicule, and realize that there is. It wouldn't be so hard to throw yourself in front of a speeding semi, or slice a knife across your wrists. This isn't the first time you've thought of this though, and you know you are not strong enough to follow through with any of it. You are a coward. A fucking coward. A fat, nearsighted, ugly, worthless, dirt poor coward. And so you are stuck living a life that you hate, surrounded by people who hate you almost as much as you do.

Twenty minutes later, as you are cutting through a back yard to get home more quickly, you hear a growl and turn in time to see a dog charging at you. It's a strange view, an image of the dog runs a few feet ahead of the actual dog, almost like a shadow of the thing.

You see where it is going to strike before it even strikes, and you dodge to the side just as it begins its leap. When the dog lands it turns around and comes charging at you again. Again you see where it is headed before it goes there, and you easily step out of it's path. Then it comes in at you again, and again you dodge.

You can see that this isn't going to end anytime soon, just standing here in the yard dodging the dogs many attacks. You look around and wonder if running isn't such a bad idea.