BURN II

            Aidan woke in a film of cold slime produced, fittingly enough, by his own terrified skin. He climbed out of bed and crawled to the bathroom where he dropped his head in the toilet. The water felt good, he gulped some, caring not whether he had recently used it or not. The sour water rushed down his dry throat, splashed in his stomach, and returned whence it came. It brought with it his dinner and quite possibly blood. His stomach emptied and the heaving continued. He screamed in anger and frustration and wept tears of the cruelest impotence. Life had been cruel to him and he would be crueler still to the gift it had given him, his very existence. His head spun and he collapsed. Grateful.

            In the grey hours of dawn, he peeled his face from the linoleum and set about cleaning himself up. He called his office, he couldn’t make it, he thought he had the flu. His boss accepted his excuse and told him to feel better.

            ‘If I only would,’ he thought sadly to himself as he hung up the phone.

            He dressed, grabbed some Pepsi from the fridge, picked up a large duffel bag and went to his bench. The walk was a blur of head pain and cottonmouth. He fell onto the cold seat and opened the first can. He swallowed it in three gulps. Then the next. The world had righted itself somewhat and the bell rang. He rose and went to the fence, locking his fingers in the links. The children came out in a torrent of howling and giggles. They were precious, innocent… He couldn’t take it anymore. He picked up his bag and went to the school’s entrance.

            “Sir, can I help you?” asked the secretary behind a teller window.

            “My son’s gym bag. He left it at home.”

            “What grade’s he in?” she asked, now visibly bored and now having found the images on her computer screen much more interesting.

            “F-fourth.”

            “You better hurry up; they start gym in fifteen minutes. The gym’s downstairs.”

            “Thanks.”

            “Hey, wait a minute!” she called after him, suddenly alarmed.

Aidan turned slowly.

            “You can’t go in without a visitor’s badge. What are you thinking? Here. Return it before you leave.”

            “Right.”

He entered a stairwell and descended.