Again I counted the minutes and waited for the interminable lesson to finish under the creeping shadow of inquietude. Recess neared minute by minute, but by the end of the hour fear swelled up in my head and anxiety piled up in my chest. In this muddled state, my mind jumped back and forth from one frightening thought to another and disquiet gradually plunged me into an abyss of uncertainty... To make matters worse... all of my senses became numb with dread like the last time. I could have slipped out of the class with the pretense of needing to take a leak... if only the situation hadn't gotten out of hand... however, there was no way around the dead end my mind had run into… cognizance and reason deserted me… a billowing darkness overshadowed my lucidity... Even the thought of screaming for help subsided in a vacuous mist... The terror of confrontation plagued my mind and paralyzed my body... doubts swirled around in my head... by the dozen. I would've burst out in tears... had the room had been empty or had my presence slipped through the cracks... but the englobing darkness precluded me from thinking straight... Bit by bit my senses failed me... angst swallowed me whole... I counted the minutes no longer... I heard the lecture no longer... the saliva in my mouth dried up... and I didn't perceive my fingers any more than a stiffened corpse... my mind wallowed In this dusky limbo... Up until the ringing of the recess bell reverberated in my ears and brought my mind back to the surface as it died out. Thick, gross saliva filled my mouth and I coughed it out and startled the students who stayed inside the room. They turned swiftly to give me a nasty look and started to chatter again between themselves.
My legs and my hands were cemented, my feet became hard bricks, compelling me to move in a clumsy and limited manner. I struggled to walk and almost tripped, but at length I dragged myself out of the room. To my fortune, the others paid no mind to my unusual movements when limping towards the doorway. It would have been a shame if they encumbered me. The brown hallway was livened up by the people who strolled leisurely around the building and gathered to talk about nothing, among which I easily mingled.