I enter the room with the big door saying Creative Writing. Emily says welcome to everybody but I have my ears blocked so I don’t hear anything, and a big fog is coming over me despite the fact that there’s sun. So, I sit at the nearest table. Nope, wrong place, so I sit at the Freshman table, and the truth is I look like a girl with spaghetti arms moving nervously, but my secret is that a big orange creature it’s resting on my head and every time it grows, becoming a big weight. The table is full of freshmen, I want to say a word but a knot in my throat is squeezing more and more. The faces of the people have big red marks, so I simply lower my head.

Emily says we’re going to have buddies, I have no idea what that is, then they start saying names, listening to who my buddy is. They tell us to find our buddies, but the big orange creature grows, making it impossible for me to stand up. So I sigh and take a deep breath. I get up from my seat with effort, then I turn my head across the room, a hand goes up, making signs for me to approach. So I go to sit and is my buddy with a big red mark on her face, just like everyone else. We start talking to get to know each other better and writing in our journal, but I only hear the voices of the others with a tremendous fatigue, and again the orange creature grows.

Later we go outside for some activities, and the orange creature has a big ego and it starts whispering to my ear negative things, like I don’t belong here, that I’m the chess piece out of its pattern, and I wish the earth would swallow me, but I simply walk and let the current guide me.

We played some games and, to my surprise, everyone was friendly. I messed up in one game, but a classmate just joked about it and told me that no one would see my mistake. Her big red mark vanished and the knot in my throat eased.

We returned to the room and still had to sit with our buddies. I sat down and my buddy’s red mark was still there, but we talked about a few things and I notice that we have a lot in common. And it wasn’t just her; some classmates near the table also started talking, and their big marks, including my buddy’s, vanished, as did the knot in my throat.

We spent the rest of the hour talking and doing activities. When it was time to leave, I went to the bathroom for a moment. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I saw that the orange creature was much smaller, suffering, and I just smiled radiantly, waiting for tomorrow and so no one would have a red mark.