Suicide Box

Chapter 3

A/N: Youth Rally is a patriotic event held prior to independence day in Antigua. Young people gather to march and hold drill competitons.

I could start earlier in that day, which was Youth Rally. Perhaps for the others, it was an exciting day. Maybe for them the circling of the recreation grounds, preparing to demonstrate what they'd been practicing for weeks, was a completely thrilling experience. For me, it was always a little different. A sideways glance would reveal one person or another, glaring hatefully. But this wasn't quite new or specific to the day- I was never well liked. Some hated me for my hands and thought I was diseased; others bullied me for my weight and my lips which were too large for the rest of my features. Even the teachers, who'd never really treated me well either, told me to sit out of the drills, but they needed one more person to make the required number, and they were forced to put me in. But I'd hoped that I could redeem myself today. I'd hoped that I could do my drills perfectly and change the way they all thought of me.