A Bunch Of Incomplete (and complete) Stories Of Mine

Writing 8: Remember the Time You Almost Stabbed Me?

Funny story, I was actually almost stabbed in the eighth grade. I remember it so vividly, it all started in the Manchester Middle School hallway, I had seen my friend Emely in the distance as I had come around the corner. She had been easily distinguishable from the horde of other middle schoolers thanks to her wavy hair that dropped all the way to her lower back. When my eyes met the back of her head, I could not help but smile. Emely and I had played a game where we would constantly try to scare the other, we didn't necessarily have a reason for the game, but hey, it was fun. One of the few fun and relatively safe things in the cesspit that was Manchester Middle.

This is the perfect opportunity, I thought to myself, I could scare her from behind right now!

I begin following Emely from a distance, gently pushing myself through the parade of students, muttering "Sorry" with each bump. After spending a few moments to get through the crowd, I ended up less than a foot behind her and her friend. I swiftly poked on both sides of Emely, just below her ribcage. She jumped and let out a gasp, confirming that I had surprised her. But my victory would not be so sweet when I saw her friend's head turn towards me at the sound of Emely gasping. It was at this very moment, I knew I had just made a mistake.

Without a moment's notice, her friend lunged at me with a mechanical pencil in hand and let out a shout of pure intelligible rage. She held her pencil tightly in her closed fist as she attempted to slam the point into me. I continuously moved backwards, nearly tripping over my own two feet. I stuck my arms in front of me to protect myself from this small ball of Puerto-Rican fury.

"Hey calm down! I'm her frie-" My rushed explanation was cut short as she shouted something in spanish as if she were charging into battle.

"Okay okay! I won't do it again..." I shout in fear as I continue my backwards stride. She replies with a threat I can only assume that was in spanish as well. The friend stops her violent approach and her slashing, at this point, she stared me dead in the eyes and that's when I saw it... a fire in her eyes. She had just legitimately tried to stab me. I don't think that really sunk in until that final staredown. I knew it wasn't wise to bother explaining why I had just scared Emely, so I bit my tongue, turned around, and walked away. I could feel my heart pounding...

Did that girl just actually try and stab me?! I asked myself over and over again, that singular thought on repeat in my head for the entire day.

I obviously decided I wouldn't try to scare Emely in front of her friend again. From that moment forth, I was always worried I would end up bumping into her again. Thankfully, I didn't... well, until high school that is. That's when I learned her name and ended up becoming friends with her. You wanna hear the funny thing though? Her name is Sarah Marie Cruz, and she is now one of my best friends.