My teacher put the paper face down on my desk.
Oh God.
I slowly turn it over and my heart sinks.
F.
I think I speak for all black kids when I say this:
My ass was bouta get toe up.
I put the paper into my folder and contemplate moving to China, changing my name, and becoming a sex slave. I put these thought aside. Instead, dread and anxiety consumes me.
What if my ass fall off?
What if I die from the pain?
I clench my cheeks all day. As we get on the bus ride home, I start silently crying.
"You good my nigga?"
I show my friend my test and he nods. We bow our heads in prayer.
The bus stops and I get off and walk home. I unlock my front doot quietly. I slowly walk to my ro-
"Where you going lil boy?"
My mother, or what I actually saw, the Devil, was sitting on the living room couch.
"I was just going to put my stuff down."
"Nuh uh, lemme see that test first."
I get the chills. I slowly open my backpack and pullout the piece of paper. I hand it to the Devil. She snatches it and glares at me. I bow my head in silence.
"Boy what did I tell you?"
"Momma I wa-"
"I aint tell yo ass to talk back! How this happen huh?"
I dont say anything.
"So you aint got nothing to say?"
"But you just-"
"Shut the hell up! Go outside and get a switch."
I look up.
A switch.
If there was a God, he was taking a nap. I was alone.
I walk outside and pick my death weapon. I hand it to my mother.
"Pull ya pants down."
"But Momm-"
"PULL YA PANTS DOWN"
Ok Fogle damn.
I pull my shorts down.
I say one final prayer to God that he would have mercy on me. But like just like Hellen Keller,
he wasnt hearing it.
Im never failing Gym again.
