What's Your Name?

Chapter 8: Possession

Pimmit's POV

I watched them all walk across the stage. Almost like they were my children, I felt a sense of pride as each name was called. I clapped loudly as each one walked, smiling even harder as I thought about the greatness they were destined for.

When her name was called a small part of me jumped with joy, more so than the rest. In an attempt to conceal my excitement, I clapped modestly, but my mind was wild with newfound freedom.

When she reached the other end of that stage she was a free woman. Free of the chains of the education system for a matter of four months, then it was right back to it. I knew that breaking things off with her was a smart decision, but looking up at her cross the stage in her shapeless blue garb, I couldn't help but regret that decision. In what I would define as an act under the influence of sin, I decided I wanted her one last time, and if there a time to do such thing, now was it.

After the Commencement Ceremony, I stood outside with everyone else for pictures, talking to my fellow teachers who attended, and those who helped with the ceremony itself. They stood in their black graduation gowns, complaining about the heat.

I tried my best not look for her. I carried conversations up against walls, talked to other students, even tried going back inside, but for some reason, my curiosity always got the best of me. I'd end the conversation to find someone else to talk to in order to have the excuse of walking around. After the fifth, plastic, impatiently boring conversation, I spotted her, tears on her shiny cheeks, standing near a group who I assumed were family.

I took in her fully for the first time since I wished her out of my life. Her gown was open and she wore a yellow dress---her favorite color. It rose to mid-thigh and hugged her body in the best way possible. Her legs were as chocolate as a child's cookie and as flawed as that same cookie. A cookie: with craters and lines of every imaginable type, the deliciousness it holds is a secret until one bites into it. Her, however, was a secret I craved to unlock. To divulge in the simplicity of her thighs, to appreciate the way her body was oddly held together, all the while appreciating the sweetness of chocolate she held between them.

I took a breath, cleared my throat, and made a beeline to where she was. In her hands, she held a bouquet of irises, the purple and hint of yellow bringing out the glow of her skin in the sun. Someone tried to stop me on the way to her and I'm pretty sure I told them to fuck off and pushed them away. Upon reaching her, I calmly waited for her to notice me and prompt her for a picture.

I had watched other teachers do the same thing all day. I had practiced this in my mind, and I made sure to approach her with a non-threatening aurora. I anticipated holding her, even if it was briefly, in my arm, smiling next to her, no place I'd rather be in that one moment just because of the sheer happiness I would experience.

When she finally noticed me, I smiled one of my dumb smiles she loved so much. I watched her laugh, the odd, even whiteness of her teeth shining brightly through her dark lipstick. In the back of mind, I remember her telling me once that she didn't wear lipstick. And in that same part of my mind, I wanted to see her wear it more.

"Congratulations, Victoria." I breathed in and noticed I was still smiling. I stopped smiling. No! Now I look evil...smile again! Now I probably look crazy. I hadn't said anything in at least three seconds. Say something, you've prepared for this. 

However, it wasn't my turn to use my brain. Apparently, someone had switched it out for repairs and I was stuck with the brain of a seventeen-year-old.

"You're going to go on and do some big things, you know that, don't you?" I watched her family gaze at me as some big, monstrous white man. I took my chance to give her a hug and say what I needed to afterward, once it was communicated that I forgave her.