The Day He Came Out (Skephalo)

10

Something was wrong with this boy.

On the second day of his routine, Zak mimicked the actions of his first day, and everything went smoothly. Two days had already passed. Maybe this wasn't going to be as difficult as he predicted.

With the blink of an eye, a week had passed.

Then two.

Then three.

Now a month.

It was over a month since everything happened and Zak had been getting all too familiar with sleeping on tile floor. Every weekend, he was forced to steal food from the cafeteria back rooms, which he felt horrible about, but it was his only option for sustenance. He was so tired all the time and fell asleep in nearly all of his classes. He was also getting far too skinny, as lunch was his only meal of the day during the week. He never complained about being tired or hungry; if anyone looked too hard they could clearly see he wasn't getting enough of either and would suspect something.

He qualified to get free lunches in his cafeteria, as his mother could not afford them when they lived together, but it didn't cover the breakfast that the school offered. Of course, Zak didn't have any money left over to buy it on his own, all of it spent on school shirts, so he wouldn't be able to eat a morning or evening meal. All he had was lunch. Zak also stopped trying and putting effort into track, knowing that he needed the energy from his single meal to last him the entire day.

No one suspected anything. At least, that's what Zak thought.

One thing many people don't realize is just how much we mature as we grow older. While students may be oblivious to people's states without the student complaining, older folk, such as teachers, will observe carefully and notice when something is different, for example, with one of their students. This hypothetical is exactly what happened to Zak and his Pre-Cal teacher, Mr. Schumacher. Mr. S was a kind man, and he was observant of all of his student's actions; he liked to make up stories in his head about what might be going on in their lives based on things like how they act, what they're wearing, or how unclean they look. Zak's life, of course, Mr. S had been making far too close to accurate predictions of what was going on for quite some time now.

It started the day after Zak was kicked out; when he kept dozing off in class.

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