Death Slips

     “I remember her walking in the room, the long shadow cast behind her. She asked me very nicely to come with her. I could feel the tension in the pit of my stomach, the fear washing through me, my face burning red.” (130) I could use this part from Marcy Griffin’s story Why Me? to describe how I’ve felt during the past month. Every time I hear a knock on the classroom door, my heart skips a beat. The teacher or someone else other than me opens the door and I carefully look in that direction to see who it is. Like most of the time, the High School Office secretary is standing beside the door holding some slips of paper. It is no surprise that one of them is for me. I hate this.

     The voyage through the numerous stairs and halls of the school and to Viscardi’s office is eternal. As you walk, you feel like you will never reach the end and when you finally do reach it, you think of all the possible reasons why you were called to the office. You open the door, and when you look into Viscardi’s eyes, you can either tell if your life will continue or if it’s the end. Luckily for me, I have managed to get out that door alive.

     Anyway, nothing is worse than the secretary knocking on the door. I once heard someone say that the secretary brought “death slips” with her. Marcy’s story would be related to this because in her case, the principal came to her class not to talk about a detention or an absence but rather about her mom’s sudden death. “A person’s life changes in the death of a heartbeat.” (131) I can’t imagine how it was for her to get the news. After reading this story, I am even more scared to hear the knock on the classroom door. 

Vocabulary:

grimace- (noun) an ugly, twisted expression on a person's face