WORST. NIGHTMARE. EVER. (no. what's worse is it actually happened)

  January couldn't leave my room silently. No, it was my month, and it had to go out loudly -completed with fireworks and everything.

*

  I'm in the shower, the water pouring onto my head as the soap runs off, then the alarm starts ringing.

  The first thing I think is, SHIT! I cannot believe that this is happening! And I know that I've probably attracted it because I've told myself that 'Good lord, I hope that such a thing would never happen to me.' when I found out that they had fire drills every once in a while. And I'd probably given too much energy to that.

  But anyway, I actually stand there for a few more seconds, thinking that maybe it's a false alarm and that the obnoxious shrill would go away. But it doesn't.

  So I hop out of the shower while turning off the tap. The alarm screeches through my entire being that I actually put my fingers in my ears. I cannot remember whether I dried myself, but I did feel that it would be a very bad idea to run out in the nude, so I start pulling on my clothes. I do not care whether I make it out within the three minutes allocated, or whether it's real or just a drill. I need to be seen with something on.

  Pulling up my jeans, I walk awkwardly out of the bathroom and grab my coat and purse. I didn't bother putting on a bra as my coat would cover up enough.

  Room key in purse, I reminded myself and dragged open my room door -the doors here seem to be unnaturally heavy. My jeans wasn't zipped, nor was it buttoned. I pulled up the zip, and tried buttoning it while I hopped down the stairs, but then I noticed a guy who had made his way out too staring, so I just left it -thank god for my coat.

  When we reached outside, there were the other people from the same block gathered around a lady with a board who was taking attendance. I got mine ticked, and they pointed me into a direction where we were supposed to gather.

  For some reasons unknown, they made us stand in the evening air for five minutes (I think, because I did not have a watch). It seemed to be the longest five minutes ever. Inside, my body shivered.

  The others didn't really seem to notice my (extremely) damp hair. My friend laughed when I told her what happened. And we waited.

  I had my towel around my neck, and I decided that since we didn't seem to be going back in anytime soon, I ran it through my hair, trying to dry it. Apparently, it didn't look too bad. Number one reason being nobody seem to have noticed until I told them; and number two being me checking it in the mirror the minute I got back into my room.

  The only thing that helped me feel a little better was, just before going in, the lady who marked our attendance (and told us that we did okay, but could we please be a little faster next time) saw me and said, 'Oh, I'm sorry sweetie (you probably know that niceness is my weakness. Most of the time, anyway), I didn't notice that your hair was wet.' How nice. I wondered if that meant I could just stay in my shower the next time it's a drill.

  Man. But at least it just made my life a little more interesting.

"being a writer at heart means no matter how many terrible, unbelievable things happen to you, it's okay because they will always make for good stories. i seek out experience, and things just happen around me."

-Nirrimi Hakanson