I Killed Blank

Chapter VI

Now here in prison, you do all sorts of things to distract yourself from remembering that you're a convict, the reality of having that title means that you are branded by society as something negative, but I didn't care, even back then before I became one, I never judged a book by its cover, just always wondered what contents this one may have, while I stare at the guys at the yard, one by one I wonder what their lives where before coming here, while I was wondering about those things, someone approached me nervously, "Hey frank...", "Yeah ? what is it ?". then he slowly reached behind and grabbed something from his back, I was on guard cuz you never know what things he may have behind his back, then to my surprise, he had a pencil and pieces of paper "Could you help me out with these, the others say that you're really good with numbers", and I just nodded and said "S-sure", then he showed me the things he was having difficulty getting, and luckily I happen to know how to do those equations so I taught him how to do it right, and when he said the other guys said that I was good with numbers I bet those people he meant where one of those I also taught, oh...did I forget to mention that I was a tutor ?, now don't get judgy with me, I was a tutor and also a teacher, yup a teacher, with a college degree to back it up, if you're wondering why a seaman turned into a teacher, simple...I never got a degree from that ship course, and I used my severance pay to study again as an educator, why an educator ? I was good with numbers, the campus is near our home, and the most important, the cheapest course the school had to offer, by cheap I mean less expenses compared to other courses.

Those times were the most productive years in my life, learned new things, got better at the things I already know, made a few interesting friends, learned a new hobby like getting movies that aren't accessible by other people that wanted to see it badly, and the most interesting part was...I met my first gal, and her name was Pearl. Now pearl wasn't your everyday regular girl, she's like tomboyish and seems to like things that other guys do, like sports, hip-hop, and her moves were very swag. How'd we meet you ask, well I was about to go to that, so there we were at the first day of 2nd semester, she approached me and asked about my t-shirt, something about it caught her eye so I politely answered, and then the next subject was about to start then she said "Hey come sit next to me so that I have someone to copy answers from hahaha, just kidding", I just smiled and simply replied "Ok hahaha", it may not seem much, but it all starts with something simple right ?, so from then onwards we started hanging out, mostly during classes and break time, she was fun to hang out with, but it was only during school hours, sure she left me her number and I gave her mine, sometimes she just calls out of the blue and just talked for hours, you can say I like hanging out with her, one day a classmate invited us out to eat, so we were at the place and ordered our food, then she asks something that surprised us both "Pearl...do you love Frank ?", "What ? I uh...hahaha", I was like surprised, not because of my classmate's question, but from pearl's reaction, she could've said no, but didn't, then the food arrived, I had a tuna fish sandwich with some steamed dumplings, what I did was I put the dumplings in the sandwich and made it a all in one meal, pearl stared and I thought she was weirded out, instead what she did really surprised me, she copied me and made an all in one sandwich too, as I ate that sandwich I came into thought, that she is one very interesting girl, I guess you could call it a love at first sight thing, but I couldn't call it love from that yet of course, so I just brushed off the thought and just ate that sandwich.

Another day in school and just the usual stuff, pearl and I hung out again during break time, then she looked gloomy than usual, "You alright there pearl ?", "Yeah frank, I'm good..." then she just stared and in a blank, so I asked again and made her tell me , "Come on, with that face you ain't fooling anyone, come on tell me", "...I'm leaving soon", and just like that, the mood changes, we were friends no doubt but when she said she was going away, I felt sad, then I decided to tell her how I feel back then, I wasn't the type to just tell my feelings like that so I wrote a note for her. Now in class I waited for her, as she came in and seated next to me, "Hey, read this..." I handed her the note, "What is it frank ?" with a small smile on her face as she opens up the note, I wrote I finally met the girl that made my heart crazy, then all of a sudden she moves away from me, the smile slowly disappeared, then she rushed outside so I followed her, I started hearing her cries, she was at the girl's toilet crying, I wondered why, was it something I said, then moments later I went back to the room, and later so did she, as she came in she looked at me and when she came close, she suddenly held my hand, I was so nervous back then that it was my first time confessing my feelings, "Your hand is so cold", she said, then she just tries to warm it up by rubbing her hands at mine, then I said "Cuz I thought that I made you sad", then she replied "No no no, it's the opposite idiot...I'm happy...so so happy", with tears flowing down her cheek while she smiles at me, I wiped it away and held her face, just starin and smiling, when the teacher came we acted like regular students, while class was in session, we just held hands under the table while listening. Before the day ended as we were about to take separate ways to get home, "So, see ya tomorrow pearl", "Yeah, same here" as she turns around and walks her way, I did the same, took a few steps then stopped, and I turned around and... "HEY PEARL !!!", then she turned around and I said " I LOVE YOU!", she smiles at me, "I LOVE YOU TOO !". with that being said, my heart suddenly stopped, then beated...and beated strong, stronger than before, and then I realized back then, this was LOVE.