High school

April 13, 2020 | Lima | 30-39 years

I discover I'm at my high school. It's weird to me because I'm now 32 years old. What am I doing there? I wander around. I get some snacks from the school kiosk. There were children running. I even saw my dearest school teacher of all times (he is retired now and I think of him as a grandpa). I waved at him.

I go to the bathroom and hear teens coming in. I hear both my youngest cousin (15yo) and my oldest niece (13yo) coming in while I'm at a stall. It doesn't surprise me that they are there, although both of them attend different schools. They are with their friends, talking about this huge party there's gonna be in a couple of days and how excited they are. The girls tease my niece with a boy. It's obvious that she likes this boy and that she hopes she gets to kiss him.

My heart starts accelerating. What if she gets Covid-19 from this boy? What if any of these young ladies gets it? They just want to have fun, they want to live, to experience what I would have liked to experience when I was their age. My heart is racing. What should I do? I can't just get out and tell them to be careful. They would feel like I'd violated their privacy. And I don't want them to think I'm censoring them either. I'm just so worried they could get sick during the pandemic.

I hear them giggle. I hear my niece stop them. They laugh, chat for a bit more and leave. I get out of the stall. The bathroom looks nice. Girls have written and drawn on the walls with neon colors. I wash my hands and leave. The school is now empty.