I opened my eyes slowly and with weak motions I touched the back of my head that felt sore. The back of my head felt partly crusty and partly wet, and after I retracted my hand, I saw that it was covered in blood.

With confusion, I observed my surroundings.

I was still in the passageway, and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary until I looked at the wall closest to me, that happened to have dried up blood on it.

'Is there someone here who did this to me? They must have knocked me out before I noticed. But what is it and where did it come from?' I thought anxiously.

I pressed my forehead against my palm and my mind cleared a little enabling me to recognize what had most likely happened, 'I probably just banged my head on the wall and forgot about it.'

The dehydration I was going through was making me crazy. It also made the inside of my mouth feel like sandpaper and my movements feel extremely sluggish.

I tried my best to gather myself and stand up, but my balance failed as I was getting up, and I fell onto my back. I cursed out of frustration and tried again shortly thereafter, but used the wall as support this time.

After standing up, I figured the right direction to go to by remembering the moss patterns I had and hadn't seen. Then I took my first step. It was weak and short, but it did the job.

I used the wall as support and kept taking one step after another. And even though it was uncomfortable, I didn't stop and lay down since that would mean death.

I had rested for at least a few hours. That was more than enough for now.

***

The alarm clock placed on the other side of the room rang loudly before I stood up begrudgingly to turn it off.

Once the alarm was off I was torn between dressing up and going back into bed, but after a while I got a hold of myself and abandoned the idea of intentionally sleeping in.

While eating breakfast I stared out into space as I disappointedly wondered how I had gotten so undisciplined that I couldn't even wake up properly.

I unconsciously squeezed a thin glass full of cold water, and once the pressure got too strong, the glass shattered.

Shocked by the sudden pain coming from my right hand I looked at it and immediately realized what had happened. I examined the cuts a little before taking a folded hand towel from a kitchen drawer and wrapped it around my hand, after which I cleaned up the glass pieces and wiped the water with some kitchen papers.

I then sat down and finished breakfast normally.

***

"How did you get the cut?" asked the doctor while she took off the bloody hand towel off of my hand.

"I don't see how that's important at all. Can you just put some stitches on the cut, so that I can hurry to school?" I answered with an annoyed tone of voice.

"I need to know how you got the cut, so I know what to look for. Your nerves and tendons could have been damaged you know. It may not be just a simple cut," the doctor said as she examined the cuts on my hand.

"Trust me it's just a simple laceration. I just need some stitches."

"I can't just trust you. I'm the professional here. Now answer the question."

"A glass shattered in my hand."

"What kind of glass?"

"One that has thin sides."

"And how did the shattering happen."

"You don't need to know that! Just examine the cuts if you have to and give me some stitches!" I yelled as I slammed my left hand on the table.

The doctor backed off and reached for the phone on her table.

I noticed this and came to my senses, "I'm sorry. I didn't... I'm just in a lot of pain right now. Ask all the questions you need to, but please make it quick."

***

After everything was sorted I walked out of the doctor's office. No nerve or tendon damage was found, and I just got some stitches put on the cuts. Sure, it was troublesome to have to write with my left hand for a while, but I wasn't very concerned about that. What I was concerned about was if there was someone in the hallway that could recognize me.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

So after getting out of the doctor's office, I looked around anxiously, but fortunately found nobody that could recognize me. As expected some people aimed their distasteful gazes toward me with after I exited the doctor's office, but they quickly averted their eyes, and it seemed like I had gotten away with losing my temper.

***

My vision grew more and more blurry by the second and the muscles around my eyes were starting to give up. I wasn't sure how much longer I could continue for, and I couldn't see and end to the passageway, but I had no thoughts of turning back or collapsing.

Matter of fact, I had no thoughts at all. My legs moved on autopilot as my head limply hanging off of my neck. My right hand constantly moved forward to support me putting my weight to my front leg. At times, it felt like I woke up from having passed out, but I wasn't sure if I had really fallen asleep or just closed my eyes for a second.

Even while half asleep, I tried my best to pay attention and take each and every step cautiously since I was sure if I feel onto the ground, I wouldn't be able to get up this time.

***

After the school day was over, I took a long walk and with no real destination. I was just putting one leg in front of the other and turning randomly at times.

As I walked, a paragraph from a textbook replayed itself inside my head.

'Anger issues can be caused by mental burdens like an excessive amount of stress and financial issues. They can also be the result of a lack of sleep or addictions. However, if none of these factors are present, it might be possible the anger issues are the result of a mental health condition such as narcissistic personality disorder.'

While I knew I wasn't a narcissist, I wasn't sure what exactly was the mental burden I had.

My mind drifted until I noticed there was one basketball-sized rock on the esplanade, and since it was in the way I decided to kick the thing. My shoes, however, didn't seem to have planned to be in the feet of someone who wanted to kick a rock, and didn't really do anything to soften the impact on my feet.

I felt the surprisingly large amount of pain immediately, but kept walking the same way simply thinking, 'That's probably going to leave a bruise.'

It would have probably been better to not make things worse and avoid straining the foot, but I didn't make any effort to lessen the pain. There were no people around, so there was no fear of embarrassment, instead it was like a grudge against the rock which hadn't gone very far from where I kicked it.

My foot was bruised for a couple of days, but eventually the pain faded, and it was like nothing had happened.

***

I had lost all track of time. I didn't know how many days it had been. If someone told me it had been a year since I started, I maybe would have believed them.

I had started counting steps some time ago, but I didn't even reach 100 before I had lost count and was just mumbling random numbers trying to estimate the number of steps I had taken.

It was chaotic inside my mind to say the least. Sometimes the number went from hundreds to tens of thousands in mere minutes, but I was in such a state that I didn't even realize the ridiculousness of it all.

I couldn't see very well and my ears had gotten so used to the sound of footsteps that they didn't even register anymore. Because of the numbness in my body, I thought that I was floating sometimes.

Then, I walked into something and my mind went blank. There was no more counting steps, no more blurry signals being sent to my brain, and no movement. It was all void. I didn't know what I had walked into, I didn't feel where it touched me, and most of all, I didn't care.

All I knew was that I was comfortable here. I had no worries of the future, no regrets of the past, and I couldn't fully comprehend the present, but that wasn't important to me. I just wanted some rest.

And without a single thought about success and failure or life and death, I quietly fell asleep.