Tastes Like Drowning

I remember what happened last year at Hallowe'en. I felt really weird when I woke up in the morning; my head was too heavy. It grew in heaviness as I washed and ate, and by the time I got to school, heaviness wasn't the only thing on my mind.

You have no idea how many times you dart your eyes around in a minute. I certainly did that day. And it hurt to do so. Every time I tried to look at whoever was speaking to me, or what that flashy object on the other side of the street was, I was given a painful reminder that I probably shouldn't have gone to school that day. What would later be realized as a sinus infection was strangling my eyes. So I had to resort to turning my whole head to glance around, a nagging pain sharp in my face whenever I neglected to do so.

A fever fired up quickly, blasting a headache into my skull. I stumbled around each period, feeling hung over and fatigued; thank god the dance took up most of the afternoon. I spent that time slumped over the cafeteria table, staring at the cover of the book someone was reading. For whatever reason, I decided that it would be necessary to take home my instrument that day. Bad idea. As I dragged myself down the sidewalk from the bus stop, I lost consciousness for a split second, slipping hazardously on the ice. The weight of my bass clarinet probably saved me from a fall, but then I micro-fainted again. And again. And I got so worried that I was going to end up bleeding from the head all over the sidewalk, that I ran the rest of the way home. It was a terrible idea, but it worked. Interestingly, my fever was completely gone the next day.

I had a feeling that the same thing was going to happen on Wednesday, December the 8th. I was both right and wrong. First period was off to a good start. Our class watched the remainder of our science fair presentations. I was very glad that mine was already done. Then it was on to Geography.

I don't remember what exactly we did; I think we just took up another one of those countless chapter question packages. But by the end of class, we had a few minutes of free time. I decided to work on my music theory, due Friday, (for class, not RCM) because I knew that I wouldn't have time for it before then; my National Parks poster was due on the same day, and I hadn't even started. The end of class was also when I finally noticed that my head and core body were leaching all the heat from my arms and legs. I was shivering like crazy and my WHOLE body was sore. So sore that I could feel my skin. I stepped out to get a drink and the water "burned" my mouth. I went to the washroom, and well... let's just say certain sensitive areas burned. By lunch, I could really feel it.

Concert band was set to perform smack dab in the middle of the atrium hallway, and with the bake sale tables set up literally right across from us, there was a metre's clearance for students in the busiest hallway to maneuver. I had the pleasure of sitting right at that gap, and it really wasn't exhilarating to have half the school jostle it's way through me while juggling a chair, stand, instrument, and lunch bag (and managing to hold everything at the same time with Eric's handy technique) and trying to set up. Anyways, after we were done, I could barely eat my lunch. As a matter of fact, I didn't really. The fever was starting to burn, and my mouth was sore. I had music class next and that meant our final exam. Which I didn't care for. At all. My back was starting to bully me. It refused to feel normal no matter what position it was in. It was as though I had some form of juvenile dorsalgia. The only advantage I had was that I wasn't nervous at all.

French was last. We had a test, so I just hid my face in my arms for most of the period.

That was a really long story. I think I'll cut the rest and make my point. I was sick and away from school  for... well... I'm still sick. So... that's 15 days so far. But I'm fine now. Just remnants of a cold. So hopefully I'll be back to regular posting.

Oh, and the title? On Thursday, I was eating lasagna for lunch. But whenever I took a bite, my nose would feel like it was breathing in water. So I felt like I was drowning.