Soldier

And so the first day of school came . . .
then it went away.
Gone.
Done.

And as it turned out, there were no mountains in the first place;
No walls,
aside from those pertaining to that of the buildings.
No barriers or any other metaphoric hindrances.

All there was,
was me
and the school:
Friends,
people,
and more people.

There was no need to aggravate the stress there is already.
And if there is none, there's no need to create it.

The big epiphany of the day was that not all the biggest stress-producing, exhaustion-triggering, strength-deducting and vigor-absorbing circumstances happen inside of school.
Sometimes more prominent ones happen on the outside world.
Where almost every face you see is unfamiliar,
'cause the only chances you're gonna see any familiar face is either if you bump into another friend/acquaintance or if you look at your company.
And it's hard to trust anyone, while it's easy to suspect everyone.
If you have your reasons, that is, well, reasonable.

Like in my case.

I think I'll find it hard to regain my confidence to walk with valuable valuables out and away from home.
Earlier this evening,
at the supermarket,
I was almost robbed.
Of my phone.
Yes.
There were about seven or eight or nine women who tried to crowd around me while I was scanning through the myriad of shampoos and conditioners at a shelf in a bit narrow passage.
I was cornered. I can't move.
And, as I strongly suspect, they were trying to distract me, so they can successfully carry out whatever it is they intended to do right there and then.
It was too crowded for me already. I hated it. I hate crowd so much.
So I tried to slip out of their barricade.
The next step I took, a shopping cart tried to stop me. Good thing it was not a very serious attempt.
Then simply out of a habit I've grown used to, I took a short look at the pocket of my buddy bag. To my shock, the zipper was open. Or opened.
And, to my even greater shock, out of nowhere, a hand was going for the cellphone inside that pocket. The conspicuous bulge it made gave no doubt it was a cellphone inside.
So I immediately shifted my bag to the opposite direction.
And,
determinedly - and perhaps also scared-ly - I took off; with a normal pace, but with a rather bothered face.
I didn't walk too far.
My cousin who was with me was just seven or eight steps away from me, and I stood beside her, my back on the suspicious women.
I looked around and saw that they were gone, as soon as we abandoned that area.
Just like how they came:
as soon as we came to that shelf, so did they - suddenly, gradually.

In that moment when I was already standing with my cousin, it didn't come to me in an instant what really happened back there.
It took me more seconds before I realized what it was.
And I can't believe how close they got.
Thank God so, so much that nothing beyond that extreme of a close call happened.
For sure, I'll tend to be extra-extra careful outside the comfort of my own home.

School or not school, I need to be armed.
I have to be a ready soldier
at all times, at all occasions, and at all (sigh..) places.