Croaking Frog.

'Baki baki, ni ore. Nani wo?'

'Shut up.'

I have such awful taste in alarm music. Always so loud and frightening.

I roll back onto my stomach and slam my face into my pillow. It's only the first semester and I'm already drained. I take a deep breath but end up sucking up lint. Closing my eyes, I say a prayer and slowly crawl to the edge of my bed. A disgrace to the armadillo community, I roll off and suck up the fresh morning floor. There's just something about laying on the floor early in the morning, something of a revitalizing sense. Revitalization is what I need to get through today. It would be great to say that I am an optimist, but this semester's recent events make it hard to think anything of that sort. Sometimes I blame myself for being so tired. What kind of weirdo wakes up the first time their alarm rings?

'Just why?'

A question directed both at my alarm sensitivity and the crayons all over my floor. I could get angry or be frustrated, but both those things require energy. Energy I don't have. I pick every crayon up, a process that seems way longer than it probably is. Possibly since I know this is right where they'll be once again, as soon as I get home. On my floor. For me to clean up. Again. My mouth tastes like old gum and pen ink, a sign that the bathroom should be my first stop. While brushing my teeth and attempting to liven my mood by lip syncing in the mirror, my phone cries again. It's 7 am and I still haven't showered. Stupid crayons.

Shower executed, my next quest was the outfit. Maybe I deceive myself by calling what I wear an "outfit". Sweatpants, sweater and sneakers. The infamous S Threat. My head gets in the way of what should've been a normal haul on. My head is huge. Like, sombrero hat huge. And so many think it's a holding space for my intelligence, but it's really just a hard balloon: empty and useless.

I had already eaten breakfast at like, 2 am this morning, so I didn't bother to eat again. My family began their own treacherous adventures, as I headed to the source of mine. I like walking, and so did Mary Davis. She taught me that "to walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles." I wonder if I'm someone's miracle.

If I were a violent person, I can assure you that I would have kicked every trash can on the way here..and maybe some kids too. I wonder if I could… Not all the kids are atrocious though, take my friend Jo for instance. Her face turned smug after seeing me, and I already knew what was coming.

'Liaaaaaaaaaa,' she glides in front of me and touches my nose.

'Hi Jo'

She frowns and turns away, mumbling something about kindness and compassion, but compassion couldn't exist in this classroom, and the lady up there made sure of that. My teacher is quite the runt, though I cannot say I hate her. She is a bit behind on everything happening today, which is fine, but shuns any possibility of change or progression. That, is what I despise.

'Alright, let's begin.'

Luckily it was just a worksheet that we were to complete in pairs, and seeing that Jo and I had both done prior research, it was something of a breeze. My two other classes before lunch were not that bad, and I got to work on my project with Avia, my other friend here. Lunch is essentially the only break we are given during school hours, and yet most of this time is spent on assignments and studying.

'I've got to go to the bathroom guys, I don't feel so well.'

I stand up, head in hand.

'Need us to come with you?' Jo asked.

'No, no, it's nothing serious. Just feeling a little woozy. I'll be right back.'

Luckily the bathroom was close, but now I had no idea what to do to feel better. I splashed my face with water from the pipe, and my eyes caught my attention in the mirror. I looked...dead. I looked as if something had sucked my life out and all that remained was a mobile corpse.

'Ah, guess it's better to look dead than to be.'

'Well, I suppose that applies in a sense, but probably not as long as you'd think.'

'What? Why would you scare me like that? Kind of creepy to stay in a stall for so long.'

'Stall? What stall? I'm right here.'

'Huh?'

I looked at myself in the mirror, thinking that I have completely gone cuckoo this time, since there is absolutely nothing that can explain or warrant the abomination that is on, or seems to be, my ear.

I couldn't scream. I tried walking away but, that thing said,

'You can't run away from yourself girl.'

No. I must be hallucinating, maybe because of fatigue...that's the only-

'You can think whatever you'd like. Hallucination, madness, or just a dream. Regardless, that doesn't change the fact that you're gonna croak soon.'

It talked again. What do I do? How do I answer it?

'I um- Are you.... here to turn me into... a frog?'

'What kind of fairytale do you think this is?' It laughed.

It laughed.

'So, what do you..mean?'

'Oh darling, you're gonna die.'

'I'm gonna...what?'