I remember my first day of middle school. As my bus drove in, I saw the brownish-white brick building that was to be my school for the next few years. Rusted windows went from one end of the building to the other. A white-haired janitor unlocked the doors to the building, and I entered a stuffy hallway.

Along with many other students, I searched for my locker to rid myself of my load of textbooks picked up only days earlier. As the hallway filled with people, the cacophony and chaos became unbearable. Every student seemed to be talking at once, and the noise echoed off the walls of the old hallway. The chattering overwhelmed me, and the clanging of metal lockers seemed to reverberate through my body. It all was so physically, cognitively, and emotionally painful. Unlike elementary school, there were no hallway monitors here to keep the students in neat, orderly lines and to keep the noise down. Each student went his own way, and this offended my sense of order. I ran to my first class in my rush to escape the chaos and the mental torture of the halls.

My mind was agitated as I entered the geography classroom. My head buzzed with residual noise and my awareness gave in to the overwhelming mental fatigue resulting from the racket. As I took my seat, my other senses seemed more sensitive. The sunlight entering the window was too bright. The odor of the mop as the janitor moved past the door overwhelmed me.

A fellow student took the seat in front of me, and I began to fixate on her long, shiny hair. It swung from side to side each time she tossed her head, reminiscent of my swings at home, mesmerizing me in the process. I cautiously touched her hair and felt its silky texture. The girl looked back at me, grinned, and giggled. I was puzzled by her odd reaction. Slowly, the noise in my head began to subside and my vision cleared.

By this time, the teacher had begun assigning homework for the next day. I jotted down the assignment. The bell rang, causing me to draw in a sharp breath, as I again entered the noisy hallway. Dazed, I made my way to study hail, which provided its own senseless, unprovoked assault on my senses, or at least it was from my perception anyway.