Go somewhere else.

It was only when I was turning the corner of my street, outside, having left my backpack and shirtless sister back home like the responsible brother I was, walking in the opposite direction of my school, did I stop to ask myself...

What am I doing? I am SO getting grounded for this!

Then kept walking, eyes on the prize. Breeze in my face. Biting at my crackling pores. Wasn't a friend to ashy skin is all I'll say.

Step step step. In some hamfisted, brief attempt at reflection, I thought -- thought in a span of shivering breaths.

I thought of my sister. I thought of my enlightening awakening. And I thought of school, and the homework I pointlessly Googled last minute the other night.

Yeah, I was ditching. But...

I eyed the mark on my wrist. Casually emblazoned there, like it was no one's business.

If this thing was the real deal, what would one day of -- ahem -- investigation hurt anyway?

I looked up. Clouds gathered above a V of birds. This... this was the world, now. And if everything was true, it was my oyster. Wasn't it?

"Crap!"

Stumbling forward, I winced and cradled my shin. Looking at me when I turned back was a slightly raised sidewalk block, lined with grassy overgrowth.

I moved forward. That thing had been tripping me since elementary school.

Ok, so I guess it was more like an irregular jag of pavement than an oyster.

What mattered was that I was the one walking over it, for now.