It was January 2nd, 2019, as the morning sun started to rise for the country of Saint Lucia. At 6:30 a.m., not much was up; only people with service jobs were up. In a particular part of the island, a boy named Mieal was resting.
Some birds flew next to Mieal's window; they were two black-faced grassquits. These birds were not uncommon in Saint Lucia.
These birds are known as the second early bird next to the rooster. Both of the black-faced grassquits started chirping next to Mieal's window, and the simultaneous chirping amplified the sound.
The sound echoed through Mieal's room, waking him up from his slumber. He took a glimpse over at his digital clock and saw the time was 9:30.
Mieal started to panic because he was already 30 minutes late for school and needed to get out of here. Mieal babbled, "How did I oversleep? I know for sure I set an alarm."
Mieal ran to the bathroom to take a cold shower, got dressed for school, and rushed downstairs to eat breakfast but didn't see anything on the table.
He was confused. Normally, his parents would have breakfast on the table already done, and his parents would have already been in the kitchen.
Mieal rushed upstairs to his parents' room door; he wanted to knock on his parents' door but felt uncomfortable doing something like that.
Mieal thought, "Is it ok? Is it ok to knock on your parent's door while they are probably sleeping?" He wasn't sure if he should do it or not, but he stopped questioning himself and did it.
He knocked on his parents' door, and a sudden fear grabbed hold of him to make him start questioning himself. "Did I do the right thing?" He figured.
"I probably shouldn't have done that," Mieal said, but the moment he said that, the door opened up. A man was standing between the doors; he looked like he was thirty and had a strong resemblance to Mieal; he was Mieal's dad.
"Why are you up this early, Mieal?" Mieal's dad was confused and didn't understand why his son was knocking on his door this early in the morning.
Mieal tried explaining to him, but his dad spoke over him, "Mieal, it's 6:32 am, school doesn't start for 3 more hours, and why do you have your school uniform on?" Mieal's dad was confused and frustrated; he didn't understand what was going on.
Mieal was stunned; it felt like his entire reality was breaking apart. He reflected on everything he had done until now.
Mieal was relieved but disappointed. He apologized to his dad and went straight to his room. He removed his school uniform and started to wonder why the alarm didn't go off.
He recalls setting the alarm to 8:01 a.m., but on closer inspection, the time was set in a different time zone. Most digital clocks have a built-in time zone changer, so it will be easier to set the time they want and check what time it is in a different country.
Mieal was in disbelief at the situation. He quickly reset his clock and lay on his bed, ready to sleep. He started to think about what he would do today at school, but the fatigue sprang into action; it was like the bed was swallowing him.
His mind wandered off as each second passed, and he completely dozed off as he started to fall asleep. He was sleeping comfortably until his mom woke him up.
Mieal was confused about why his mom woke him up; everything was hazy to him, but his mom was saying something to him.
She sounded worried, even though he didn't understand what was going on, but his mom said it again. "Get off the bed; you are late for school." At that moment, Mieal caught on to what his mom said and panicked.
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Mieal was late. He was massively late. The moment he was ready for school, he ran out of the house to the nearest bus stop.
When Mieal got to the bus stop, there were no buses in sight. This troubled him; he didn't know what to do.
Mieal set out on foot to reach his school. While he walked, he mumbled to himself and sucked his teeth, muttering the need to hurry. But then he stopped and took a deep breath, feeling a sense of renewal flood over him. With renewed determination, he continued on his way, his mind and body focused on reaching his destination.
"I am uncertain about what to say to the teacher," Mieal muttered to himself as he walked down the unfamiliar path towards his school, feeling unsure if he was going in the right direction.
He started to think maybe he should have waited for the bus, Mieal wasn't sure if he was lost or went the wrong path due to frustration. He blathered out, "Maybe I should have waited for the bus."
The resonant timbre of his voice stirred a slumbering dog in the neighborhood, which instantly began barking. The canine increased its volume and hastened towards the source of the sound.
Mieal didn't know there was a dog in the neighborhood, but the barking from the dog got closer and closer. This made Mieal afraid. He started to run away from the sound of the dog. He was terrified the dog would bite him.
Mieal walked towards an intersection without a split second to think he had taken the right intersection. The barks of the dog started getting softer and softer, and Mieal took a quick break to catch his breath.
Mieal was exhausted; sweat started dripping from his forehead to his nose. He didn't have a rag, so he used his hand to wipe off the sweat, then wiped his hand on his pants.
Mieal felt more troubled than before; he was even more lost than before. Not only did he not know the way out, he didn't know if he would make it to school on time. Mieal felt like crying; he wasn't sure how he would explain to his parents why he came to school so late. He lost his thoughts until he heard some people's voices.
Just by hearing the high-pitched tone in their voice, he could tell it was children in his age group or higher. Mieal didn't waste any time lingering; he ran towards the voices with a second thought and found a school building.
The building had a lot of children wearing light blue polo shirts and dark blue pants entering it.
The school name was Dame Pearlette Louisy Primary School. Upon seeing the school and students, Mieal stayed hidden; he didn't want any of the students to see him, and he began to hyperventilate. He started to feel anxious; he wanted to get away from the building as soon as possible.
Mieal ran and ran until he got away from the school. He met an old man walking towards the Dame Pearlette Louisy Primary School location. Mieal asked the old man with a scared voice, "Do you know where Carmen Rene Memorial School is?" The old man was confused; it felt like he had seen Mieal before but couldn't remember.
Despite not remembering the person, he told them to "cross the road and head straight up there; you will find the school." Mieal thanked the old man and followed the direction the old man gave him, staying out of Dame Pearlette Louisy Primary School's view.
The old man suddenly remembered who the boy was, but it was too late; Mieal had disappeared from his sight, so he left it as that and continued going to his destination. The old man had reached the front of Dame Pearlette Louisy Primary School when he called out to one of the students
The boy had brown skin, a high black fade haircut, and tin foil wrapped around his upper ear. Even though the school policy forbade any form of earnings, the 16-year-old boy didn't care. All he cared about was living his life as he saw fit, and because of this, he was a well-known delinquent.
The old man approached the boy to hand over his school lunch that had been sent by the boy's older brother. The boy wasn't acquainted with the old man, but he knew the old man from the area where he lived. Even though he wasn't interested in anything the old man had to say or offer, he took the lunch without saying a word.
The boy headed inside the school, but before he entered the school, the old man shouted to the boy, "I meet your friend Mieal, and he is attending Carmen Rene Memorial School, just to let you know."
The boy stopped walking and looked at the man with a bright smile on his face. It looked like he was excited about the information the old man gave him, and even though he didn't care about the old man's presence, he was glad he came to him with this information. "Thank you," the boy said to the old man as he headed inside the school.
