It was a semi-bright and not sunny day, and I was walking down to gym with mí amigos. It was the first day of gym, so we had a debate on whether or not we should wear our gym clothes. We ultimately decided that we would, so I rushed back to my locker to grab my gym clothes. I had to rush so I wouldn’t be late because we took a long time debating about it.

We were rushing down the stairs to change in the locker room. We were remembering the tune of Castiglione Macaroni from our recent canoe trip. We were almost down the second flight of stairs when I stumbled on my large shoes.

Crack! Bash! Crash! Blam! Splash…

Next thing I know it, I’m at the bottom of the stairs, recovering. I can hear some faint laughter, but a few people ask if I’m ok. I was. From what I heard, I fell down like 7 stairs. 

Just so we’re clear, I didn’t pass out or anything. Don’t worry.

When I was falling through the air, all I could think about was my landing. Would I land on my face? My feet? My chest? My eyes begin to flutter. Open. Close. Open. Close.

I get up, and try to shake it off, and go down the stairs like I normally would. The stairwell seemed to be moving. I couldn't tell if I was going down or up. Right before I fall again, I feel hands catch my limp body. I am forever in debt of that person’s hands. I try to turn around to thank them, but it became blurry. I was dizzy again. I don’t know what’s left or right, up or down, or forward or backward. I hate this feeling.

The only cure to my dizziness that I could think of was to stare at one thing, and focus intensely on it. I tried it, and it worked, but little did I know, only a little it. For the moment, my dizziness stopped, and was able to go to gym.

We were at the basement. I, somehow, got lost. I even shocked myself. I asked myself, “How am I lost? I’ve been going to this school since I was a 3 year old. That’s 10 years!” The hallways seemed long, the walls seemed high, and everything seemed so far away. I didn’t know what to do. My friends changed into their gym clothes upstairs, so they went right to their gym rotation. All that meant was that I was alone. I was right by the pool, but I just didn’t remember the way to go. I was getting frustrated with myself. I tried the same thing I tried earlier, even though I wasn’t dizzy. As you could’ve expected, it didn’t work. I was just getting more and more frustrated. All of a sudden, I felt hands on my shoulders. They were warm, and kinda sweaty hands. The fact that they were sweaty didn’t bother me in the moment. But, I recognized those hands. I got it. They were the same hands that saved me from falling earlier. I turned around to see who it was. But before I did that, I was stopped. This person whispered to me, “There is no need to turn around. Just walk in this direction, and you’ll be on your way.” I still wanted to turn around, but I didn’t want to disobey the person that has helped my twice now. 

After walking in the same direction for a few minutes, I saw I wall that I could almost reach. So, I knew that I had to turn. I looked to my left and I saw a door, which lead to an empty room. When I looked to my right, I saw a hallway with many doors. I thought I should go to my right, because there was a higher chance of me finding the door I needed to go to. I walked, and past many doors that didn’t have many people in it, so I figured that wasn’t right. I was getting close to the end, and started to worry. I was afraid that I made the wrong turn. Should have I gone to the left? I past the second to last door, and no one was in there. I was already super late, so I ran to the last door. It had little cubbies with lots of shoes in it. I thought that was a good sign because that could mean many people were there. I walked in, and was greeted by many faces. Some annoyed that I was late, some happy to see me. But, I was stopped before I could get into the class. I was asked to take off my shoes and socks, and put them outside. I was thinking to myself, “Finally! I get to take this shoes off!” I slip my shoes and socks right off. In fact, they slip off of me. I get in, to be stopped again by the teacher. Was I about to get in trouble for being late in front of the whole class? Was I not wearing my gym clothes? The teacher then said, “One, you don’t have your gym clothes on, and 2, you aren’t in this class.” I wasn’t even annoyed about the gym clothes part. I would have to navigate my way from the basement, all the way to the new gym in the recently built Bergen building. The building was so new, I didn’t even know how to get there. I was going to miss all of my gym class...

That was on September 15, 2012. Every year, on September 15, I fall down the stairs in remembrance. I am an eight grader now, so you will have to pass this on. Not only that, but when you pass down the third flight of stairs in the back stairwell in Near North Montessori School in Chicago, Illinois, you will feel obligated to remember the incident that made me fall down the stairs on the 15th of September, 2012.