Coworkers excitedly started up conversations with each other, as I stared blankly at my computer screen.

“Yeah, I did. Could you believe that ending!?” shouted another voice near me.

“I know! Did you ever expect Darth Vader to be Luke Skywalker’s father?”

It was Monday morning and everyone was excited to talk about what wonderful weekends they had. I guess I could have joined in, but what would I talk about? While everyone was off partying and having a good time, I sat alone in my lifeless, confined apartment. Besides, no one is interested in talking to me. Why would they be? It’s not like I made the slightest attempt at socializing with them.

While they were talking and laughing, I was thinking. Thinking of how I let my self become like this. Memories from my school years haunted me. Everyday a new one would pop into my mind, reminding me how of pathetic I was, and still am.

High-pitched screams and obnoxious laughter spread through the cafeteria like a disease. My eyes scanned the area looking for a place to sit. At the far end of the room I could see a group of friends getting ready to leave.

“Who’s this?” One of them pointed me out.

“Beats me. Never seen him before.”

“Hey! You!”

“Me?” my voice was trembling.

“Yeah, you. What are you doing standing around our table?”

“Well, it looked like you were leaving and I…”

“And nothing! We’ll leave when we’re good and ready, so stop staring at us like a creep and get the hell out of here!”

I quickly turned and began my way out of the cafeteria. Too ashamed to keep my head up, I knocked right into someone. His lunch splattered all over me, causing everyone in the vicinity to burst out in laughter.

“Watch where you’re going, klutz!”

The laughter grew even louder. It was as if I was thrown in a cage, with the label “IDIOT” attached to it, and put on display.

A loud creek snapped me out of my thoughts and back into reality. I turned my ahead around just in time to see my boss coming through the door. “Crap!” I thought, “the report!”

“Ah! Andrew, just the guy I’m looking for.” He headed towards me, carrying a smug look on his face.

“Um, yes sir?”

“Let me ask you something Andrew, do you know why we have deadlines here at Inter Tech?”

“Yes, yes I do sir. It’s just that I…”

“You see, Andrew, this company relies on its employees to do the best job that they possibly can. Now if someone decides to slack off here or there, it hurts everybody. This leads to…”

I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. This was completely humiliating. I’m a grown man and he’s speaking to me as if I was a kid who just sneaked an extra cookie before dinner. I remembered this feeling. My heart racing, my palms sweating and my body trembling. I hadn’t felt this way since I was in school.

“You forgot to do your homework, again?” Mrs. Monroe asked in disgust. “What is it with you? Are you too good for homework? Do you have better things to do, like buy things for your girlfriend?”

“Yeah right!” someone shouted. “No girl is EVER gonna go out with Andrew!” The classroom erupted like a volcano. I desperately tried to explain myself, but there was no way to break through this deafening roar. Every way I looked, someone laughing at me. I was surrounded. Trapped. My head was spinning; I couldn’t think clearly. Finally, I had enough.

“SHUT UP!!!” I screamed in a booming voice.

“Excuse me?” I looked up and there was my boss. Judging by his expression, my outburst wasn’t confined within the boundaries of my mind; it had slipped into reality.

This felt too surreal; it was like I was empowered for the first time in my life. “I said shut up.”

“Andrew, I really don’t think…”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said SHUT UP!” I grabbed my computer monitor and smashed it onto the ground; I kicked it a few times to make sure my point was clear.

I could see the concern in my boss’s eyes. He called over the secretary and whispered into her ear. She scurried off into another direction the second he was done.

“What’d you say to her?” it was phrased as a question, but sounded more like a demand.

“Nothing, nothing important.” His voice shook with fear.

“Tell me.”

“Really, it’s nothing.”

“I said, TELL ME NOW!”

The doors to the office flung open and there stood two large men outfitted entirely in white.

“Oh, no you didn’t...” I realized what my boss had told the woman to do.

“I am not crazy! Tell them to go back! Please!” Tears were now blurring my vision. “I don’t deserve this! I am NOT crazy! The two men grabbed my arms and headed towards the exit.

And just like that, I was gone. Out of their lives forever. Sure, they will mingle around the office and discuss my little tirade, but only until they have a new party or movie to talk about.