John is starting the day

John began the morning like all other days since school started, after putting on the uniform he had breakfast. It was the only time of the day he felt at rest, eating by himself. The sweetness of fruit gave him comfort and made his thoughts about his life a bit less bitter.

When he was done, he found the daily struggle to open the door and, as people say, "start the day." He knew Emilly would be at the entrance to mock his squint in the eye. 'Chameleon' was his nickname in school thanks to Emilly. John never cried in front of her when she mocked him. He was afraid that he would also be known as the boy who cried because of a girl. But all these anxious thoughts abruptly stopped on his way to school when a nasty dog barked at him. It made him jump and feel his heart punch his chest. Dogs, cats and birds, all nasty, nasty creatures. John has a Border Collie, in reality, he doesn't. His parents do. The once energetic, young dog is now too weak to even bark if a burglar was to come in the house. Though this doesn't stop his parents from giving all the attention to it, he is the dying sun that needs to be worshipped in the house. Marley, the dog's name, once bit him in the hand. His white shirt was dyed with redness of the blood. And yet, only John was punished, he should know better than to walk too close to Marley when he's eating. His hand infected and was black for weeks. There's still a mark in his palm not to let him forget.

The day has started, Emilly is seated on the bench in the front gate.