Change

    My life changed exactly three years ago. Not in some big, phenomenal way, but in a small, barely noticeable way. My name is Henry, and I want to tell you about something that happened to me in fourth grade.

     It all started in Social Studies, which was my second class of the day that year. I was sitting at my desk doing my work, when suddenly I felt a pain in my right side. At first it was just a dull throb, but as class continued, it got progressively worse. When class finally ended, it was time to go to lunch. 

     I got my food in the lunchroom (it was spaghetti), and went to sit by some of my friends. I took my seat and looked at my food. I lost my appetite, and just continued to stare at my food, playing with it using my fork. Spaghetti was one of my favorite foods, and I almost always ate it, no matter how I was feeling. 

     The pain suddenly spiked in intensity, and I barely suppressed my groan. My best friend, Myra, was sitting next to me and noticed my face, which I am sure portrayed my pain.

     “Henry, are you okay?” she asked, leaning towards me, her voice low. A piece of brown hair fell in front of her face. 

     “I’m fine,” I said. “I’m just not hungry.” I tried to sell it with a smile, but she saw right through my lie.

     “Maybe you should go see the nurse,” she told me. I shook my head.

     “The day is almost over anyway. I can wait.”

     Lunch ended soon after that, and I started making my way to math. Myra and I have the same classes, so she was walking with me. When we passed the nurse’s office, she again tried to convince me to go in.

     “Come on,” Myra said. “You should just stop in and have her make sure you’re okay.”

     “Really, Myra, I’m fine,” I responded.

     We got to math, and had to go to our separate desks. I sat down, but as soon as I did, I gasped from the pain that exploded in my side. I clutched my waist and laid my head against my desk, trying to lessen the pain and stop my yelps. 

     I heard footsteps approaching me, and at first I thought it was Myra, trying to get me to go to the nurse. So I was surprised to hear my teacher, Ms. Kai.

     “Henry,” she said, “Are you all right?”

     I tried to say something, but only managed to groan. By that point, I bet that the entirety of my class was staring at me, but I just didn’t care. My side hurt so much. 

     I felt Ms. Kai Grab my arm and help my to my feet, then turn to the left of the room. 

     “Myra, will you help Henry to the nurse’s for me? I think she should try and see what’s wrong,” she said. It took me a second to process what she had said. 

     Myra is going to have so much fun chewing me out for not listening to her earlier I though, as Myra grabbed my arm and started walking me out the door. She didn’t say anything to me the whole walk to the nurse’s office, though I could hear her muttering something. She was probably saving her breath, because I wasn’t being very helpful with the whole walking part.

     Myra opened the door to the nurse’s office with her foot, and practically dragged me through the door. The pain in my side was way worse after the walk, and the nurse immediately came over to help Myra.

    I think I lost consciousness at this point, because I don’t really remember much afterwards. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a bed in a room, neither of which I recognised. It took my brain a second to realize this is a hospital. 

     I saw a person standing at the edge of my vision. I thought it was a doctor, seeing as they were dressed in blue.

     “Hello?” I ask, not quite sure what else I should say. 

     “Good, you’re awake,” The person said turning towards me. “We were expecting you to wake up around now. Do you know what happened?” I shook my head.

     “I just remember a pain in my side,” I said. “Do you know what it was?”

     The doctor walked over to me and smiled. “Your appendix was having trouble, so we had to remove it. The appendix serves no purpose that you have to worry about. You may have a small scar on your right side, but it won’t cause you any pain.”

     “Wait, are you saying I had surgery?” I ask. The doctor nodded. 

     “You’ll have to stay here for a day or so. You might want to make yourself comfortable. I’ll call your parents in,” the doctor said.

     I think this is a good place to stop my story, because I really don’t think you need to know about my stay at the hospital. It was pretty boring. Just a lot of staring at walls, or talking to my friends, family and doctors. As I said earlier, this is not a great change, but it is still permanent. I have a small scar, and the pain is going to stay in my memories, but fade with time. It’s a small change, but still change.