284/365 06/02/2026

After I had I summoned courage and asked Agnes Dreck if she’d like to “go with me.” And after Agnes puffed herself up and asked me, “Why do you have to be such a jerk, Alan?” And sent me scampering away, back to my desk in our seventh grade social studies class. And after she started going with Ronny Pearl, an asshole rich kid from the north side of town who at some point had become one of my sworn enemies (though I doubt he knew or cared), I developed a raw need to remain unperceived. Not invisible, mind you. I believe there’s a fundamental difference. I didn’t just want to be unseen, I wanted to be unknown. To be able to move through a day, an hour, even a minute without the risk of anything entering my sphere of perception.