This is real torture

I’ve had a rather unique experience today. Well, it’s not exactly unique, since everyone in my batch went through it. But I bet no one else has had anything like it. In honor of the patron saint of my school, the nuns planned a procession around this certain area known for its fancy mall and condominuims. We had to wear our white gala uniform (a white uniform supposedly for special occassions) and the seniors are required to wear heels with no socks with it. My shoes are these cute little things with a three-inch chunky heel. No one else has anything like it; I think I have the nicest shoes in my batch. It felt good to be almost as tall as Angelica for a couple of hours. ^_^ Maybe I should wear heels everyday. We had a mass in the auditorium before the procession and I tried to walk normally, like I wear heels everyday in my life. But after two or three brisk steps, I lost my balance a little–the floor is so slippery! Fortunately, I managed to hold on to the wall. I’d hate to imagine the state of my dignity if that wall wasn’t there.

Mass was okay. Standing up was annoying in my dress shoes, but it was nothing compared to what we were going to go through. When the mass was over, we all had to line up for the procession and the seniors were the very last to go. Out of nowhere, my situation reminded me of a certain event from my Philippine History–the Bataan Death March. See, that’s when the Japanese captured the Filipino and American soldiers and made them walk all the way from Bataan to San Fernando (80 miles) with no food, water or medicine.

“Hey, doesn’t this remind you of the Bataan Death March?” I asked Angelica.

She rolled her eyes. “Lauryn! You’re exaggerating again.”

“No seriously! We’re made to walk without food, water or medicine. And as an added bonus–we’re wearing heels.”

She dismissed this as another one of my musings, but a few minutes into our walk I was proven right. At first, everyone’s spirits were high. We were made to pray the rosary, but we were so far behind that we couldn’t hear the prayer leader so we all ended up talking to each other. I was walking with Dina, and then Maricris and Angelica behind me. Whenever we would cross the street, crossing guards would tell the cars to stop but they’d keep beeping anyway. How rude. I’m not sure how long we were walking but by the time we got to the mall, my feet were starting to hurt.

We had to walk around the mall, which is actually quite long. I thought my feet wouldn’t hurt so bad since my shoes are the good kind and I was wearing ankle-stockings. But halfway around the mall, the soles of my feet started to sting and I had to give up my poise. I ended up sort of marching instead of walking. Others were worse off than me though. I could see the back of some people’s feet starting to get red and irritated. One of my classmates removed her shoes and walked on her bare feet; another followed suit. A few seconds later we came to a wet area. I wonder if they walked through that or if they put their shoes back on.

We were all groaning in pain by the time we were done going round the mall. Our cheerfulness vanished, and we grew quiet, trying to bear our pain with as much dignity as we can. I could see the teachers looking at us with pity, but what could they do? Although they were made to walk with us, I could see that their shoes were at least comfortable. To add insult to our injury, the president of the PTA was standing on one side watching us walk with this satisfied smile on his face. I wanted to remove one heeled shoe and throw it at him–he looked as though he was taking delight in our suffering. We passed by more cars and I could see through the tinted windows that all the passengers had these amused smiles on their faces. What’s so amusing? I wanted to forcibly let them wear my shoes and make them walk around the perimeter of mall under the sun.

Our music teacher took pity on us, and instead of making us walk the one-way route back to our school, we crossed this road so we could enter the second gate. We walked as fast as we could to the grade four building, the nearest to that gate, and when we stepped on the area everyone removed their shoes. Ahhh! It felt so nice walking on leveled ground again. I could see the look in everyone’s faces, and they had the look of a starving man that was offered food. My shoes are really cute but God–how I suffered in them! I was too miserable to look at my watch, but I think we were walking for about half an hour. I’m so glad I’m graduating this year because I don’t want to experience anything like that ever again. But hey, at least I don’t have school tomorrow! Mwahahahaha.