Pain /1/
Can you describe pain?
Most define it as "unpleasant" some as "pleasurable", but no one can quite describe the sensation itself.
My name is Riley O'Connell, I am 18 years old, and I have never experienced pain.
I was born with CIPA (Congenital insensitivity to pain), which means that for reasons unknown well, there are some theories I can not experience physical pain.
I bet most of you guys out there thunk I've got it made… let me just set the record straight- this sucks.
Pain is actually a really important part of life, it's how we learn what to be careful of, it lets us know when we're in trouble. Pain is one of the way we communocate with the world around us.
I, unlike everyone else, have to be extremely cautious about every little thing, my mother won't let me out of her sight… imagine going through your life, your teen years, with no privacy. Imagine that being the rest of your life. I have never had real friends, never had a boyfriend… who would want to hang out with someone who can't walk two feet out of an adult's sight? Who can barely make a move without checking for injuries?
Life has also been hard for my mom… her boyfriend abandoned her when she was three months pregnant (with me, that is) so basically she had to juggle between having a child with a rare,disabiling disorder which threted her life constently and keeping a job… she had to raise me all by herself, CIPA and all.
I have no clue who my father is/was… I know his name was Richard White, but that's about it. To be completely hinest, I would love to be able to truthfully say that I don't care, but it does hurt to know that he was a selfish bastard.
Now, I don't want you all to think that I'm some sad, bitter kid. Sure, I have a chip on my shoulder, who wouldn't in my condition? But I've got a great mother who loves me, and although we hit rough patches sometimes, she's my best friend.
Recently, my mom lost her job, which was a big, big problem since there are very few job openings in this town and so my mother decided we should move to Gotham city.
I'm cool with that, it will give us both a fresh start. Not to mention how exciting the big city is… I've never been to a major city before.
"I know it's not much…"
My mom, Coreen, said as she opened the door to our new (and shabby) apartment.
"It's cool mom." It really is. I honestly don't care about stuff like this.
"You know what, pumpkin, since you're being such a good sport, I think we should go out and see the city today and unpack tomorrow."
"That sounds like a plan!"
I am thrilled, really. I love discovering new things, places…
After our tour of the city, we stopped for dinner in a small diner near our apartment building called (originally) "Joe's Diner". I had my favorite- spaghetti and meatballs and a Shirley Temple.
Mom went to counter to pay the bill and started talking to the girl at cash register.
"Guess
what, pumpkin…"
"What?"
"Linda there told
me that they're hiring here right now!"
"Really? That'll
be awesome if you got the job here!"
"I know…"
She did. The owner, Mrs. Colby, really took a liking to her and hired her immediately.
It's been about a week since we moved to Gotham, I was mostly occupied with unpacking, since my mom started working at Joe's ("Joe" is actually Joanna Colby, the one I told you about).
So that's me, in a nutshell… oh, wait, I forgot to describe myself…
So, I'm about 5'4, pale skin, blond, light brown eyes, skinny and generally pretty small, I don't think I'm very pretty- it's not self esteem issues, I don't think I'm ugly, but just okay looking.
Riley, out.
