There it was.

The booth in the middle of the square. It was nothing much, just a desk with a pencil and paper. The man who always stamps arms after they Sign sat by the table looking around almost like he was looking for his next victim.

I tried to swallow the mound that had been building up since I had walked out the door. I slowed down and started to walk towards the booth so slowly it felt like I would never make it. The closer I got the more I thought about all the things that would happen if I went through with this. They tugged at my mind and nearly made me turn around and head back. But I kept walking, that was all I thought about.

Keep walking.
Keep walking.
Keep walking...

Then I was there. Right in front of the booth. I was asking for a form to fill out. I was checking boxes with a pen, but I wasn't there. I was just watching an other girl. I was OK. I was somewhere else. I wasn't there Signing. I told myself I wasn't. But I was.

Then I handed the form to the man, he set it down in a box under the table. Then he asked for my arm and I knew this was it. He raised the stamp a few inches above my arm then pushed it into my skin. It burned! I felt like my skin was burning!

The man then spoke, "It will burn for a few minutes. When it stops burning wipe the ink off."

Then he pushed me away! I stood there for what seemed like forever thinking over what had just happen. But had it happened? I felt so far from everything I wasn't sure.