Pop and Zap

  

Once upon a time in a Catholic school when Jessica was actually shorter than me (I know!! Such a time really did exist!), my "daughter" got smacked in the face.

Jessie herself can't exactly remember if they were playing tag or hide and seek; only that she was running around with the boys because she'll be a tomboy for the next decade and is the only girl in the crowd that can keep up with them. There's a demon child/ginger kid who's "anxious" to catch her and, after a chase, manages to do so... by smacking her.

"In your face??" I ask incredulous, unable to fathom anyone who could smack an adorable mini-Jessie in the face.

"Yeah...Actually," She says thoughtfully, "I...don't recall if I ran into his hand or if he really did slap me. But I doubt I'm that retarded to run into his hand." She adds quickly.

"I started crying and I spent the day holding onto my cheek a lot," She recalls slowly. "And I guess holding on to it made it even more irritated that it created this..."

"Pimple?" I offer.

"Yeaaah," Jessie says hesitantly, "But it was more like a bubble. A bubble of blood."

I wince. "Ew. That's gross."

She laughs. "Pretty much. When I noticed it, I figured it was like a pimple and if I pop it, it'll go away. Like a pimple. So I kept popping it over and over again."

My hands stop typing over the keys. "You mean...it kept coming back? And you kept popping it anyway??"

"Yup." Jessie replies like her 8 year old self that didn't realize there was something definitely wrong with the blood-boil of death on her face."After a week of that, my parents finally got fed up and told me to stop, saying things like "IT'S GOING TO EAT YOUR FACEE!!! and finally took me to a dermatologist."

(Turns out, she was actually popping her face for 2 months before getting professional help.)

One painless "zap" later, the red blob bubble of blood was finally vanquished.

It used to be darker and over the years, she's gotten whiter and the scar has managed to blend into her skin.What she describes as once having been a pit she could dig her finger into is now barely a scuff that she has to play around to even find.