the test
I sat in a hard, freezing chair in an icy classroom and shook my leg furiously. I tapped my pen incessantly on the table in front of me and chewed my lip until it was raw. You could say I was nervous for this test in my AP Chemistry class, but you would be horribly wrong. I wasn’t nervous, I was freaking out. Without a doubt, this was going to be one of the hardest tests of my entire high school career, maybe my life. I studied all night, just for this test. I am running on three hours of sleep, one rather large energy drink, and two bowls of the most sugary cereals I could find. It may sound like I’m overreacting. I might be. But if I fail this test, my life is over.
The teacher strolled into the classroom, six-inch black suede heels clicking elegantly on the floor as she succeeded in striking fear into our hearts. She always looked nice, but today she was beaming with excitement. She enjoyed seeing her students alive and buzzing with crippling anxiety. “Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Ready for the assessment?” her voice sang with excitement. She was too good to call it a test, too ecstatic to use a word that only carried doom with it.
All she received were blank stares and moans. “I will take that as a ‘most definitely’”. She walked around the room and handed out the ‘assessment’, continuously smiling with pearly white teeth that made my heart drop only slightly. She gently placed the packet of papers, too thick to imagine, and stared. My mind was asleep despite the sugar and caffeine coursing through my veins. I glanced around the room, meeting eyes with not a single student. We were all mortified and as still as stone.
My eyes slid back to the paper on my desk. I could feel them suddenly flutter and droop until they were half closed. Maybe if I rest my eyes for a bit I’ll be fully ready for this test. I let my mind drift out of the classroom, out of the school, and into the universe. A warm glow touched my cheek and I reluctantly opened my eyes. A beam of sunlight shone in my eyes, forcing me to retreat back into the darkness behind my eyelids. As I slowly got used to the bright sun the world around me became clear. It was not the stale classroom with its cold, fluorescent lights. It was a world beyond my wildest dreams. Trees as tall as mountains and flowers as colorful as rainbows filled this vast world. Dense forests of long vines and leaves, glowing from the golden sun, filled all of my senses and filled my lungs with awe.
Hesitant, my feet tread on through the cool cover of the canopy above, leaving all my worries in the marks of footprints behind me. I was baffled, overwhelmed, frantic to take in absolutely everything, leaving nothing unseen. Sounds of chirping and cooing buzzed all around and up above. A small, soft monkey darted in front of me and up a tree, guiding my eyes up to the thick roof of leaves. The sun peeked through the heavy cover above as shadows of animals passed through the beams that dripped all the way down onto my face.
I let out a giddy laugh, childlike wonder flowing through my body as if the sunlight had found its way in and bounced throughout. A loud squeak sounded below me, pulling my attention to the dirt and grass covered floor. A small woodland creature looked up at me, upset by the careless trampling of my feet. I took a step back, silently apologizing, allowing the petite creature to carry on. Grinning to myself, I continued with my journey, setting out to find everything that this beautiful world could offer.
I paused at a tree the width of a car and taller than any building I had ever seen. My gaze followed the twisting vines up the monstrous tree and fixed itself to a bird, casually resting on one of the branches. It was short and fat and contained every color of the rainbow, sporting a long beak that was a vibrant orange. Its huge eyes stared into my soul and I felt a small twinge in my gut, as if something were missing. Something I had forgotten. I cocked my head in confusion as the bird opened its large beak in preparation. It let out a piercing screech, drilling into my core. I winced and reached for my ears, expecting them to be bleeding as the drums rang within. As soon as the ungodly scream ceased to ring through my head, I felt a chill run up my spine. The warmth that had filled my cheeks was replaced by a frigid staleness. When I finally opened my eyes I was back in the classroom in my seat, staring into the back of the student in front of me. She began to rise, as did everyone else around me, and I glanced at the glowing paper of the test on my desk. It was completely blank. What have I done?
