Shouldn't Have Slept or Woken Up?
I woke up and the exam was over.
Often I dream of future events but that dream was too unrealistic...
“Erian. Erian? Erian! The principle would like to have a word with you! Erian?” a teacher, who I believe is mine, waxes on-n-off before me with his back to me, yelling after a stranger male student.
“Excuse me… Excuse me! Sir? My name is Erian. I believe I’m the only ‘Erian’ –” I smile.
“Erian! You failed again!” the principal, Ms Principal, bolts and leaps into the air, grabbing the poor student I mentioned before… Ha. Ha. Not again.
“I am Erian!” stepping forward as I spoke. Light, bouncing off the window seal and bouncing off the doorknob, erases my dark hair. The band behind the doorknob plays ‘Ave Maria’ on the organ accompanied by violins. Smooth. Tranquil. Off tune. Beautiful.
They’re gone. The teacher - the principal - the student…
Far faraway a deep-sea voice reaches my unconscious, “Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian, Erian! What sort of a name is ‘Erian’ anyway? ”
I ignored it.
“You’re awake, Erian! You’re not very fit are you?”
One eye is forced open, “no… Were you the one doing the – voiceover? Ms Principal?”
“Ha ha ha! Yes.”
Creep, “Oh. So... where are we going?”
“Erian, we live in a world where one must search for answers alone. We’re here. This is your new school and home, a selective school for selected beings. You came from a selective school. This is a selective school. The students are just like you. I’ll come and check up on you every semester. Have fun, Erian, believe in yourself!”
Escorted off the train and into darkness, I stepp on... feathers? Ha. Troll. Ms P is such a troll. With a confiscated phone, which rang during my exam, I wait for my eyes to load night-vision.
“Can’t you see perfectly in the dark, miss?” O, Wind in the Willows! What harmonic notes?
“Thank you, miss. I am new to this school too. My name is Kian.”
"Kian, I'm Erian."
"Erian,
lovely to meet you. Say, why don't we climb up Rapunzel's Hair?"
Climbing out to have my eyes stabbed by the Sun, I look at the power-point I climbed out of.
"Have you never seen Rapunzel's Hair? Well, Rapunzel's Hair is sort of an up-side-down flower. With it's roots as hair."
Filling the mind's void, I ask, "Are you by any chance related to Rapunzel?"
"Ha. No," Kian's ordinary blue eyes stole a cookie-cut of the sky, "I'm so glad sunscreen was invented." I don't remember the last time I had such a beautiful dream. The leaves, the grass, were never so green. The sky was never so deep.
“Me too,” I wonder what happened to that boy...
“Your parents must be so proud that you got into this school.” My parents.
“Ha ha ha. I didn’t really try really hard.”
The surrounding leaves chatter as we stand in silence.
“What’s the name of this school?”
“This School.”
“Yes?”
“This School.”
Right.
Ding dong dang dong. The tree next to us drops a leaf like a handkerchief onto of Kian's head.
"Touch
where you'd like to go," Kian held the leaf's message to me, ''the
classroom, right?" Touch.
“Kian?” carelessly, I let my emotions colour me. Wait. I’m too short to reach it, even if I jump to reach the map.
“Boooooo.”
I crank my head to turn. To have my dark eyes look into the two halves of a pulsating heart. With white umbrellas sheltering them from the crashing foam above. Wait – why isn't she wearing a shirt?
“I'm merely a beautiful merman,” he smiled, “so, what have we got here?”
“A map that transports you to anywhere your finger tou -”
"No, youu -"
“Hey! I’m Quintrelle! Nice to meet you both!”
“G – Grandma?” I'm not Little Red Riding Hood!
“Run!” Junien screams, not moving.
“No, please wait! I get bullied because my name is mostly used by girls and teachers always believe that I’m actually a girl so I was forced to dress like this!” Quintrelle howled!
“No, you weren’t! With your build you can easily fight them off! You obviously tricked them into thinking that you were a –”
“–I understand, Quintrelle. I’m often mistaken as a boy," smiling I add, "I'm Erian."
“Erian? I thought you're just a girl-like boy like me. Anyway, why are standing up for him? I’ve known you waay longer!” nonchalantly adding, "Junien."
Swimming through the air, Junien touches the map, and he and Quintrelle disappear.
“In life either you go forward yourself or wait for the appropriate person to pick you up,” someone said as he approaches me, but disappears without me.
Waiting. An ordinary fly lands onto my knee. "Please take me to the classroom," I ask not expecting anything.
Poong! Dropped into a chair cushioned by my uniform, I'm glad this is only a dream. The classroom is circular with a piece of glass as its side. Six students, including myself, sit on separate tables forming a semi-circle on one side of the room. A sole table is on the other side. With an ordinary teenage girl behind it.
She’s a human, definitely. Can’t you tell? - I feel bad - so young - they have to be young don't they? - poor thing -
No. I can’t. "Where's the teacher?"
“We don’t have a teacher, only a principal. The students decide what to do as a class or individually,” Kian answers.
"Everyone," that voice, "Welcome to This School. My name is Hansel. Allow me to ask you all a question: why have you come here? You should all have a concrete answer.” For a haze of my vision, his black hair hissed at me.
Something similar happened before… in an unknown room. But this time no one seems to have known anyone for long. If I don’t jump into the deep end now, I’ll drown in shallow waters, again.
“No, I have no answer. I have no idea why or exactly how I came here… but… time and opportunity must be valued… so, I’ll learn as much as I can here.” This is a dream?
