The Cascading Effect

Pilot

10 more minutes.

Tessa checked her watch for the third time in 20 seconds as she violently shook her pen and rapped her right foot on the desk stand, causing the entire table to shake as if it was an earthquake.

"Cascading effect... cascading effect... what was the damn cascading effect?!" She thought to herself.

Her final exam was to get over in 10 minutes and she was confident about the entire paper except that one question she had been stuck on for the past 5 minutes.

Her mind had the ability to soundtrack every possible situation, especially the ones which did not need soundtracking. She desperately wanted to search through her brain for the answer to that question right now but all her brain could do was blast 'It must be love on the brainnnn' in her ears, constantly and remorselessly.

"Now is not the time for Rihanna!!" She mind-scolded her brain but it was to no avail since the more anxious she got, the louder the song became in her ears.

5 more minutes

Oh come on!!
At this point, she couldn't help but think of a passage from Helen Keller's autobiography wherein she described how when she'd go to write her exams, she'd scavenge through the endless information in her brain to gouge out the answer to that one question the paper asked. She would be able to remember all the extra useless information only to forget what the question demanded.

That's exactly how Tessa felt right now.
Cascading effect.... Cascading effect... it sounded so familiar yet she couldn't pinpoint to where exactly this term was mentioned.

"Was this in the chapter on foreign exchange? Does it have something to do with tax? Think Tessa, think!!" She forced herself. Her economics paper was her last paper as a high schooler and she wanted to do her best.

2 minutes left

She took a deep breath and wrote some random gibberish whilst including the word tax on regular intervals. She revised through the rest of her paper, sketched a few lines, made a few diagrams neater.

1 minute left

"1 minute left students. Wind up your papers. The bell will ring any minute now." Announced the invigilator.

Tessa had accepted her fate when a sudden fleeting memory hit her.
She closed her eyes and could see her Economics teacher say something about some chain of events, some general meaning of the word and the meaning of the word in economics.
Tax.. Tax on taxed goods?

She opened her eyes to write what she'd just remembered, only to find that her paper had already been collected by the invigilator. Her last exam as a high schooler. She was officially done with high school. Unless she failed, of course.

There was a deluge of people all around her. Excited about finally getting over with the exams. Nervous about how it went. She was about to get up from her desk when someone from behind trapped her in a back hug.

"Tessieeee we did it!! We're actually done with this hell!" Screamed with joy, her best friend Mia.

"Yeah woohoo." Tessa tried to mimic her excitement but couldn't.

Mia saw right through her.
"Tessa, all of us are here are happy with the 75 percent marks we are about to get, don't ruin the mood with that 1 mark you're probably losing in some insignificant question!!" Mia reprimanded her.

She was right. This was the time to enjoy.
"Uh un okay. Let's get out of here." Tessa picked up her bag as the both of them rushed out of the exam centre.

"The air... there is something different about the air. Oh I know!!!It's the air of freedom!! Liberation!!! Independence!!!!!" Mia screamed on the top of her lungs, right outside the exam station.

Out of the building of trepidation, even Tessa felt lighter. Gone were now, the days of anxiety and headaches. This truly was what freedom felt like.

"Fuck you cascading effect!!!" Tessa joined in the screaming.

"That's the spirit!!" Laughed Mia as the two girls walked the entire distance to her house, screaming and laughing. 7 minutes of heaven.

Their friends' group had planned an entire trek for the next day and hence they decided to stay at Mia's house for the day.

"You girls are back? How was the exam? Mia? Tessa?" Mia's mother bombarded them with the questions as they entered the house.

"Hello aunty. It actually went quite well. There was this one question though which I-" Tessa was stopped midway by Mia's dangerous glare.

"We are done with the exams now Tess. Mom. No more mention of those heinous torture devices in my presence." Mia huffed.

"Fine, fine. You guys go upstairs, I'll be there with some snacks in a jiffy. Also Theresa, do call and tell your ma that you're back, okay?"

Tessa nodded as the both of them went upstairs to Mia's room.

"Oh wait, my room is an entire mess. I went frantic last night, trying to understand the demand and supply crap, let's go to Nate's room instead." Beckoned Mia.

They rarely went to Nate's room. Mia went to the restroom to freshen up as Theresa sat on his bed, looking up at his framed pictures, hanging on the wall.

The one at the rightmost corner was of him and her from the 5th grade, after winning a sand castle making competition. They had sand all over their faces and hands and some of it could even be seen from the gap in between their teeth, as they grinned, innocent and carefree.

The picture was taken a few months before that fateful day...

"So I was thinking, about the trek, do we have to go?" Asked Mia, as she suddenly barged into the room, after taking a quick shower, with a towel around her neck.

The siblings shared several features. And habits. Perhaps a fraternal twin thing.

"We have to. We promised the guys!" Replied Tessa.

"Yeah but you know the location...that is where...that is where....Nate..." Mia stuttered.

How could Tessa forget?! That is where Nathan had disappeared. 7 years ago. Never to be found again. After years of trying, the family had finally given up hope. Now to go to the same place where the tragedy took place? Tessa couldn't believe how ignorant she must've seemed.

"You're right. I am so sorry. Let's stay in and do a movie marathon? Any thing that you want to watch. The entire day we'll only watch your selection." Tessa tried to redeem herself.

"No I guess.. I guess we should go. Nate would've liked that. My brother wasn't the kind to stay in anyway..." Mia spoke with a courage Tessa couldn't even think of mustering.

Tessa, Mia and Nate used to be best friends. Even though Mia and Nate were the siblings, Tessa always felt like a part of their family. Their families were also friends and all of them went on trips together. Until 7 years ago when Mia's families stopped going on trips altogether.
This was Mia's first trip in 7 years.

"Are you sure?" Asked Tessa.

"I am. We're going on the trek. Let's show the guys what it's all about!!"

                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Andddddddd the pilot is out!! What do you guys think? The soundtrack part during exams was from personal experience- oh god I hate it so much!! I remember in a school math exam when I was trying so hard to solve this one question and my mind kept playing peppy Taylor swift songs in my head!!
Does that ever happen with you?

Vote and Support💋
Until next time ❣️