Can You Pass The Aptitude Test?

Day 1

Journal entry: 2
Created on: March 8, 2020
Last edited: March 8, 2020

I'm scared.
Kuhlmeier is crazy.

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I'm so happy.
Kuhlmeier is great.

"Shit!" Was all I yelled as I slammed a fist down onto the keyboard of the computer in front of me. A robotic tone dripped from the speaker. "Please refrain from damaging the equipment." This only proved to make me more upset.

"Shut up, you're just a dumb computer, what are you going to do anyway?"
The monotone voice once gain crawled its way out of the speaker, "A penalty will be set."

I shivered in my skin at the thought of what kind of penalty this school could come up with. I rubbed my head and stood from the chair sat just an inch away from the desk. The chair was hickory, well I assumed it was, and the desk wasn't even wood, just wood plaster over thick cardboard. I pressed a hand against the cool wood of the chair and turned around, no one was in the room with me but I felt like a row of eyes were staring at me.

The sound of loud footsteps against the tiled computer room jolted me out of my paranoia and flew me into truly facing a crawling fear. A fear that soon stared me straight in the eye. There stood a man who towered over me, I wish I knew how tall he was, it looked like he had no eyes until you could notice the faint line between his bright pupil and white iris. He wore a suit, a black one, that completely contrasted against his pale skin. His smile, which disgusted me the most, was always stretched. I would have said he had no lips if it weren't for the moment he talked his teeth would be one covered.

"Mike..." the slimy, smug voice whispered as a long, claw-like, gloved hand grabbed my chin and squished my cheeks together. "Mike, you did so well today, it gave me shivers." He pretended to have a small moment of pleasure before drawing back to his gaze on my face. "That idiot, Duncan was it, stood no chance for you. You are a star Mike, a star." He let go of my face and rummaged around in his back pocket.

"Do you want to see it, Mike?"
"See what?"
"A replay of your beautiful victory, of course!"
"Hell no!"

The images were already burned into my brain, the sight, the smell of blood they haunt me still. I placed a hand into my dark brown hair and sighed as he brought out a remote. He pressed a single button and all the computer screens turned on replaying every moment I was forced to experience.

I can remember it without flaw, and that scares me. The speakers oozed out the words and noises of the event.

I closed my eyes and did the same as the glowing screens. Poor Duncan, how will his family feel?

"Welcome one, welcome all, to the first question of the aptitude test." That tall, despicable man spoke out to the empty air, he turned on a heel to face us and spoke. "Hello, Mike. Hello, Duncan. Let me explain the rules to you two, you have one question, and can take as long as you want, but you can not enter the time frame of the second day, not even a second." He pointed to a timer that hung against the porcelain walls of the room.

"If you get the question right, you move onto the next day. If you get it wrong, you are eliminated. Easy, right?"

I nodded, it was pretty simple to understand. The guy next to me spoke up "Of course." He had green hair, and a piercing in his nose. He was good looking with his sharp nose and silver eyes. He seemed to be confident of himself and began to, what I can only call, antagonizing the man.
"Come on, are we going to start, or are we going to sit here all day. I don't have time for this." The man only smiled down at him with his blank, white stare and spoke. "We will start soon."

He put a hand on the table and then pulled it away. It left behind two photographs and he waited for both of us to grab one. He put a hand on his hip and instructed us once more. "This photo has a girl wearing a different outfit for each day of the week, she wears a jacket in each one, which is her favorite?"

Duncan looked furious after what the man said. He slammed a fist against the table and shouted, "Hey, what's the big idea, asshole?" He was breathing roughly and his hands were clenched
"Is the some kind of a joke?"
The tall man only smiled and sat him back down.

Duncan flinched away from his hands when he placed back into the seat. "What the hell..." He whispered under his breath and grabbed the photo.
I took hold of mine and stared at the separate versions of the girl. Something seemed off about her in each one.

"I got it." Duncan spoke out of the silence it had been a total of six minutes according to the clock, the man was drinking a cup of tea, where did he get that, and his smile widened. "Good."

"This was easy."
"Yes, now what is your answer?"
"This grey track jacket." He sounded smug.
"Can you explain?"
"This girl is wearing a different jacket everyday, except Monday and Friday. She's wearing the gray track jacket."
"Interesting, and you Mike?"

"Wait, me, but I'm not done." The man chuckled and put a hand under my chin. "Did I forget to mention, when one tester is done the clock stops, so if you need more time you must convince the other to wait for you."

"But-"
"No 'but's about it, tell me your answer."

I'm panicking, what do I do, there's no way I can have an answer! I'm going to be eliminated!

Wait....wait, what's around her waist?
Is that a jacket? That's it, in all of these pictures that jacket is around her waist! Only on Saturday does she actually wear it, but I have to try.

"This one." I hovered my digit over the black jacket with the prominent word peace sticking out on the arm.
"Oh? Why do you pick that one?"
"In all of the pictures she has it around her waist. Although she already had a jacket on she also tied that one around her waist, and Saturday doesn't have one."

He's, he's chuckling! Am I wrong, am I going to be eliminated?
"Beautiful, beautiful! Do you know who's right?"

He lifted his long fingers and slammed it down onto my side of the table. "You!" He grinned down at me as he slowly raised his hand off the table.

Duncan groaned and laid his face in his hands, "I can't believe I lost, now I have to go home."

"No, you aren't leaving."
"But I got it wrong, I'm eliminated."
"Yes, but look up."

He tilted his head up and all I saw next was a pierced through Duncan. A spike as big as my hand was shoved down his throat and through his back. His eyes were strained and open, his skin was losing colour, and his once green hair was now a dark red. My side of the room was splattered with red. My face was dyed the colour of that poor man.

"Elimination equals death."

I opened my eyes and gagged at the thought of the organs that slipped onto the floor as the spike slowly slid out of his back, the way his spine was forced out and cracked from the impact.

This is Kuhlmeier,
I want to go home.