Auctorial Abscondences in Opusculum

Saponaceous

Saponaceous - having or resembling the qualities of soap, i.e. "The overarching meaning in this collection of short stories is saponaceous; slippery, hard to grasp, and both cloying and bitter in the mouth."

< THE GIRL WHO SAW DRAGONS >

Yana sat drearily at the back of the class. Her pencil held idly in one hand, with her other she tapped against the grey desk. Played against her beat was a drone of esoteric jargon from the front of the classroom. If she chose to pay attention, she knew it wouldn't matter. Curled in the centre of her vision was a coiled grey smoke which shrouded the world. Through it's draconic folds she could see nothing; only hazy outline of whoever had her this class. But there were other reasons for not looking too.

The corner of the room was Yana's constant companion, and as she continued tapping at the desk, pulse rising as another student turned sideways to glance her with a smirk, she leant further into its orthogonal embrace.

A Roman legionnaire opened the door at the front of the room, walked to the adjacent desk beside her, and sat down.

Yana tried not to look.

The soldier ignored her too, instead pulling open a flask. He drank in silence. Once he had finished, he turned to Yana and offered her some.

She shook her head.

Slowly, he climbed back up to his feet. Then he took a burning torch from the wall, and set it against the side of his chair. Quickly, the whole room filled with a thick grey smoke, then a fierce yellow flame that fractalled across Yana's vision like serpents. The fire was silent, but slowly consumed everything until Yana was blinded by it. Like she knew it would, her cloudy vision sharpened to take in the minutest detail of the licking flame. Everything she saw burned, and the Roman stood watching her, his face huge and minuscule in a paradox of proportion. Then everything vanished and the world returned to normal.

Was the teacher looking at her? Had they asked her a question? Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him staring expectantly at her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

The irony burned. She pulled a yellow slip of paper from her pocket, and staring at him sideways, she folded in the edges so they lined up perfectly. Gently, she unfolded, and pulled the top corners down twice. Then she bent out the wings, closed her eyes and threw. She opened her eyes. It had been a direct hit. The teacher rubbed his eyelid, already beginning to redden.

That trick had taken her four weeks in four different waiting rooms.

He unfolded the paper, reading aloud, even though she knew the words.

"Macular degeneration, paranoia, depression, CBS."

He took her in for what was probably the first time. Then, after some time, he tried to appear menacing with a puffy red eye, and sat down. He folded his hands and interlaced his fingers. A lecture.

"Now, I understand that depression is a serious business," he said, and inwardly Yana screamed at him, "but it isn't an excuse for rudeness. It says here on your school-issued form that you are receiving treatment," treatment?! "for this, and so I expect the same standard of behavior from you as from anyone else in this class. Am I clear?"

On the blackboard, someone had written the same word over and over and over again, and an invisible hand kept writing it over and over and over in her head.

freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow. freakshow.

"I said, am I clear?"

Yana tucked a pen behind her ear and stood up.
"Do you know what CBS stands for?"

She gazed sidelong at him. He spluttered, spittle flicking outwards.
"No I do not, and since you aren't being medicated for it," he flapped the sheet like a weapon, "I frankly do not care."

He stood up again, but then sat back down.
"If it had been a matter of any importance, the school would have notified me this morning. But humour me, what does CBS stand for?"

Yana picked up her books from the table, and began to leave.

"Fucking Google it."

She shut the door gently on her way out.

 THE END