A Collection of Stuff

Hallway of Fears

A/N oh. my. GOSH. This story is sO old and so poorly written and ohhhh my goshhhh it's so cringyyyy okay I wrote this over the course of almost the whole of seventh grade ohh my goshhhhhhhh it's also soooo long

Everyone else was finished their test and I hadn't even started yet. I look at the clock, 2 minutes left. I could say I need to go to the nurse and I hadn't been able to concentrate... I shakily raise my hand from my lap but stop for a second. It all isn't real.
It's okay Cassidy, you're in the Chair.
The Chair is a simulation that presents you with your worst fears. It was part of a class everyone in Year 11 is required to take. You are always somewhat aware that you were in the Chair but it was usually only at you moments of least fear, which was basically never because it showed you your worst fears.
Raising your hand usually brings you a reality check but it also usually changes the scene. I have had enough of this scene I force my shaking, sweaty hand into the air. Sure enough the scene changes.
I glance around me as it changes and face a 10 foot tall brown bear running straight at me full speed. I look behind my to see a white wall going at least 50 feet in the air. I look toward the woods and gulp. There was a giant snake peeking between the branches. I look back at the bear which has grown to 20 feet I run toward the woods. I jump over the snake but my toe catches and I lose my balance. I wave my arms as I try to right myself but the woods tilts sending me headfirst into a newly formed back abyss. I scream at the top of my lungs as I'm thrown down the black hole.
I land hard on a concrete hall floor. I push myself up but I feel a boot on my back and it sends my body to slam against the ground once more. I twist my head around to look into the eyes of a monster that had haunted my dreams since I was in Year 1. A man that is 12 foot tall and a black cloak and had a black hat on, with greedy eyes staring into mine he reaches down and grabs the collar of my shirt. I scream and I raise my hands to my face in a weak attempt to save myself. He throws me down and I am plunged into water. I look up, there is no way out. I am going to drown. I swim up but I am hit with a clear glass. I turn and swim straight down.
You've been here Cassidy. Swim down. There's a door.
I think subconsciously and I reach for the door.
You're in the chair.
I open the door and I am thrown to a cobblestone ground. I stare around, people look at me. I glance down at the ground. It is covered in frost. Oh crap. I raise my hand quickly in the air. The scene changes around me to a tornado in the distance. I raise both hands.
Raising both hands gets you out of the simulation. I am slammed against the chair back and I look around. Most people in my class were getting up and stretching. I look at their times. Most of them only lasted 30 or 45 minutes. I looked up at my time 1 hour 39 minutes. Mrs. Parz walks over to me and hands me a glass of clear liquid. The liquid is called Westermost. Westermost is what you take to calm down. It's called Westermost because it was made in Western Most corner of our divided land. I live in Northe Most. Northe was the small triangle of land next to Northern Most and Eastern Most. The 'e' at the end of North was supposed to represent the east part of our location. I glance at my hands and I ball them into fists.

~+~

At 2:00 the bell rings. Today is a Center Most History day, on these days Year 6 through 12's could come and get extra credit work in History, which usually helped you get a job. I walk to my compartment and grab my Center Most History book and walk down to the Eating Room and sit next to my friend Sam. Sam lives in Northe Most too, but on the opposite side. She is the only one who knows my Element, besides my family and my other friends Reece, Elena, and Jamie. Your Element is something you are born with and the you discover around Year 6. The most common Elements are Water and Air but Earth and Fire was a little less common. But the least common was Snow. Snow was the sacred Element when Center Most was formed because Center Most didn't receive much snow. People with Snow Element now a days are feared and are portrayed as villians in plays and stories. Luckily though Sam has Water.
But I have Snow.
Sam was scared of me at first but now whenever there is a story or play with a Snow she and I manage to lock eyes no matter what. As practice to control our Elements we go to a treehouse made out of living branches. The branches of trees in Northe Most are bent up like a box then comes to a point like the top of a Gifting Tree. Our treehouse is probably the most covered tree in Northe Most or maybe in the whole of Over Most.
The both of us meet at our compartments after class and we pass notes written in Hand Script. We then ride the train back to Northe Most and then we head straight to the tree house. Our families expect us to hang out with our friends before coming home because that is a way to prevent depression in students. If you come straight home you are bombarded with millions of questions along the lines of:
"Are you well?"
"Is everything alright?"
"Do you want to talk with a specialist?"
"Is everything ok at school?"
"Do you want to get help for school?"
And they were absolutely annoying. You were expected at home around 4:30 if you were a Upper Student and around 6:30 if you were a Lower Student, giving you two and a half hours to you and your friends. So Sam and I would go to the treehouse and she would raise her water in the air and I would freeze it to ice and then she would thaw it to water again.
"Cass," I'm snapped back to reality. "Cass, is everything alright?" Sam asks me. Looking in my eyes.
"At Stim, it happened again." Stim is what nearly all the Upper Students call Stimulations because it just easier to say, especially for the Year 6's. Some of them just can't say it.
"Oh Cass," she brings me into a hug. "We meet at the tree house today?" Her tone is soft as she pulls away.
"Yeah, want to practice until Lower Students go home?"
"We should do our homework on the train." She says glancing up as the Highest School Professor comes in. I reach for my Center Most Textbook and a pen.
"Hello Upper Students, today we will be taking a little pre-test for the Western Most War." I look around at the other students. I hate pre-tests. They freak me out, they stress me out, I hate them. There is frost creeping up the side of my pen and I drop it and put it in my pocket. Sam reaches in her pocket and grabs a pen and hands it to me.
"Calm down, don't be scared." She whispers to me and I nod a short, sharp nod and look at the Professor. He walks over and hands a packet to me with a circled part in the top corner,
'This pre-test will count for 5% of your Western Most Grade'
I gulp and do the test.