Antarctica [discontinued

Chapter 5

That night, the nightmares began.

            At first, they were nothing—simple images of what may have conspired in an alternate reality.

It always starts in a white room, with a bed. Always, without exception.

The night before the Graduating ceremony was the worst of them all.

It started in a white room, as it always does. This particular time, I did not start in the bed, thinking that I was awake in reality. This time, I was wearing a nightgown, white, flurry, almost like a hospital gown in the thickness and roughness of the material.

This time, someone—I have no idea who he is—barged into the room and dragged me into multiple hallways. I offered no resistant in my sluggish dreamlike state, and my body felt paralyzed—I couldn’t escape his grip.

He stopped when we reached a room with a chair and a lot of equipment that I couldn’t hope to understand in my dream-like state.

I was subsequently strapped to the chair, and I opened my mouth in an attempt to scream and shout, for someone who could help me, but no sounds escaped my mouth when I opened it. Opening it may have been a bad choice, since the man—no, a different one this time—proceeded to gag me.

Even if he hadn’t, there was no possible way that I could have spoken, in that moment, with my sluggish dreamlike state. Practically, with my entire body paralyzed, there was no need to even strap me down to the chair; I couldn’t move a centimeter if I tried.

Meticulously, a process began.

At the same moment, screams sounded in my head.

No, not screams. A scream.

Mine.

But my lips remained tightly sealed.

I awoke with a scream lodged in my throat. What was a dream? What was reality?

Reality told me that the Graduating ceremony was today, and I’ll find myself—hopefully—in a high position, preferably of power.

I was not disappointed when I got there, to the outdoor venue.

Tenth in all-time rankings. Thank God I made it high, from third-to-last. Third to last.

How embarrassing.

Even my parents, through their drunken stupor, would look away from embarrassment if I had ended up in third-to last.

Tenth place. That was good, at least.

Maybe I could get a chemistry position in the Pod Laboratories.

Maybe even a computer programming position, although I haven’t proved my skills in the area as of yet. Maybe I should “accidentally” show off my skills, at least once.

Prove that I could interpret binary faster than a computer.

Prove that I could write a program in less LLOCs* than anyone else.

Prove that I could write more efficient programs than anyone else.

Prove that I was the best, that I could do everything better than anyone else.

A voice boomed, “Parry, Candace; 10th place!” and shook me out of my reverie.

I thought that the opening address was always longer than that!

Hurriedly, I got out of my seat amidst the crowd seated and the base and climbed up the stairs leading to the elevated stage. There was a holographic projector behind me and the presenter, and a hologram of me flashed up. They showed me in my school uniform, my graduation outfit, and even the dress I wore to the school party, once. I was unfazed by this, I knew that in school, they had cameras that took video. From a 360  perspective, a hologram can be easily constructed with the footage.