After the rain

Just another day

  Hi.

  My name is Len.

  I am 18 years old.

  I study at the most prestigious institution in the country.

  I am one of its top students. Or at least the top in economics.

  I plan to study economics in the future.

  That's all. Thanks for reading about me.

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    School started again. I walked past the bus stop and down the rows of trees. I crossed the busy road briskly and turned left. I trudged up the slope with my stick thin legs. They didn't seem to like me.

  I was one of the tiny dots smeared in blue and white. A tie around my neck, binding me to the institution. I was a mere speck in the army of dots, a temporal existence, somehow everyone seemed to acknowledge that.

  It was 6:45 am in the morning, I strolled into the campus and a certain nostalgia overwhelmed me.  The crystal dome in the center and its comical roof scraping the clouds. The dormitories overshadowing the field of artificial grass. Its exterior was coated with red, blue and yellow, the school colours. The classroom building was decorated with sleek glass panels which reflected the little light the morning could provide. Equipped with air conditioning, it was a pricy but lovely place. The great hall stood aside, it seemed inferior to the other buildings because it lacked proper seating but it was the central meeting place of all students.

  The sky was a contorted mixture of black and blue. The last streaks of darkness were fading, only to let in the sunlight that would illuminate the campus. It seemed to rhyme with my frame of mind as it stood there, up there, above everyone. Frowning, looking down on us. For no one could crack its inner mystery.

  Could one every touch the sky? No. It would be touching air. If it was touching the air, which was present on ground level, wouldn't that mean that the sky was air?

  I entered the great hall. Dots of blue and white formed orderly lines in the hall. The great hall was decorated with a brown stage. Words in arial lines the walls. 

  The school crest was enthroned on the wall above the curtains and the stage, overseeing everyone. The school motto was engraved in the school crest.

  The best is yet to be. I told myself. Hang on. This year will be over soon enough.

  The exams... they'll be easy right?

  That was my only worry. I mean, I was not involved in any of those social struggles or sports competitions. I was just a student, who enjoyed mathematics and economics in particular. Nothing special.

  I was the president of the chess club, which I founded, and recruiting members was really difficult.

  But I was great at chess, Daniel and I. We were both unbeatable. We won every single tournament without much effort.

  The chess club was never really a chess club at its core. It was just a club for gamers and singles to unite under the cover of playing chess. All tournaments the teachers forced us to participate in were played by Daniel and I, because we were the only ones who could play chess.

  The school song ended. Everyone proceeded to their classrooms in a military fashion.

  Each and every student sat at his or her desk. Some with their heads on their tables, others chattering away at 400mph. The nerds resumed their pre-class preparation. And there was me, who simply stared blankly into the space before me. 

  There was so much space, so all my time was spread thin all over the place. The academic realm needed my space. The chess kingdom competed for it in my mind. The social kingdom was forced to withdraw, surrender, so that both could be at peace.

  Individualism trumped them all.

  The teacher entered the class. Everyone rose and bowed, then they sat down, like waves, rising then falling.

  Just as the sun rose today, it will surely fall. And when it does, the moon will rise and take its place. There is only so much space, so many places for all of us.

  And I had no place.

  What's new? Nothing. But does it matter?

  This was just another day.

   It started to rain.