Lesson From The Past

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A Lesson from The Past

The cafeteria was my least favourite place in the school; don’t ask me why because I honestly don’t know. I also didn’t know why my friends constantly insisted on meeting there. I loved the food and everything, but to me it just wasn’t as good as sitting outside and letting the warm air swirl around me. Maybe it was just too loud with all the chattering and gossiping from others.

The bell for class sounded, reminding me that I had better get moving if I wanted to be on time for class. I grabbed all the necessary books out of my bag, knowing I was going to be in trouble for not completing my homework, and said a temporary goodbye to my friends.

Thankfully, it was the last period of the week because I was exhausted. I pulled up a seat at the front of my History class, hoping that Mrs Honey wouldn’t think to check for our homework. When everyone was seated she clapped her hands, signalling that it was time to be quiet and began the roll call. As soon as the person before me had stated their presence, I crossed my fingers.

“Agnita?” she asked, looking up from her computer.

“Here,” I confirmed, not bothering to correct her on the mispronunciation of my name. Despite me having been in her class for three years, Mrs Honey still hadn’t bothered learning how to say my name. Really, was ‘Agnite’ too hard to remember? I didn’t think so…

After roll call she turned to address the whole class. “As you all know, there are just two weeks left of Term 2. During that time I will have write each of your reports, but in order for me to assess you accurately, I need to collect a few additional pieces of work. Because of this, I am giving you an assignment this lesson. It will be due next week.” Every person in the room broke out into moans; we had all been hoping for a fortnight free of homework. She carried on, “You will be researching a punishment of your choice from the medieval period.” A whole new round of moans broke out, mine igniting the rest.

The rest of the lesson passed pretty slowly, my eyes flicking to the clock every few minutes. When the bell finally did ring, letting us know school was finally over, I made my way over to the library. It was better to get my homework out of the way tonight; that way I didn’t have to worry about it over the weekend.

After searching for what seemed like forever, I found a promising book. It was hidden in the furthest corner of the library: brown, crinkly and very, very old. I pulled it off the shelf and dusted off the front cover, noticing it was a little worn out.

I flipped open the book and flicked through the pages, instantly feeling the change of atmosphere around me. The air became cold and a light wind seemed to emerge from the spine of the book, twirling around my hair and whipping my unruly, black locks around my face.

Then the pages were illuminated by a bright light. It shone warmly as it grew bigger and bigger, reaching out for me. The glow brushed my face once, twice, and then enveloped me completely, swallowing me into its pages.

There was a swelling ache in my head as I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. I was in a cell. It was dark, damp and it smelled of rotten fish. Water was dripping from the ceiling and there was an abnormal looking mould growing within the cracks of the wall.

My observations were cut short when a dirty man in an even dirtier tunic appeared from around the corner. His shoes making scuff marks along the filthy ground, as he made his way towards me. They seemed to be woven together by thick woollen strings.

He twisted a rusted key into my cell door, opening it up and grabbing my arm.

“Let go! I screamed. “Get your hands off me!” I hated people touching me. Who did he think he was?

He said nothing- did nothing- and dragged me outside to meet an angry mob of villagers. I was tugged through the crowd, being poked and prodded as I went. Another man lifted a strange, wooden contraption off the ground. Once I’d been taken a little closer, I remembered seeing a picture of one in a book during History class. It was called a stock.

The second guy looked to be around my age, black hair the same as mine. He opened the stocks and shoved my head down, putting my neck and wrists along the bottom. Before I could even try to move, the top was snapped back down and the lock clicked together.

“Ouch,” I winced, as the wood made contact with the back of my bare neck. “Is this some kind of sick joke? We’re not in the medieval period people!” I yelled.

Nobody listened as the booing got louder. The man returned and hung a piece of string around my outstretched neck. It was tied to a slab of wood with a picture of a rotten fish on it. As soon as he moved away, the villagers began to throw things at me: rotten fruit, rotten vegetables, anything you could possibly think of.

When darkness had fallen, not only did I reek, but I was terrified as well. I wanted—needed to get home.

Days passed and I was still in the stocks. I was exhausted; I was weak; I felt like absolute trash. I was also pretty sure that I smelt even worse that rotten cheese and fish mixed up in a dog’s stomach. And I wasn’t even exaggerating.

“Help,” I called out weakly. “Please help me.”

A dark, hooded figure materialised from the darkness. I tried to scream, but it came out as a dry, rasping croak. The figure reached out towards my neck. I waited for the pain to come, but It didn’t.

Instead I felt the weight being lifted off my shoulders. I was free from the stocks and it felt so good to be able to move around. It was almost as if I was alive again. Using as much energy as I could gather, I did a little victory dance to show my appreciation to my saviour, but before I could thank him properly, I was pulled into a black hole.

I opened my eyes to find myself back in the library. There were only a few people around and it didn’t seem like anyone had noticed me gone. I must have fallen asleep during my History research. So much for getting my homework out the way…

Remembering my bizarrely realistic dream, if that was even what it was, I got to work on my assignment straight away so I couldn’t forget any of it.

A Week Later

“Okay everyone,” Mrs Honey gathered our attention. “I have marked all of your assignments and, while you are building your castle models, I will hand them out.”

I was delighted to find that I was given an A. I guess that my experience of medieval punishment had actually helped me out a lot. As for whether it was a dream or not, it seemed like I would never know for sure. And now that I think about it, I really don’t want to…

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