Passing Through

Chapter 1: Passing Through

   Launching myself past the line painted on the floor, I ran, chest heaving, legs pumping, towards the wall. I needed to get through, and I didn't have a choice. It was pass or fail, and I certainly did NOT like the latter. The black monstrosity loomed closer, bobbing up and down in my vision. Almost there... I thought. More thoughts flickered into my consciousness, but I whisked them away even faster. I didn't need my imagination using this valuable time to get too creative. It was just the physical me, now. The people watching me were nothing more than dust. No one else mattered, nothing else mattered. All me. Oh, and the wall. Can't forget the wall.

   I sprinted past the second line on the ground, knowing I only had a few yards left till I reached my destination. I closed my eyes, running blindly, and tried to focus my mind. I had to do it this time. I had to. Through, right through. Sail in, slide out, I forced the little voice in my head to repeat. Right through. Sail IN, slide OUT. I tried to bring in that feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach, a feeling I felt occasionally when I managed to slide my whole arm through a solid block. I imagined the atoms in the wall reorganizing themselves, making a large gap big enough for me to fit through. My eyes flickered open, my body inches from impact. I squeezed them shut and plunged into the wall.

   Amazingly, I didn't slam into it and fly back from the collision. Instead, I entered the thick plaster and time seemed to slow around me. I felt like I was encased in a block of ice, my skin feeling cold substance around it, everything feeling frozen in time. I felt the atoms carving themselves around my body, trying to organize themselves as I slowly ran through them. When reality hit, I couldn't help but get excited. I'm IN! I did it! Yes! In your faces, you worthless-- Suddenly, I felt a smash reverberate through my body. OH CRAP. Holy crap! No No No NO NO!! I felt myself flying backwards, my arms freezing from the cold, my mind freaking out. "NO!" I sobbed, even though no one could hear me. "Not again. No!" Then, I felt a change in pressure, a feeling of freedom, as I flew back out of the glossy wall and back into the testing room. I landed on my back, skidding a few feet. "Arrrrgggh," I groaned, as pain shot through my spine. I rolled onto my side and curled into a ball, trying to ignore the sounds of my classmates snickering. This was getting too embarrassing. I heard my teacher, Ms. Pennington, approach my curled up body, her heels clicking on the marble floor. "Get up, darling. It's been hard for you, I know, but now isn't the time to lie there and cry. Come on, get up." I moaned and painstakingly uncurled myself, pushing myself up into a sitting position. Tears were welling into my eyes, but I blinked them away. Not now. Not in front of everyone.

   Ms. Pennington helped me up, and then sent me with a classmate to the nurse's office, just to make sure I was okay. I wanted to throw up as the random classmate, Kayla, dragged me out of the testing room. "Are you okay? That must've hurt really bad," she sympathized. I tried to keep from snarling at her. I didn't need, didn't want, her sympathy. This was at least the 10th time I failed to get all the way through the wall. Most of my class got through before their 6th try. I was a failure. But I didn't need this spoiled brat to rub it in.

"It's fine. I'm fine. You can leave now. I'll get to the nurse's office by myself, just fine," I said, hoping she would take the hint.

"Oh, no, that's okay. I already got tested, so I'm not in a hurry to get back," Kayla smiled.

I gagged. Well, for the record, at least I tried not to.

"No, it's just that I needed some time alo-"

"Oh! Here we are. Come on, I'll be your escort inside!"

   Kayla grasped my arm and tugged me along as we entered the nurse's office. She stayed by the doorway the whole time I was there, and I wanted to shove her out the door and padlock it. The nurse gave me some Advil and told me to rest for a little while, and I almost asked her to shoot me when Kayla offered to take me back to my room. Instead of doing that, nurse told her to make sure I didn't try to go through anymore walls between the office and my room, and they both laughed softly. I did not appreciate the joke. I did not even appreciate their presence. I had to get out of there. So I did....with Kayla skipping along next to me.

I seriously did not appreciate her presence. No joke.

   When we reached my room, I wanted to run up and down the halls screaming thanks to God. Now I could get rid of this annoying Kayla. I opened the door to my room, thanked Kayla lightly over my shoulder, and stumbled in. "See you later, Skylar!" she shouted as she skipped down the hall. I waited until I was sure she was gone, and then yelled, "I hope I never have to see you again and you happen to trip into a hole and break a leg before you can get back to the testing room!" I collapsed onto my bed and buried my face into the pillow. Tears leaked out of my eyes as I tried not to think about what happened back there in the testing room. I had obviously failed my test, but what hurt more was the fact that I had tried really hard, but I had still been laughed at.

   I wished I didn't have to test in front of my classmates. There were private tests too, but those were only the important tests, like the mid-year tests, or the final tests. Every other test was open for everyone else to see. Unless you had a problem or a disability, or even an extraordinary ability, everyone was free to come and watch you do your stuff. I sighed, wishing I could disappear, wishing I could dig a hole into the ground and burrow myself into it. I could live like a prairie dog; in my own series of tunnels and holes, leaving my problems above ground. I shook my head sadly and curled up beneath the blanket, gazing silently at my roommates' beds. I wonder when they were coming back. Naturally, Reese, Gwen, and Nicolette were my best friends as well as my roommates. And right now, I needed them to make me feel better. I mean, that's what friends are for, right? I pulled the blanket over my head and wished I had some ice cream; I needed something to drown my misery in. Why do I have all the problems? I grumbled in my thoughts, pulling the blanket tighter around me as I felt tears drip onto my pillow. I lay there crying lightly and thinking deeply before I drifted off into a world of nothingness.