The Dreamer Trilogy: Book One

Chapter 12

The table that I had seen previously was now occupied by people, so I searched for another. Like I had predicted, now many tables were vacated. I chose one over to the side of the room and took a seat at the rectangular table. The seat was hard to maneuver into, but with some flexibility I managed to squeeze in. As I ate, I took in the surroundings of the room. There were a few tables that were over capacity, and some that only housed one person. I made a mental note in my head to someday meet someone at one of the smaller group tables. The meal was over fairly quickly, and it was time for me to return my tray to the “Dirty” pile. It took a bit of time getting out of my seat, although, it was a quick process once I found the trick to it. You had to swing your leg to the inside instead of sitting and rotating. On my way to put my tray away, I checked my watch. The silver hands of the clock ticked by slowly, and showing the time was 1:26. I don’t think I have another class today, but I want to double-check just to make sure. I set my tray down in the filthy water, and turn to walk toward the door and bump right into another student. Her tray falls to the ground with bits of food flying all over the floor. “I’m so sorry..” I apologize ad I bend down to pick up the tray and food. “It’s alright, I mean accidents happen right?” She says sarcastically. I glimpse up at her and see her flipping her brown-black bangs away from her eyes, with her arms crossed. She looks somewhat familiar, but I can’t tell from exactly where. I finish sweeping everything up and stand back up. I dump the food crumbs into the trash can and place the tray into the water. “Sorry again” I say before swerving past her and on my way to the door. I shove the door open, not bothering to look back at her. I made my way back to my apartment, where I planned to check my tablet so see my next class if I had one. I made it to my room without any complications, but had a weird feeling in my stomach; Maybe it was the hot dog from the Cafeteria? I shrugged off the thought and proceeded to open the door to my apartment. The handle clicked as I opened it, as it always does, and I entered the room. The first thing I notice when I enter is a white suitcase with my name printed on the front. “I guess those are my belongings from The Bottom.” I think to myself. I walk over to the suitcase and unzip it, flipping over the top to see the contents. There were my clothes and my hygiene products, such as shampoo and toothpaste. I put the toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, and conditioner into my bathroom and returned to the suitcase. I picked up all of the clothes I could fit in my arms and headed back into my room. I placed all of the clothes on hooks and hung them up in the closet before it hit me. I forgot to check my tablet to see if I had another class. I put down the hangers and bounced over to the tablet. I picked it up and lit up the screen, seeing that I am free for the rest of the day. I sighed relief and set the tablet back down on my bed, with me flopping down beside it. I stared up at the ceiling and thought of Hugh. How was he supposed to know if he was doing well on the tests? Why did the Overseer come in the middle of the day instead of the morning or nighttime? Is that just the way they do things here on the Amateur Level? Killing someone who fails a test they can’t study for seems ridiculous, but that’s the motto for this place. Ridiculous.