Art | poems [Book 1]

60. Game (short story)

This story is also online on my account but I felt like putting it here as well as it does have some nice quotes in it.

Just a normal day when a child is born. A little girl just like the others. Or that's what they thought.

I bet everyone knew those days. The days when you went to school with pleasure. When school was fun and not a competition to have the best grades. Well those days went by. I miss those days... I miss the days when I could do whatever I wanted to and be happy. But as we all grow older we forget those precious times when we used to be free. All we do now is work, work and work. I am sick of it!

"There you go your first day of middle school. Make a lot of friends and study hard." Said my mom. Well there I go, first day of middle school, first day of... how do I even call this... a game. Welcome to the game of life.
I took my first step into this game when I walked through the giant doors of the school. A game that decides your life. From now on you have to battle for the best place to become the best so later you can make a lot of money. Still the first year of middle school isn't that hard but it's the start of the real battle, of a war. Like training camp before you enter the military and then pass on to the battlefield itself. But okay... let's do this.

As every new year you have to introduce yourself. First name, last name, age, interests you have and such... I introduced myself: "Hello my name is Alex Rhona. I am 6 years old. Rhona means powerful, Alex means protector of mankind. My name means powerful protector of mankind. How do I know? My parents told me. Your name can give away what kind of future you would have. "What are your interests?" asked the teacher. Well uhm... I don't really know. "Then what do you like?" I like listening to music, watching the stars, playing the piano. That's all I could answer and my teacher just stared amazed by the things I like. If that is amazing wait till I tell you more about what I will be able to do.

Our daily life at school was learning and doing fun stuff like making music. Those years were fun, well not always but just generally fun. During the first years of middle school you just don't care about what is going on. But once you are in the third year you speak during the lessons about what happens outside. We speak about the beautiful things and also about those bad things like war, murder...That year is the time when you enter the military. You enter when you are ready and start to learn about the war behind those closed doors. You get closer and closer to the battlefield. Fourth to sixth year is when you finally enter your first battle field as you have to study to have good grades so you can enter a good school and later on find a good job. It is the time when you just get a lot of stress. I wonder if those people around you know how difficult it is for an 11 year old to fight a battle all alone only with some backup? But no one is standing by your side. Do they know?

It is time for your final exams in the sixthyear of middle school. That will decide whether you will go on to high school or not. It decides a part of your future as it decides what you'll be able to study or not. It is our first battle we have to fight on our own. Will we be able to make it? Will we be able to become what we would love to? Or is this where those unfulfilled dreams end?

I am nervous and I bet I'm not the only one. It's a battle we just have to fight. It's a battle we have to go through to get to the next and win this war. It's only a matter of time. The grades will decide if you can go to the next stage of life. To play the next chapter of the game. But since when do grades decide whether you can go to the next page of your story? Since when do numbers decide if you can go on? It is you who should decide whether you want to go on or not.
But there is only one battle you can't fight in life. And that battle is the battle between a child and adult. The adult is always right, even when it's wrong, the child has no right to speak for itself. But I'd hope that one day things will change...