'Mise En Abyme.
'Her heart thumped anxiously as her skinny figure stalked towards the black door which was open slightly. Touching the handle, she pushed it just enough for her shadowish body to slip through the opening. Her tight black dress was constricting her breathing and she sighed lightly as she closed the door shut. The students were slumped on their black chairs which were on the white, chilled tiles. She licked her lips and forced a smile at the girl with the curly brown hair at the front of the room who stared at her glaringly.
'A plush-faced girl with auburn hair in two braids down her back, coughed lightly as she wrote in a notebook. The teacher took out her books and spoke to the dazed class. "Today we are writing short stories." Her tone shook slightly, revealing to the class that she was truly scared of the black-eyed students.
'The girl with the plush-face raised her white hand. "Miss..." She asked, her innocent voice ringing in her ears, "I want to read this story I wrote on the weekend, however it is not yet finished." She held up a crumpled piece of paper which had been ripped from her notebook.
'The teacher looked her in the eye and saw her black eyes flash a reddish colour. She blinked and smiled again, gesturing her to come to the front of the class. The teacher stepped away from her, not wanting to be near the frightening students. She crossed her arms and put her full attention to the pale girl at the front of the class. She saw another flash across the girls face; a malicious grin that boiled the blood in her veins. The teacher shivered.
'The girl began to read her story.
' 'Footsteps echoed in the hallway of the building as the tall woman strutted towards the main desk. Her blonde hair bobbed at her shoulders covered with a wool cloak. She leaned over the golden desk and twirled a lock of hair in her bony fingers. "Where is the publisher who promised me he'd publish my book of short stories?" Her light voice caught the attention of the man at the desk, his slick brown hair combed neatly onto his tanned face.
' '"I'm sorry?" His Brittish accent was strong and annoying.
' '"June publishers? Ring a bell?" She offered, pulling at the lock of hair in her fingers.
' '"Oh, yes how silly of me," he shook his head, fumbling through papers. "Ms Hinth?"
' '"Yes, that's me." Ms Hinth let go of the curl and rested her chin on her hand.
' '"Level twenty three." He handed her some papers and pointed to the elevator.
' 'Ms Hinth walked over to the elevator, smirking at the golden doors. She reached the level of the publisher she was yet to see and went up to another golden desk which stood at the far left corner of what seemed to be a waiting room with golden chairs upon black tiles. She smiled at the girl at the desk and slapped down her manuscript. "June publishers?"
' '"Yes milady." The girl squeaked, clearly intimidated by the tall, rich Ms Hinth. "First door just... " she peered over her desk, "there." She pointed at the black door.
' 'Ms Hinth snatched up her manuscript and strode over to the death-like door. "Ahem?" She pushed the door adjar and stepped cautiously inside, as if afraid she would set off any alarms.
' '"Hullo, there Mr Klimp." She smiled nonchalantly and moved swiftly towards a chair and sat down. "My manuscript." She placed it down in the table.
' '"Well, well, well. Very impressive." He glanced at the cover title; mise en abyme.
' ' Ms Hinth left the office and stepped out from the elevator and into the fresh air outside. She fingered the pen in the small pocket in her tight skirt. She smiled to herself and walked across the deserted street. She knew that Mr Klimp had fallen for it. Just a matter of minutes before he would fall into the reverie, stuck in the illusion of time forever. She had been so clever, writing Mise En Abyme and repeating the history of the black-eyed girl and Olive. He had read about himself and this very moment in time when she gave him this story.'
' The black-eyed girl put down her story and whispered, 'I don't know what to add next. But...' The black-eyed student eyed the class curiously. She knew someone had disappeared. She knew that the teacher from the next room had been captured in time itself. He would be lost forever, tumbling in the depths of darkness. 'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have written this. '
' 'You may go and sit down now.' The teacher lightly shoved the girl back to her seat. The girl stumbled over to her desk and sat down, pink flushing lightly in her cheeks as the classmates stared at her in disbelief. None of them knew what had happened. None of them knew the crime she had committed.
' A puny girl with red hair waved her white hand in the air. 'Miss? What does mise en abyme mean?'
' 'A story within a story.' She turned around to the blackboard and scratched the words; mise en abyme. '
'That's all I've written so far, do you like it? Or is is too confusing? I was thinking that there were too many stories within stories but...' Olive trailed off, her confidence burning to ashes as everyone in the class stared, gob smacked and jealous at her story. She flushed a bright red and stumbled over to her desk, muttering 'sorry' to the feet in which she tripped on. She slipped onto her chair and covered her face in shadows that were at the back of the classroom.
The teacher's face was stern and unproud at the effort Olive put in to reach an extraordinarily high level of writing. How could she break the rules? How could she even think of this outrageous but sophisticated concept? She thought that Olive had chewed up a story off the internet and made it into one of her own. Surely she was not this bright.
'Class dismissed.' The teacher choked out and called Olive to her desk. She waited until all of the other students had flowed out of the room before she began her accusation. 'Plagiarising is against the law. You cannot take ideas from other authors and make them your own. I am not at all proud of your work. I am far off from being happy about this.' The teacher crossed her dark arms into her white blouse. Her black hair spilled from her shoulders and down her back.
'I swear I didn't copy from anywhere. I sat in my room all holidays, pondering over the dictionary and my blank notebook. I got the idea in a dream and I looked up what a story within a story was called, I swear!' Tears leaked out of her eyelids and welled up in her eyes as she tried to hold them back. She curled her dark brown hair behind her pink ear and wiped her eyes.
'Enough is enough. You are expelled from this school. How dare you set a bad example!' She grabbed hold of Olive's arm rather hard and shoved her out of the building, disgrace moulded on her face. 'And don't come back!' She shouted after her.
Olive knew deep down the teacher was lying. She knew that her concept was complicated and that the teacher was astounded by it. She knew that the teacher could not have the dumbest student in her class coming up with a concept like that. She knew that after all this time at the school, she was alone in her own world and shouldn't have shared one of her stories with a slob like this one.
