Charlie's Book of Short Stories

The Trial [8]

Lockdown boredom finally got the better of me and this was the result, prepare for quite a few more stories in the coming weeks because ya boi's got a few more bad story ideas and a lot of free time.

~~~Start~~~

Harsh rays of sunlight cut their way through the wooden boards covering the gaping hole that must have once been a window. The rays forced their way across the room and over to where I lay, content and asleep. Great! Light travels over 150 million kilometres through space at a speed almost 300 million metres per second, a speed that is so ridiculously fast, no human will ever come close to creating anything able to travel a fraction as fast. It travels all that way at an unbelievable speed uninterrupted by anything only to land on my face, and drag me out of my peaceful slumber on the most important day of my life.

Trial day.

The first day of what I knew would inevitably be the worst week of my life, unless by some miracle I was able to defy all expectations, break a lifetime habit of being a failure and spontaneously comprehend thousands of years' worth of scientific concepts that had been a mystery to me for the ten years I'd been studying them. That, or the universe collapses in on itself during the Trial.

Passing the Trial is the only way any family of our status was able to socially advance and move to another region, one closer to the capital where thugs don't break into the house twice a month and vigilantes don't execute people on the streets. No one here is crazy enough to want to raise a big family, except of course, for my mother and father. They have eight children including myself and another one (we think) on the way, oh and that doesn't count the other three that passed away and the one that went missing. They tried to convince us that they did it because they've always wanted a big family but it doesn't take a genius to figure out they just want more chances to pass the Trial and get out of here (After all, if it took a genius to work it out, all 7 of my brothers and sisters would have been working in the capital right that point and I wouldn't have had anything to worry about).

Reluctantly, I pulled myself upright and peeked around the room through my aching eyes. All of my sisters were still asleep, I couldn't be sure about my brothers in the other room, but I could confidently assume that they all were as well. With nothing else to do, I opened my small notebook and began re-reading my notes for the Trial again, and once again all of the information disappeared in my brain within minutes of me reading it. I knew so many random facts, most of them I learned at a young age. When I'd first started spitting them out, my parents were convinced that they'd finally have a successful child. Oh, how quickly I destroyed those hopes. Frustration boiled inside me and I threw the book across the room, not caring if it hit one of my older sisters in the process. Tears sprouted in the corners of my eyes and my breath quickened. Panic started to obscure my vision and I lost all control of my thoughts. I started to feel sick and I and my brain went through all of the many reasons I was a failure simultaneously.

Within 5 minutes I ran out of tears to cry and my breathing had finally returned to normal. I took a slow walk around the neighbourhood to clear my head; by the time I returned the rest of my family was awake. They all took turns wishing me luck and I went with my mother to register and begin my Trial.

Inside the Trial building was even more magnificent that I could have possibly imagined, the walls were all bright white and spotless, no signs of stains or damage, the floor was made of a material I could not name and made the most satisfying sound with every step I took on it. The room itself was bigger than any place I'd been in before, thousands of computers were arranged in perfect lines equidistant from each other, some with other people my age, others empty. It must have cost a fortune to buy and install.

I was in such awe of the whole place that I hardly remember my mother saying goodbye and leaving or being escorted to my seat by one of the many organisers of the Trial or the long introduction some nobleman gave us. It all became a blur in my head. I do, however, remember the pure dread that I felt when the Trial began, and I couldn't understand anything. Fighting another wave of panic, I tried to convince myself that this was just day one and that there would be other Trials that I might be good at, but that train of thought ran reached the end of the line very quickly. This was supposed to be the easiest of the Trials, if I couldn't do this then I didn't have a chance. I'd better start preparing for a life of struggles here.

'Maybe by some miracle I'll have a child one day who's much smarter than me and will be able to win us a place in another region.' I thought, and in that moment, I understood my mother more than I ever did before.

Glancing around the room, I realised I was the only one not writing anything down. The organiser that brought me to my seat was glaring at me like a hawk. She must have thought I was cheating or something. I had to write something quickly and I figured, since I knew I was going to fail, I might as well fail with some style. I went through the questions, answering each one with as much sarcasm as possible, answering each one with what was basically an essay about how the question was ridiculous and there was no real way to answer it.

I did a similar thing with the other 4 Trials, I never answered anything correctly and found it oddly liberating to not take it so seriously after stressing about it for so much of my life. Once it was all over I didn't say a thing to anyone in my family about what I had done, half out of fear that they'd berate me for ruining their last chance of a better life, half out of shame being the only participant that couldn't answer a single question without a joke or sarcastic remark.

It's not that I didn't care about performing well in the Trial, I really did want to, and tried so hard for most of my life to do just that. At that point I think, since I had absolutely no hope of passing, I had accepted that I would spend the rest of my life in this place and I found a strange sense of calm knowing that I would have a life just like my mothers and that, while it was going to be difficult, it wouldn't be unfamiliar and I knew that I would be able to survive it, just like I always had. All my dreams of having a loving husband raising a family in the capital disappeared, instead I dreamt of a simple life not far from home, surrounded by the people that I loved and grew up with, perhaps living with a cat and that girl from down the street that I always thought was pretty.

What happened that morning was so unexpected it felt less realistic than anything from my dreams.

A letter from the board of Trial organisers was delivered to our door, my name written on the envelope in clear letters. I opened the envelope curiously, none of my other siblings had received a letter announcing their failure. I took a while to truly process what it said in large letters in the centre.

'Status: Passed'

To say my parents were pleased would be the understatement of the century and we were living in a much larger house in a cleaner city with almost no criminals or thugs running around within a year. Apparently, someone really appreciated by unique attitude to difficult problems and decided that I deserved to pass with flying colours. I was quickly offered a job working with a large company in the area (and I managed to secure some positions for a few of my brothers and sisters as well) where I met my fiancée and my mother gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who wouldn't know anything but full stomachs and a safe home.

Life still isn't perfect but it's certainly and improvement and I couldn't be happier.

~~~End~~~

On a more serious note, being stuck inside sucks and if anyone needs someone to talk to about anything, feel free to message me.