5 June 2012
Thirty-eight steps up to his classroom. He never was quite aware as the exact number as it never was of any interest to count and still isn’t any interest. He just knew when he turned the corner that he would have to go up thirty-eight steps. Though he knew the number of steps he needed to take, he never liked taking them. Why couldn’t the school get elevators like every other building, or one up them and get escalators. His teacher already beat him to class—expected. The classroom’s role model wasn’t—surprising. She was never late to class, and usually here thirty minutes early, except one where she had an accident and broke her arm. The teacher looked a bit worried over the fact of her absence; she was sort of her ideal student, always referring to her when something happened. Everyone else is taking the last few minutes to review. He didn’t want to distract them from their last few moments of study; he only has a couple minutes before class begins anyways. He tried to think of what he didn’t know for the test, but everything was there, all at once. He was beginning to get a bit nervous about everything, particularly the fact of his memory. With access to every memory at once, it was beginning to be quite the distraction. He decided to scribble while waiting for the teacher. He attempted at drawing his future self, and of the world around him. This was enough of a distraction for him for now.
The teacher got up from her seat, and started her class. He was relieved to get this over quickly. She handed some papers out, and in turn, the students took one and passed them back. He grabbed one, placing it face down and passed back the others. He waited till she was satisfied, and let them start their test. He flipped his over, and quickly wrote his name down. He took a quick glance at the instructions and already they were memorized. He was a bit astounded at how quick that was to memorize. Is this a curse, or a blessing, he wondered. He figured he’d have all the time later to decide, and decided he’d just answer the questions.
He took a look at them, and wrote the answer down. There was no need to think, or even pause. Every question on the test he answered as quickly as he looked at them, and he knew they all were right too. He had an hour and a half to do this test. He finished it in about five minutes. It took him only five minutes, and he didn’t think about how the teacher would take it till he finished. There was some astonishment from this, but more worry than anything. He didn’t want to know what the teacher would think. His imagination already began going through ideas. He got up from his seat; there are better things to do than wait and stare at a test. Some students were a bit shocked that he was already done, as was the teacher. Her expression said she couldn’t believe he finished it this fast. She grabbed the test, and looked it over with a few glances. He stepped towards the door to let the others do their work, some still taking a look at him, unsure how he finished that quickly.
“Alex, I want to talk to you after class.” His teacher called out. He looked back, but she was already looking down at his paper and going over it. He stepped out and closed the door behind him.
Part 5 • Opuss № I