Mythian Academy: The Timeglass

Chapter One: Academy Life is the Greatest

    A little girl pushes her way into her bedroom with her thick dirty blonde swinging behind her as she goes. Following after her an older woman with her own brown hair pulled up into a bun walks in and leaves the door open. Their blue eyes exchange playful glances before they topple onto the silky duvet.

    "Mommy! Mommy! Tell me a story!"

    "Now, young lady. Where are your manners?"

    The little girl plops face first into the covers then turns to her mother with an innocent smile, "Please Mommy. Tell me those great adventure stories you wrote up!"

    "Alright. Just one. You have your first day of school tomorrow, and you'll need all the sleep you can get."

    "YAY!" the little girl crawls up to the neatly placed pillows and scurries under the now wrinkled covers.

    Her mother sits by her side, props up her feet, and turns on the lamp with the tug of a chain. She grabs her daughter's hand, and pushes a stray strand of hair behind her ear as a thud of a closing door comes from downstairs.

    "Now let's see. Where do I start?"

    The girl giggles excitedly, "The start!"

    "Alright. Let me start at the beginning."

Chapter One: Academy Life is the Greatest

          Here I sit at the annual assembly. The day we either honor or disgrace our family names. Where we find out which schools want us for our test scores and which of us will be doomed to repeat the eighth year. Everyone sitting beside me in the verdict seats, formally known as bleachers, apprehensively awaits the hand of fate.

          "Who do you think got accepted?" a gorgeous girl runs her fingers through a section of her brunette locks while eyeing her red haired friend in a nervous manner.

          The red haired girl, unlike her friend, has been in my math class for the last three years. I would definitely be surprised if she hadn't exceeded my own scores on the entry exams we took last week. She's topnotch in her academics, and probably hasn't failed a single test in her life. Despite her fidgeting, I know she definitely got into one of the best schools.

         "I don't know. The test was really hard." ginger answers worriedly. In my opinion, the test actually wasn't that bad at all, but when I feel that nine out of ten times I fail. Maybe the test are interactive so my test was easier or something. There has to be different versions so no one cheats, right?

          The entrance of our principal and his receding hairline is announced by the banshee like wailing of an ungreased gym door. Following along side him is an unfamiliar man large in stature who is dressed in casual work attire. "Mr. Baldy", as many of my peers call him behind his back, forehead glistens with perspiration as he leads the nameless man to the slanted make-shift podium. The two stand feet away from where I sit watching them intently.

          Mr. Lark clears his throat, "As all of you may know by now, the test you all took determines whether your name is read aloud today, and whether you are allowed to enroll in schools like Mr. Gale's high school academy and many others. So everyone please welcome the man himself, Mr. Blake Gale."

          Applause erupts from every corner of the room swelling to clog the gym like rice in a bottle of water. I too join in on their anxious excitement, but less enthusiastically. I'll just be repeating and casting a proverbial aphotic cloud over my family. Using this spare time, Mr. Gale takes Mr. Lark's place at the sponge like, black microphone. All eyes watch his every move in anticipation. He raises his right hand in a silencing gesture and quiets everyone. Something about the way he holds and presents himself just demands everyone's constant attention. In his left hand appears, from his inner coat pocket, a miniature leather bound book. It holds his gaze as he announces the selected few in a deep, warm, velvety voice. My pulse quicken as if I were standing at the edge of a cliff about to be pushed off, without a parachute, rather than safely sitting in my seat.