The Thinning AU

8

I jumped about 5 feet in the air and spun around so quick I got dizzy. I saw a woman an standing there and when my vision cleared I realized who it was. It was Ms. Luna. I froze where I stood holding the straps on my backpack at my sides. My eyes widened and she started walking towards me. She leaned next to my ear and my whole body tensed. In a loud whisper she said, "Max! What are you doing! You need to leave now! Don't let anyone know you were here! Take the file and go home as fast as possible! Have you checked the time?!" I looked down at my watch, 4:22. Oh crap, I thought. She looked at me with dead seriousness in her eyes and said, "Now go!! And while your at it, I wasn't here okay?" I nodded my head and said, "Thank you, so much." She smiled that teacher smile and said, "No problem, I know what its like to have a special person fall victim to the thinning." Her smile turned weaker and she quickly rushed me out of the room.

I ran outside thankful to see that there were no cars outside except for Ms. Luna's. I got on my bike and left as fast as I possibly could. I ended up having g to slow down when I got about 4 blocks away because I was going too fast and I was losing control.

I got home an tiptoed upstairs to my room. I took the file out of my bag and slid it far back under my bed, but just far enough that I could still reach it. I flopped down in my bed and passed out. I needed as much sleep as I could get.

***time skip***

I heard a loud bip bip bip from my alarm clock. I groaned and smacked my hand down on top of it. I rolled out of bed, literally. I sat on the floor with my back against my bad and I reached for my night stand next to my bed. I picked up my glasses, yes I wear glasses. Without my glasses I wouldn't be able to function at all, they are only for distance but my eyesight is terrible. If I'm not wearing my glasses you can sit a foot away from me, I won't be able to tell who you are.

I got up and went to my dresser. I quickly realized I was still wearing my uniform and I had not washed it since before they took Ellie. I shrugged it off and just put on some extra deodorant. I grabbed my bag and went to school.

I heard the first bell for English and I started to sweat. I walked in and saw Ms. Luna talking to another student about their average. I sat down, she looked at me for a split second, and continued talking like any other day. I didn't know whether to worried or received that she was pretending that nothing happened just hours before. I calmed down a tiny bit and eventually forgot about it as well. The only way I would ever forget that was if I was reading, and sure enough we had a reading day that class. I am not a very social person, the only person I really ever talked too was Ellie and a lot of the time I would even ignore her if I was into a good book. Books are my escape. The rest of the day went normal even though I was trying my best to hide my guilt. And I got the occasional teacher saying, "Are you okay? You seem off today." To which I replied with a nod.

The day ended and I went straight home. It was time to check Ellie's file. I went to my room and shut the door tightly. I was curios so I checked mine first. Because if you pass they don't tell you your grade, they just tell you that you passed. 90%, not bad. I was quite pleased with myself. But then I found Ellie's folder. I looked through hers, it was longer than mine. It took me about five minutes if reading through all the fine print on her files to find not her test grade yet, but a signed note from her parents. The note read,
To the parents of Ellie Quincy,
Congratulations, your daughter has passed her exam for 2281.

My jaw dropped to the floor. I kept reading though,

But, we regret to inform you that this year we have exceeded our limit of students that we can have to sustain the correct population. So we are taking the lowest scored students that passed the test unless parent come forth and are open to oblation with their child's permission.

Ellie's grade was an 89% so she was definitely not the lowest scoring student. I saw paper attached with a staple and I read it. I recognised the handwriting from Ellie's mother, she used to write us fake sick notes for school. It said,

We received your notice about the population control problem on the tests. Our family had decided that out daughter, Ellie Quincy, will put herself in the position of those who have lower scores than her. She has agreed to it and we support her decision.

They had their signatures on the bottom of the page. I was shocked, not at the note but at the truth. I knew what was wring with this note. When Mrs. Quincy used to write us fake sick notes she would sign the bottom of the page. One day Ellie and I wanted to do our signatures do we practiced on a separate piece of paper. We did this almost every day for months. We stopped for a while but recently, before the tests we decided to practice again for our hand writing and we practiced our signatures. Ellie's never changed, hers was neat and had clean lines where as mine was almost different every time.

I scanned the signatures on the bottom of the page. It was fake. Her parents had tried to forge her signature. I clenched my teeth and I swear if I was a cartoon character there would be smoke coming out of my ears.