Sinister Ego : Dangerous Minds

4. Intricate Letters

"You think it's funny? Do you think this is a joke?"

I stared at Mrs. Robinson, confused. Her face was red, brown hair unkept. She looked like she'd had a rough couple of days. Her lips were creased in a thin line, her face contorted in a dangerous stare. This was actually pretty normal for her, she was a really ranty person. Sometimes she'd completely ignore the lesson plan and talk angrily about her love life or relationship with her kids. Apparently I wasn't doing anything to help right now.

But I had absolutely no clue why. According to Mr. Peterson, it was about the English exam, but based on my memory it had gone exactly the same as always. I had finished it pretty quickly and not had much trouble at all.

I felt my stomach churn. If I failed the exam bad enough, I would fail the class. If I failed the class, I might not be able to graduate. I'd have to deal with summer school. I sighed heavily. This was exactly what I needed. Something extra to worry about and stress over.

"No, ma'am," I replied, trying to remain polite.

She replied with only a blank stare. Clearly this wasn't the response she was looking for, and she was waiting for more.

"Um..." Came my intelligent response.

She gave an angry sigh. "I expect more from my students, Ricky, especially you."

I knew this was true. She'd often praise me in front of the whole class, giving me attention that I absolutely hated.

"I thought you cared about your future enough to not make a stupid joke out of finals. You of all people should know this isn't a game."

My brow furrowed. Now I was even more confused. "Joke"? And "game"? I had genuinely thought I'd done a good job on my English exam, like I always do.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Robinson," I said, still trying to remain calm. "I thought I did well..."

Mrs. Robinson shot me an incredulous look. "Well? Well?"

I gulped. "Yes ma'am..."

She sighed again. "Honestly, Ricky, this hurts me. To see one of, if not the brightest child I have ever taught to not care as much as you right now. It really does. You have one of the brighests futures out of everyone in this school. Don't throw it away."

I nodded at these words that should have been inspiring, but they only annoyed me. At this point, I just wanted her to explain how I had fucked up my test so bad.

"Can I... See my test."

"You can have it back. Your zero is already in the grade book."

I felt my mouth droop open and my face contort into a shocked expression. There was absolutely no way. After all my A's this year, all the 100s. Just to get a zero on my exam. There had to have been a mistake. There was absolutely no way. I refused to believe it.

"A z-zero?"

She ignored me. "You can have detention for the last week of school, too."

She turned to walk toward her desk, and I shot her a discrete finger behind her back. She dug around through some papers before pulling out the packet that was my exam. She pushed it into my hands with a fake smile.

"See you at three."

*****

Letters with an intricate flow, words with an ancient grace. Foreign symbols older than time itself, unrecognizable to my eyes.  Ones that conveyed a powerful aura even though there was no way I could understand their meaning.

All scrolled in perfectly straight lines across my entire English exam.

My mouth hung slightly open, my eyes narrowed in confusion. I turned the page of the packet. The words were scrolled over both the open ended and multiple choice questions, from the top to the bottom. In the top right corner was my name, written in my own small, neat handwriting, along with the date and period number.

It was my test.

But it couldn't possibly be.

"What the actual fuck...?"

The words looked like they were from an ancient, dead language. Like Latin or Ancient Greek, but even older. And with much fancier letters.

Either I was the victim of some sort of prank, or I was going insane. And honestly, I was ready to believe either.

*****

I was standing outside Rory's car, waiting for him to just come to take us both home. Rory had had detention, too, which was never a surprise. I was trying to forget this new situation, but felt it just merge into the others and create even more of a cluster fuck. My mom had kicked me out. I lived with Rory. I might become a father. At least I knew I would be able to graduate...after I retook the class this summer.

I'd been thinking about that weird language all day. There had to be a way to identify what it was. There were probably websites or apps where I could upload a picture and have it translated. I'd had a burning curiosity all day to figure it all out. It was eating at my mind, not leaving me alone. My mom used to tell me curiosity was my worst trait. Now I'm starting to see why.

I felt a small pressure lift off of my chest when I heard footsteps approaching the car.

I turned around, expecting to see Rory ready to drive us back to his house. But instead, I was greeted by the sight of my favorite drug addict.

*****

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