Faux

two

The school pod screeches as it halts its body on the tube. It seems like a giant who cannot stop because of speed and weight. The neon blue lights in the room were too faint but at least lit the damp dissidence. The pod is still moving and slowly deccelerating, and in just seconds it will stop in point. Inertia. Force and motion. Science. And to compute with accuracy, Mathematics.

          I stare intently at the other kid's face, surveying them with curiosity and insecurity. This kids, if has higher rank with me can drive me to the Absolution. The four powers. I recognized the chubby boy with broad shoulders and high nose, his hair split into half, cradling his nerd eye glasses, while he holds a tome. He is our neighbor, Krol Pream. It was said that he has a really good mind. But his face is really just, mismanaged, maybe. I know he has more marks than me. I followed the trail of line of silver stars from his left lower neck to his left temple. I hadn't count it because he shifted his head right after he saw me spying him.

          Many of the girls in the pod are unfamiliar to me. But I know I have more than them. They have three, two, and one thing that caught me is a thin girl. She is pretty, her hair in braids, and her body is full of so much burloloys. But right now, she is crying. Her mark spaces were empty. I am certain not by just judging with the light, but with her emotions. This day is called the Detainment. The final day when the students are given the chance to oppose the teachers. She is in pain. Fear. She will be in Absolution.

          The students in our school are all curious on whom the highest rank will be. We will know it this afternoon. And Detainment ends in three in the afternoon. Last year, I am in the ninth grade, we were allowed to watch the recognition program. Seventh to ninth were. Clorphe Merck, the male student from the tenth grade was acknowledged as the highest ranking. With thirty-nine marks on his face that stretched upto his forehead. The lowest was four. So those in Absolutions were with marks in four, five, six, and seven. And after months, only three hundred from the Absolutes, were presented on live in air news. So few from the one thousand.

          I am so thankful that I am not in tenth grade that year. If I were, I will be in Snides. Great Opossers. My weakness. When I asked dad what happened in their recognition, his answer surprised me. He said that he was a Snide. And most disturbing is that the lowest rank is forty seven. All of them were genius that time. That time only.

          The pod moved vertically, elevating us from the damped space below. The door off the ground opened as it was forced out by the face of the pod. It looks like a dead pushing out the soils in  order for him to get out. The light was dazzling. And it always was. My vision materialized and saw that the other pods were also elevating up with us. This is our school. A very vast place inlaid with tiles and covered with a dome of fiber glass with perfect scratches and etches that enlights the space and design the light from the sun passing through to a geometric beauty.

          I clutched the strap of my bag enough for me to support its weight. I stood up as the door of the pod opened and welcomed the cool freon air condition atmosphere inside. The other kids also stand up and peepared themselves. We all walked out after it was announced to get off. All kids in school were genius. Dad told me that even the dumbest of us, if compared to humans, the specie who inhabited Earth before us, is too far. Dad say that we were just like them, physically, but not mentally. We were said to be the times one hundred upgrade of human. Therefore human could be much dumber than Fredd, my dog at home.

          Before we can pass through the dome, we need to flash our eyes on the laser detector near the door. I tilted my face towards the wall and enlarged my eyes as big as I can. It sent waves of red light and the sliding door beside me widen in space.

          Rumor has it that Ennuel Wegor, will be this year's highest ranking. She has a count of thirty four silver stars on her face. It didn't bothered me. But the other gossips, that the lowest is four. I will be damned. But as I remembered the thin girl in the pod, who holds zero marks, my heart calmed. I will be spared. And the Detainment is just beggining.

          I will be spared. Seconds later, I dashed inside the dome.