short story 1

Then, I thought I was dying

Sweat was pouring down my face and tears could not wait to break away from the constraints of my eyes; I was trembling during this one of the most precious moments of my life and I thought I was dying…
8 minutes left, I was staring at the examination paper. All the diagrams and illustrations meant nothing to me at the moment. I was usually not an exam-phobia girl. My daddy liked to brag to others about his daughter's excellent performance in exams."Iaaaa..iaaaa…", Magpies were singing so happily outside the windows, towards which, I glanced. The picture of my dad bringing me—when I was a child—to a mountain resort popped in from no where. I shook my head, "Nooooo…leave me alone. Don't you see I am in the crisis of my life?"
I felt chilled all over, but I was soaked in sweat. Tears had terribly blurred my eyesight. 6 minutes left, I could not see any questions on the paper any more. I had tasted the strongest flavor of desperation. When my eyes were put in to rest by tears, my head was spinning on its own. What in my mind now was a montage of pictures of me and my parents—my dad brought me to piano classes; my mom made the most delicious food for me; my parents and I together filled in the application form; I was so triumphant when I made one success after another. But just until now….?
Oh, my god, another 2 minutes had passed. To others, the remaining 4 minutes means another problem solved, another 10 or even more points earned, the pathway to their dreamland, then to their bright future. By this point, I was totally hopeless in my own crazy dreamland. I glanced at the invigilator, he glared me back. Sitting at the classroom of the National College Entrance Examination—the examination of physics, I began to visualize my own gloomy future—this failure would finally lead to my total failure in the NCEE; my parents would cry; I would have to go to a low-level college; I would disgrace my family, I couldn't find a descent job and so on. I was dying.
Now, 2 minutes was all I would have for this memorable event. I guess I had entered a state called hallucination. I had a very strong urge to fetch a camera and take a shot of everything going on at this particular moment, the moment that could decide my destiny—my bewildered face, the invigilator's rigid face, and the other students' dedicated faces…
Was this ridiculous? People always take pictures in places of interests, in parties. No one would deny the logic of taking a picture in a memorable event and could anyone deny the logic that NECC is one of the most precious moments of one's life? I did appreciate it that I could achieve this final state of aloofness. With those questions, that accounted for 1/4 of the total points, unanswered, I was thinking of taking a picture of one saddest peak of my glorious life. "ling…lingg…", the invigilator, like a police, asked everyone to stop. I wiped off my tears, and sat there waiting…

: 27 Nov 2005 00:08 |  Comments (7) |  Close comments |  Report a problem