The Experiment part 3

Class began. I remembered how much I had loved going to school, and this calmed me down a little. I had become a teacher for a reason, I told myself. Today was apparently the day of the big test. As the teacher began handing out exams, he lectured the evils of cheating.

“It will simply not be tolerated,” he said flatly. “When you cheat, you cheat yourself. Remember that.” He looked squarely at me. “I do not care what has gone on in the past, but I warn you, I strictly enforce the rule. Cheat, and you will be sorry.”

When I got my copy I quickly scanned it and thought, hell, this will be a piece of cake. I’ll have this done in minutes. But I jumped when the teacher’s hand suddenly ripped the exam from my hands and slammed it face down on my desk. “I said do not begin until I tell you,” he said loudly.

“S-Sorry,” I stuttered, blushing. I scolded myself, pay attention.

“Are we going to have problems, Mr. Myers?” he said, craning his head down at me, intimidating.

I shook my head. Myers. Shawn Myers. My name, I told myself, trying not to notice the other students leering at me. I could feel my neck growing hot.

The teacher clicked his timer and sat down at his desk. I couldn’t help but think he was staring right at me when he finally said “begin.” I hated that I had drawn so much attention to myself. I wanted to say, I am not who you think I am. I am a respected professor. I am a teacher myself. But then my thoughts drifted back to the idea of dreaming. Maybe that is just one of the premises of the dream, I thought skeptically. Maybe I am not a teacher at all. I asked myself, am I or am I not completely insane? A lump was growing in my throat. I felt I was on the brink of losing it, but then remembered the exam. Take the exam, go with it, hold it together.

I hunched over the test and concentrated on it. It seemed familiar. It was easy as long as I concentrated on it. But it was hard to concentrate. Every time I started wondering about dreams and where I was, my equilibrium would begin to swim again and again I could sense a distortion of time. What I initially thought would take ten minutes took me the entire class period. There were only two other students in the room when I finally finished. When I turned the exam over on my desk, the bell rang. I struggled to seem normal as I turned it in and walked out the door into the bustling hallway. I wanted to try and find out what was going on, to find out where I was, when I was.

There was an attractive red-headed girl waiting for me in the hallway. She was holding a handful of papers with red writing and had worried eyes. She stood gaping at me. “You didn’t already take the test, did you?” she asked loudly in panicked voice. She looked around nervously, and then stepped forward angrily. “Why the hell didn’t you meet me before class like you said you would?” She shoved the notes into my hand. “Ugh! maybe you can retake the test later on.” She stormed off just as the teacher came out of the classroom. I stood stunned at what had happened. The teacher snatched the notes from my hand.

“Well well well, Mr. Myers,” he said, glancing first at the red notes, and then at my hands stained red by the ink. “You must think I’m stupid. First you skip half of my classes, and now cheating on the final exam.”

My stomach lurched and the blood drained from my face. I could not speak.

“This way, Mr. Myers.” He grabbed my arm and began marching me through the crowded hallway. An opened locker spilled a pile of large textbooks out onto the hallway floor and several crashed onto my left foot. It hurt like hell. The pain screamed through any hope I might have had at that point that this was a dream. The boy who had opened the locker began to apologize, but went pale when he looked at my face.                   

To Be Continued....