The final dance with death

[Day of the exams]

The first day of the exams arrived. The final exams. The ones that they had spent 18 years of their lives preparing for. As soon as they were born they had to make sure to get these right. The system puts pressure on these exams alone. The ones from the year before matter, but these ones are even more important. These exams decide on your future. The university you enter, the job you get, the future you want. That's not to say you have to have these exams to be successful. Everyone possesses talent but the system won't force it out of you, it's not built that way. Its job is to build you into a robot that knows knowledge that may never be needed in the future.

Sitting in a poorly air-conditioned hall, in the hottest days of summer, people took their exams sitting on uncomfortable chairs with only the writing engraved in the table as their friend.

"Oh shit. Oh shit." Owen thought to himself as he flipped to page 34 in his computer science exam. "How is there still more?? When will it end??"

"Oh no. Oh no." Ethan thought to himself as he started page 50 of his computer science exam.

"This is going well." Sean thought to himself as he finished page 20 of his computer science exam.

Each subject has a different exam. And each exam is terrible. Terrifying creatures that haunt people for years to come. Monstrous beings that people want to avoid and be happy to never touch again.

"Ok…" Simon thought to himself as he closed the test paper. "That wasn't so bad… I have 30 minutes left so I should read over it again. Better make sure everything is perfect."

"What am I looking at?" Claire thought as she read the question over again. "Figure 2? Where is figure 2? Does politics have figures in it usually? What would the figure be? Am I blind?"

"This isn't so bad." Lily thought to herself as she cheerfully finished the exam earlier than the rest of her class. "Wait… is that examiner looking at me? Is it because I've finished but she has seen the paper and is certain that no one should finish on time? Is it because of the hoodie? It must be because of the hoodie. Oh no! Our English teacher just walked in…. What do I do? What do I do? Oh! I know, gotta make myself look busy… I'll just open up the paper and pretend to read it even though I've read it so many times I know it off by heart. Hmmm… yes yes… how interesting… marvellous work… is she still looking?"

The exams span multiple weeks. Most people will shut themselves off after an exam to prepare for the next.

"What the hell is that?" Ruby thought to herself as she read back on her own work in the music exam. "Is that a spelling mistake? How could I be so foolish as to let a spelling mistake escape passed me? If I'm not careful Owen could get higher than me again. Just look at him. Writing away nonstop. He looks cute when he's panicking… AH, WHAT AM I DOING? I need to continue checking every inch of this paper!"

"Wow. This exam is super easy!" Kaylee screamed in her head with joy as she blew through each question. "It must be because I've studied so much that I've ascended to god level. I'll have to thank Ethan for helping me even though he was busy with his own stuff. Maybe I should buy him something? How should I thank him?"

Everyone progressed through their final week of exams as stressed as you would expect. Each of them lost weight. Each of them lost sleep. Each of them argued with their families. The pain the exams caused would affect them only temporarily. Even if it was for a little while, the feelings that people can have during that time of frustration could last a lifetime.

"FINALLY!" Ethan screamed as he left the exam hall from finishing his last exam.

"We are all done…" Owen said as he waited outside for Ethan to finish. "Where's Sean?"

"Still inside. The sociology exam should finish in a minute let's wait for him.

"WE DID IT!" Several seconds later, Sean came rushing out of the exam hall. Unable to hold back tears of happiness as the weight lifted off his shoulders.

"Well done everyone," Simon said as he followed behind Sean.

"Damn, I forgot you did sociology," Ethan said as he held a crying Sean in his arms.

"Be nice," Owen said, hitting him.

"Don't get too happy everyone," Simon said. "We still have to wait until the results before we start crying."

Sean's waterfall eyes turned into a desert in front of everyone. The pain he would have to experience from waiting for a month until the results were unbearable. Some would even say worse than the exam itself.

"Just kill me now," Sean said as he fell to the ground.