The Test

The Test

            Sweat dripped down my brow despite the temperature being fairly moderate, slowly making its way from above my eye, following the curve of my eye socket and down onto my cheek. I wiped it off, knowing that any imperfection on my test would mean it would be thrown out, and that wouldn’t be good for me.

            I thought for a moment about how important this test was, and how my future hung in the balance, which a feather could upset and tip one way or the other. And this test was no feather, if a single wrong word or right word was a feather, then this test was an elephant. “What if I don’t pass? What if I fail?” I thought to myself. But I quickly shook that thought out of my mind. No use was to be had in needless worrying.

            I put the answer to the last four questions, which were always the hardest. I had to take one at five, ten, fifteen, and my final at twenty, and each time the last four where the hardest. This one had the hardest of all, since I had no idea what would be right in their eyes.

These questions were “What is the most important thing to you, family, country, or the leader of your country?” I scribbled my answer, hoping desperately it would be right. The second was “If you were in a room with a gun with one bullet in it, and had to shoot either you or your mother, who would you turn the gun on?” I desperately scrawled my answer again. “Who do you love most?” I put my answer a third time. At this point my heart was jumping up to my throat. Then the final question, my head was pounding, my heart was stampeding, and I turned the page slowly. My heart stopped dead as I saw it, I had no idea what to put. “What do you idolize?” Looking at the clock, I realized I was almost out of time, so I frantically scratched the first thing that came to my head.

            Two men in blank suits with masks on walked in, and took my test without a word. One went through the door to my left with my test; the other one led me out the door behind me. He led me to a waiting room, the same one I had waited in three times previous. I waited for what felt like hours, until finally The Protector came in. She smiled at me warmly, and said “Come with me.”

            I followed, as if in a daze. “This has never happened before; she has never come to visit me. This can only mean one thing, I failed.” I thought to myself. She led me on, for what seemed like an eternity. She led me out of a windowless door, and took me to stand as categorized by age.

            I saw to my right twenty five year olds, thirteen ten year olds, nineteen fifteen year olds, and then to my left was three other twenty year olds. We stood facing forward, not moving, and not speaking. We would accept this bravely. A masked man went person to person, doing what masked men do. As he came to me, he whispered “Get on your knees.” I obeyed without question, as I had done my whole life.

“I have one question. May I be granted that?” He nodded silently. “What questions did I get wrong?”

            He said, again in a whisper, “The last four.” I then closed my eyes, one tear streaming down my cheek, and then it was over.