Death had come for Annie.
Well, not really. Death had other business elsewhere and could not be bothered with a little girl. In its place instead, there was something else to torment her: the dreaded End of Semester Examinations!
Annie had just struggled through a week of catch-up work, where she discovered weaknesses in numerous subjects. And now, the semester exams had sneaked up on her to deliver the finishing blow.
Exams, so soon after her return from the hospital. So unfair!
The first subject was English. Well, that was not too bad. Annie was pretty confident about her English. That was until it was announced at the very last minute that the English exam was delayed because of some technical error. To her horror, the dreaded Mathematics stepped up to be her first challenger, or rather, tormentor.
The very first question of the Maths exam, of all possible, had to be: basic algebra. With its big brother, quadratic equations, as question number two. A great one-two punch to start the exams with.
So, how was she to solve this equation again? Maybe she should try the next question... Maybe the next one after that. And the next. Got the answer for question fourteen. She should redo it, just to be sure. Ack, a different answer!? It was maths! How could she end up with two different answers!?
And why was time up before she could finish all of the questions?
Next up, finally, was English. Well, English was far from the nightmare that maths was. She hoped. The compositions to write were seemingly endless, though. There was still more to write on this last one, if only her hand would move. Move! Writing hand, move! Argh, her hand just refused to write anymore. Maybe she could use the other hand to lend it strength. It was awkward writing with both hands on a single pen but she managed a few words. They were even legible.
What!? Time was up?
Science was after the morning break. It would not be too bad if her mind had not gone blank on the first question. And the next. And the next. And the second one after that. And over half the remaining questions. And what language was this question in? Latin?
At night on the last day of three days of examinations, Annie was back home, in her room, with her head planted on her desk.
There was a knock on the door and Second Sis burst into the room. "Hey, Annie! Tomorrow, let's go... Annie?" When her younger sister did not reply, Carrie went over and picked Annie up for a look at her face.
Annie looked back with red eyes.
"Annie, have you been crying?"
The little girl nodded and rubbed her eyes.
Concern reflected on the middle sister's face. "What's wrong?"
"I'm stupid," Annie admitted.
"What do you mean?"
"The exams." Annie hung her head. "I can't answer the questions. I can't do them."
No comments:
Post a Comment