CHAPTER 4
6 YEARS AND 7 MONTHS AGO, ON THE DAY OF EXAM.
A drop of sweat appeared on my forehead as I reached the exam centre. I was assigned the exam centre at 'Shristi' the capital of our country. Pure excitement was flowing through my body. I had burned midnight's oil for this test, actually, to be precise I had burned both midday's as well as morning's oil also.

Hundreds and hundreds of children were surging towards the halls. Nobody had an idea what kind of test it was going to be.

Only one announcement was made just 6 days ago, saying it's going to be different, and I was like-"wow, that will help". Somebody shoved me from behind; I took it as a signal for moving forward.

It was the third step of the stairs when I slipped. I got the upper two stairs right in my chest; knocking out air from my lungs, old memories made their path while I was still lying there. My mom was driving me to the west, to our small yet beautiful home, we were singing songs and enjoying ourselves when my mom suddenly stopped. She just went unconscious, our car had a big accident, 

 I was thrown out of the window crashing my ribs on the road.

I was still in those painful memories when a soft warm hand with beautiful nails helped me to get up. A girl about my age, wearing a white hoodie with golden borders was standing in front of me.

"Careful mister," a fruity voice came from under the hoodie.

"Thank you", I said containing the pain in my ribs.

The crowd behind us forced us to move. She took my thank you as a goodbye and left me there.

I was still thinking about the fruity voice and my chest pain when somebody put a foot on my foot.

"Ahh!", I broke out from my fuzzy head."Thank you", I said to the person who still had his foot on my shoe.

xxx

Consider that you have to cry but wearing a VR headset. This is what we had to do, It was the first phase of the test, seriously! I was studying for these whole 2 months,

I mean I had even done calculus and rotational motion. I even knew who ruled the old country France, in the 16th century.

"Remus Fletcher, you have to wear this headset, You will be shown scenes that may hurt you, it can be your greatest fears or your most painful memories," the lady said, she had a white coat on her body like the scientists in the labs have brown dreadlocks were falling all over her forehead.

"And why may I ask" I was still frustrated on this test.

She raised her right eyebrow.

"I mean what is the use of this test", I felt embarrassed.

"This test will let us know if your mind is strong enough for all the things that you might encounter in future", she said.

"Okay," I said still unsure how stupid this test was.

She gave me the headset to wear, It was one of the most expensive headsets, the graphics it showed were too good. The headset had a big antenna also which was not in its normal models. The headset fitted snugly over my eyes.

...

I was falling when I woke up, skyscrapers were rushing towards me, every second the ground was getting a bit closer, fear took over my body. I was not scared of height but if somebody throws you off from a height of 8000 feet you get scared.

I crashed on the ground but only felt pain in my chest. The scene changed and I was with her. The scene was almost too real. I knew what was going to happen. She went unconscious, I tried to take control of the car but nothing happened. Then the car crashed and I was lying on my chest holding my broken ribs.

My mom was lying on the road blood spewing from her body. I tried to stand up but could do nothing. The scene was blurry because of all the tears that were flowing. I tried to call her" Mom, please stand up". Her blond hair was turned brown because of the blood.

I was in the hospital with my father, hugging him as I couldn't stop my tears. My mom was lying on the hospital bed. There were no more locks of blond hair as she was shaved clean.

She looked older, her body shrivelled. The doctors said she was diagnosed with brain cancer, and it was too late. She could live for 2 to 3 years or so because of the medicines they would give her.

The scene changed and I was standing beside her in a black suit. We were watching her own funeral.

Burning her body to ashes, I was crying like a baby, my eyes were red and hot like someone had put coal in them.

"Don't cry Remus", she said as she embraced me.

"Why are you going?" I sobbed.

"I am not going anywhere, I never did" she pointed towards my heart "I was always there". She said.

I stopped crying and embraced her back, "Please never leave me".

"I promise I'll never even think about going" she smiled and whispered in my ear "Remember Remus this is a test, in which you have to succeed, I will always come when you need my help, Now be strong", she encouraged.

I stopped crying and felt all the fear draining away and warmth spreading, I remembered my mom was still alive, good old memories flooded my vision.

In some I was having fun with my father riding go-karts, playing games, talking about space. Whenever we were sad we hugged each other.

I felt stronger. The visions stopped I was once again falling, no not falling this time but was going up at the same speed.

Everything went black, and then somebody pulled the headset from my head. It was the dreadlocks lady.

"So how are you felling mister Fletcher", she asked politely.

"Much better", I said smiling; as I recalled the events.

"Great," she said.

"Did I pass?" I asked doubtly.

"The results will be announced shortly," she said smiling, "But you did great".

I smiled, she pointed towards the exit, and I went that way. I arrived in a big stadium that had digital billboards.

"The students who have qualified shall remain here, your names will be announced shortly on the billboards" A monotonous voice boomed from the speakers

End of chapter 4.