The Test

Well, there was once a little girl. She lived with her parents in a humble home. They weren’t special, or so they thought. “Camilla, wake up!” exclaimed her dad, “You’re going to be late to your first day of school!” 

“Five...more...minutes..” I croaked. I was so tired yesterday night I snuck my copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire. I got so caught up that I finished, and slept really late. I heard my dad’s footsteps as he walked away. Ah, finally some peace, I thought, and then went back to sleep. Sometime later, I was awakened from a bottle of cold water dumped onto my head!! “Camilla, you have to wake up now!” my dad frustratedly said, “Or else you won’t get to finish that other book you were reading!”  “Fine, fine!” I was reading also reading another book that I really wanted to finish, so I gave in. I leaped out of bed. What type of day is it today? A jeans day, a skirt day, or a french day? Hm… I think jeans are fit for today. I wore my jeans outfit and threw the wet pajamas to the washing basket.

I leaped out of bed and went to brush my teeth. As I grabbed my toothbrush, I felt sticky hands. I looked at my toothbrush. My hand was stuck to my toothbrush. Oh no, did Tim prank me again? I ran to Tim’s room. "Why did you prank me again?" I asked. I made a gesture that showed him I was going to threaten to tickle him, and the weird thing is… He didn’t show any expression about it! “I didn’t do it.” Tim calmly told me. Tim was a troublesome little brother. I knew he was lying. “Yes, you did! If you didn’t do it who did?” I questioned. “Uhh… someone that wasn’t me?” he said. Then, he plucked the toothbrush off of my hand. “There, now even if it was me I fixed it. So don’t blame me,” he said maturely. I felt childish. I walked back over to the restroom and continued to brush my teeth. After, I looked at my watch. I WAS LATE! IT WAS 7:04! I quickly ran to the door and took my backpack with me. “Wait! Honey, aren’t you going to eat-” I slammed the door. I missed the bus! Aw, man! I ran. I mean, one mile isn’t that long, right? I thought. I ran as fast as I could. I frequently checked my watch. After 30 minutes, I made it. I went through the doors, to the principal’s office. We always had to go there when we were late. “Hello again, Camilla.” said the principal without looking up from her computer screen, “The tardy slips are there.” She pointed to a quaint looking brown desk. I saw a pile of pink slips, and a pen next to it. I signed on a piece of paper: “Camilla Davis was late 30 minutes” and put the pen down. “Thanks,” I mumbled and left. 

As I walked into my classroom, the room became silent. “Ah, you’re here.” the teacher said, looking mad, “Sit down next to that boy over there, Oswald?” “No, Its Osvald.” I heard Osvald say. Osvald has blue circle glasses and looked like a goofy type of person; the person that would crack puns every second. “Hi,” I whispered while the teacher was talking about some “Friendship program”. “Hi!” Osvald whispered back. I observed what he was doing on the desks. He was doodling what seemed like a dragon breathing fire. It looked so realistic that I would think it was a real photo of a real dragon drained of its color. Then, I heard someone say my name. “Camilla and Osvald, could you please go to the closet outside to help me get my markers?” the teacher said, “Oh, and I told everyone where the closets are earlier, so you should know.” “Ookay..?” I stammered. Osvald and I got out of our seats and exited the room. 

We were lost. I know, you might be saying How would someone be lost in a school or Yeah right. There are signs! Well, 1. I was lost because the school was gigantic and 2. There weren’t signs. “Osvald, do you know where to go?” I asked hopefully. My dad probably wouldn’t want me to be lost at school on my first day. He shrugged and replied, “I don’t know.” We have been walking around and around, and we still haven’t found it. I walked and looked at every door. Then, I stopped at a door. I envisioned the inside being a closet, so trusting my guts I told Osvald proudly, “I found it.” I tried opening the door. It was locked. “Why would a closet be locked?” I wondered. “Well maybe because it isn’t a closet?” Osvald suggested. “Well I trust my guts and my guts say that it is a closet.” I snapped. “Gee, no need to get heated up about it!” Osvald soothingly said. I kicked the door. It didn’t open. I punched the door. I broke a bone. Then, Osvald shoved me aside looking confident. “Step aside, and let the master teach you.” he insisted. Osvald took a hairpin out of his hair and put it through the keyhole. It felt as if he was looking for something there. He squinted. He pushed the pin. Suddenly, we heard a click. “Ah, did it.” Osvald proudly murmured. He opened the door and stepped in, and I stepped in after him. Everything was dark, and I couldn’t see anything. “Osvald?” I stuttered. Silence. No reply. I heard a high pitched scream. “Osvald!” I shouted loudly. Then, I felt as someone took hold of me. I fell down somewhere. Then, everything went cold. 

(Camilla’s dad perspective)

I waited for Camilla to come back home from the first day of school. She’s supposed to come back at 3! Eh. Maybe the first day was late? I turned on the TV to see what was on. “Breaking News on the City News! At the West Oak Elementary, two kids, Camilla David and Osvald-” I turned the TV off. WHAT? The first day of school and she goes missing?! I threw the tv remote control across the room. I took a breath. “Calm down. We will find her! Tim will be fine alone for a little while. It’s probably her time to experience the test.” I wore my coat and got in the car. 

“Camilla, wake up!” I heard a frightened voice say. “Ookay... I’m up...” I croaked. I looked around. I was in a weird room, it looked ancient. “Where are we? What happened? Where is the marker? How are we getting out? What time is-” “I get it! You have a lot of questions! I do as well. I don’t know where we are. The last thing I remember was being grasped by someone and dropping somewhere.” Osvald replied. I looked at the top. There was a roof. I was confused, frightened, and hungry. “I was scavenging around, and I found some sticks and a log, some leaves, a mirror, and a book in some foreign language,” Osvald informed. “Okay, let me take a look.” Osvald handed me the book, and I opened it. “Oh! I know a bit about this! It’s in Greek! I recognize a few words in it...” I proudly told Osvald, “There is scratch, left, horse, and... art?!” I was confused. I closed my eyes, hoping for something to happen. Nothing happened. “Are you meditating or something?” mocked Osvald. “No! Stop making fun. I have an idea though... maybe there is a secret escape on the left?” I know this isn’t much of an idea. “No! I’m too young to die!” Osvald cried. He took out the dragon drawing from earlier. He looked at it. “Dragons aren’t here yet!” He whined. Then suddenly, we heard a low pitched hum. “Osvald, look! The painting; it’s glowing!” I exclaimed. He looked at it, surprised. “Why though?” he asked me. “I dunno...” Then, something caught my eye. On the left side of the building, there was a stained part of the wall... it was the exact same shape and the mirror we saw! “Ah! Help me, Camilla! Something’s happening!” Osvald yelled. “Hold on!” I glanced at the painting. The... the dragon was coming out of the page! “How, just how?” I asked him. The dragon was halfway through. I couldn’t take all of this. I was sure this was a dream. I know magic isn’t real, and dragons aren’t real. “The dragon is coming out!” Osvald yelped. I closed my eyes and thought of a plan. If only I could shrink the dragon... I imagined me doing a spell of some sort, casting a purple light, and shrinking the dragon to the size of an ant. I wish. I opened my eyes, and weirdly, the dragon was gone. Osvald stared at me with a creepy look. “How did you change the dragon?!” he asked me. “I dunno.” “If you can do that...that means!” Osvald stopped midsentence. Suddenly, a wave of shock came to me. I understood what Osvald meant. If I could change the dragon to an ant that means I could change the appearance of the building we were stuck in! I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate. I imagined this dusty cylinder-like room to a beautiful house with stairs to the exit. I thought about a glamorous pool, a beautiful living room, with two gray couches with yellow and white pillows, and a tv with bookshelves on the side to match. I thought my bedroom would consist of a blue rug, some Twenty One Pilots posters, a cute blue bed, with a bookshelf. On the side, it would have a circle-shaped cloud chair hanging from the wall. There would be a desk and a drum set. For the kitchen, it would have a lot of counters with a microwave, oven, and some strawberry frosting donuts on the table. Then, there would be restrooms, and then, I opened my eyes. Osvald looked at me in shock. I looked at where I was. I was in... I fainted. 

“Please don’t tell me your dead! No! This can’t be happening!” I heard someone whining and crying. “What is it?” I said weakly as I rubbed my eyes. Then, I remembered everything. The room, the dragon, the ant, and the house. Osvald rushed towards me. “Thank god you’re okay!” Osvald gushed, “And yeah, surprisingly, it worked!” I was shocked to hear this. Today was the most bizarre day of my life. The first day of school, breaking a locked closet, fainting, the glowing dragon, the dragon coming out of the page, the home, everything! It was very confusing. I looked around and saw the way I imagined the house. Everything was the way I wanted it to be. I quickly looked around for the stairs to the exit. “We can leave now, Osvald!” I shouted happily. Then I noticed something. Osvald was looking sad. He looked down, sadly. “What’s wrong?” I asked him, “Is everything all right?” “Yeah, it’s just that I’m really confused about what happened today. The dragon and everything, and just as quickly as it came, it’s gone.” “Well

Osvald, nothings going to be wrong. We can keep living our lives.” I said, “Let’s go before this mysterious building changes its mind about letting us leave.” I said something wrong, I could tell. I mean, it felt like this building had feelings. It changed and its really mysterious. Well, I felt like I insulted the building. I started running for the stairs and then the creepiest thing happened. The stairs were blocked. I hit a wall, and I fell down. “What’s happening?!” I panicked. “I don’t know! Hold on-AHHHHH” We were caught by a tree branch that was swinging around the building! I wasn’t feeling good... I was about to throw up! Then the branch went up, and down and up and down! Then, it stopped. I dropped to the floor, predicting I would break a bone, but instead I landed on some soft things. “What? How did this happen?” 

“Don’t you see it?!” Osvald raised his voice, “We have to go through an obstacle course to reach the stairs!” I had to get out! I leaped and landed on a piece of wood. I saw the course, and imagined myself doing it, and getting out! Jump a few times, leap over to the hammer, and dodge them. I was not aware of what I was doing so I got off balance and fell. “No!” Osvald quickly leaped over, and grabbed my hand, preventing me from falling. He wasn’t stable, and the piece of snow was melting. “Cmon, Osvald!” I yelped. I jumped to the next block I turned left and leaped for my life. I ran and then leaped in the air. For a second, I felt really unsure about myself, that I was going to fall. I was afraid I was, but then I touched the ground. I looked ahead of me, and there were deadly hammers that I would dodge. I was thinking about how to get past. I had an idea! I could stand on the hammer! I looked behind me, and Osvald was there. “Osvald, when the hammers are coming over this side, jump on them,” I told him about my plan. “I can’t do it!” Osvald sobbed. “Don’t give up now! You can do it!” I told him, hoping to get his confidence back. I saw my chance, and I took it. I leaped onto the hammer! I expected to feel a hard wooded hammer, instead, it was soft! It felt like a marshmallow! It felt so good! I jumped onto the next one. I quickly leaped on the staircase, and I saw the exit. “Come on, Osvald!” He took my hand, and we left.

Moral:

Never give up! Nothing is impossible.

"It always seems impossible until it is done."

-Nelson Mandela