Ajax flips his test paper over and proceeds to quickly and carefully read the instructions on the front of the test to himself. Ajax has a system for dealing with tests like this.

First, you handl

Ajax flips his test paper over and proceeds to quickly and carefully read the instructions on the front of the test to himself. Ajax has a system for dealing with tests like this.

First, you handle the easy questions (multiple choice, short answer, rudimentary knowledge, etc), then you deal with the ones that look more difficult. Simple enough.

Ajax starts looking through the test questions. The first question is an essay question.

Ok, no help there.

The second and third questions are also essay questions. Each of these three essay questions requires a minimum five paragraph answer.

Ajax reads the last question. The last question is a short-story analysis essay question requiring a minimum nine paragraph answer.

Sigh

Ajax reads all of these questions carefully, making sure to not miss any tricks in the questions.

Alright, time to get through this fucker.

Ajax starts working through the first question which looks easiest; he completes it without much effort.

Ok, not bad, not bad, let’s not get cocky...

He then moves on to the second question, which he deals with rather well.

Huh. Nothing too crazy...

To his benefit, the questions asked by Ms. Rowfield aren’t problems he knows absolutely nothing about; rather, he’s worked on similar practice problems already more than a few times.

His preparation for this exam has not been fruitless, it seems.

Rather than completing the third question, Ajax moves onto the last essay question.

At this point in the exam, 30 minutes have passed already and the time is now 9:45am. Ajax considers the fact that he’s making fairly good time. He doesn’t feel too thirsty. His nerves haven’t returned to an apprehensive state.

Actually, he has plenty of time left. He could even finish early depending on how he handles this short-story essay question and the third question.

Ms. Rowfield, who was sitting at the front of the class surveying the students, is now walking around the class answering questions that the students have about the test. She calmly answers their questions one-by-one.

Some students ask her for extra paper to complete their answers; Ms. Rowfield grants their requests and hands out specially formatted exam paper to those students.

As Ajax considers how he is making fairly good time, Shaula looks over to him sitting next to her. She smiles softly noticing Ajax has gotten over his anxiety and is calmly answering the exam questions without issue.

Just what I like to see.

Shaula and Ajax had spent a great deal of time preparing for this exam.

They would review practice exams provided by Ms. Rowfield, as well as past exams posted online by students in Ms. Rowfield’s class last year. They reviewed everything Ms. Rowfield had given them as assignments throughout her English class.

Shaula didn’t really need to do all that, but she did enjoy helping Ajax review the material. The look of joy as he understood a concept, the concentration he displayed when he worked methodically through a practice test question, the look of panic when he felt like he didn't understand a concept in the slightest...

All of it made Shaula feel euphoria.

She saw every emotion he displayed and every thought he expressed, right next to him; it was a treat for her, something she had all to herself. Ajax is her best friend and no one else's.

Well... ok, I can’t exclude Rita from this... but still, it is a privilege.

Anything short of hard work would produce mediocre results for this English class taught by Ms. Rowfield. It looks like it’s paying off for the both of them.

For Shaula, even though only 30 minutes had passed since the start of the test, she completed the first, third and short-story essay questions, with ease. Shaula is starting to get borned

Even the second essay question can be completed within a mere 10 to 15 minutes.

Sigh

Shaula takes her mind off the test and looks around the state of the classroom. While Ajax is calmly advancing through the test, their other classmates are more agitated.

With panicked countenances, these fellow students of hers attempt the test. Shaula relishes their suffering.

Shaula is detached to Ms. Rowfield as a person, role model or mentor but she has appreciation for her standards as an instructor. Ms. Rowfield treated both her and Ajax with nothing less than compassion and kindness but Shaula couldn't care less about anyone but Ajax and his family.

On that note, Ajax isn’t too far off from Shaula's demeanour towards outsiders either. While Shaula shows outward apathy towards most others, Ajax is distanced on the inside but polite and kind on the outside. Only his parents, Rita and Shaula hold true importance to him.

The test continues.

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Shaula surveys the girls in the class with indifference and the boys with pity and / or revulsion.

God... you know... I wonder if sitting in the front where I wouldn’t have to look at these worms would have been better than sitting here and having to have them in my line of sight all the time... sigh who fucking cares, I’ll be out of here in a week, anyways. I guess the lesson is... ‘live and learn’, huh...

Ms. Rowfield is three rows in front of Shaula and talking to a student. She is facing left towards the female student and patiently answering her questions.

Some of the students are looking at the ceiling, at their classmates around them, and towards the windows which are covered by curtains; some light is peeking through these curtains leaving lines of light around the room, especially on the ceiling.

It appears that others in Ajax and Shaula’s class are past the difficult part of the exam and calmly going through the rest of it as well. The panic at the beginning of the exam has subsided.

Shaula looks at the ceiling; her left elbow is on her desk and her head is being held up in her left hand. She’s feeling a little sleepy.

Did I get a good sleep last night? I think I got my 8 hours but wasn’t I, like, tossing and turning? Wow, yawn if I was in a difficult test, this might have been bad for me.

Shaula feels sleepy. Meanwhile, Ajax is staring at his test with a look of undivided focus. If Ajax could see her in this moment--

(Hm, there’s, like... a dot of light floating there...)

--he’d have some reprimanding words to say to her.

Shaula blinks a few times. She tries her best to snap out of her drowsy state. She finds a spot on the back of her right hand, slightly below the space between her index and middle knuckle and pinches it hard.

Rather than falling asleep, she turns her attention to the ceiling.

The ceiling is made up of a grid pattern, with half ceiling tiles, half AC vents and fluorescent light fixtures.

(What’s that floating light doing there?)

Continuing to sate her boredom, Shaula looks over at a group of three girls diagonal left to where Ajax and she are sitting.

Those girls... They’ve been spreading--

(Where is it coming from? Where is it originating?)

--rumours about Ajax, while colluding with--

(Is it being reflected by something? Or is it a firefly... no it’s not, it’s too bright... it’s just floating there... there is no origin... what is that?)

--other gossipy bitches... Huh?

Shaula stops thinking her peripheral thoughts. Rather, for the first time, she pays attention to the content of her peripheral thoughts, turning them into her main thoughts.

Shaula had been trying to move her attention away from something. Something... odd... Something that shouldn’t be. Shaula looks at it.

Wh... what is...

Two table rows in front of her, she sees something floating near the ceiling. She's a bit confused at what she is seeing however. There appears to be a light floating in the air.

Wait, wait, actually, where is that coming from?

The thoughts she had been having, previously almost subconscious in nature, start to gain consideration from her conscious mind. Right now, the object looks like a floating, fluorescent marble made of light... a neon marble, maybe?

It isn’t moving around the room, it remains floating in midair, not moving in the slightest.

It’s as if it’s caught in an invisible spider web. Unlike a literal, glass marble that emits light, it doesn’t have any definition or detail to it, nor any reflection from the glass.

It is nothing more, nothing less than a small mass of light floating in the air.

Shaula squeezes her eyelids shut, trying to wipe away any obstructions from her retinas. Her eyes are as clear as they can be... and still, the mass of light remains.

Shaula’s expression is one of confusion and apprehension towards this floating light. She looks around the classroom. Although some students are looking around the classroom, their gaze doesn’t lock on the floating light.

Ajax isn’t looking in any direction but his test paper. He seems to have received inspiration for the short-story essay question.

Can anyone see it? Does anyone else notice it? Maybe it’s too small to see properly? It is kinda close to the ceiling... But it’s so bright though...wait... it’s not... “emitting light”?

The mass of light floating near the ceiling should be showing light reflecting off of the ceiling tiles above it. It’s not that bright but it should be bright enough for light, just a little light, to appear on the ceiling above it.

Yet, there is not the slightest bit of light reflected off the ceiling from this bright mass. In other words, its light has no effect on the world. It has the same properties as the legendary vampire who cannot be reflected in mirrors.

Shaula considers this odd reality but stops abruptly; the floating fluorescent marble starts floating down.

It’s moving...

Shaula stares at its motion. It slowly floats until it is right above the table of a student two table rows in front of her; it disappears behind the head and body of this male student.

Shaula looks around the female student sitting directly in front of her towards the male student to see where the light went.

Shaula can only see the head, the back and the chair that the student is sitting on; he continues to work vigorously on his test without distraction.

The light should now be in front of the student right now, literally on their test paper.

The student makes no acknowledgement of the mass of light that Shaula had witnessed. His body language doesn’t change. He doesn’t see it at all. It shouldn’t be possible for the student to miss the light right in front of him or at least moving in front of him.

Did it disappear? Or...

Shaula starts to think that it is possible that only she can see it. As if to deliberately confirm her theory, the light appears again slowly from the back of the student’s head.

It just... popped out like it went through that guy... I’m... I must... oh no... I must be... hallucinating...

Shaula considers the most obvious reason for why she’s seeing a light that nobody else is seeing. As she does so, the light continues moving towards Shaula until it moves through the student directly in front of her.

This female student doesn’t do anything in response to the appearance of the light. The light passes directly through her head, proceeding to move slightly upwards about two feet into the air before coming to a stop.

The female student makes no reaction. She doesn’t see it. Nobody next to her sees it. Nobody in front has seen it. Only Shaula can see it.

It’s definitely not real...

The light is now right in front of Shaula’s desk but not directly over it; it hasn’t gotten that close yet. It is floating about six feet above the ground currently and Shaula’s neck is tilted upwards to make sure she doesn’t miss its movements.

She looks at it with even deeper apprehension. Why is she hallucinating this right now? What does it mean?

(what if it’s... real and only I... can see--)

Before she finishes that thought, Shaula notices the light is changing form.

The light, which was originally spherical, extends downwards forming a vertical line of white light about six inches in length and one-fifth inches in width.

Fuck what’s happening to it... fuck... fuck, fuck, fuck...

Shaula can only stare in fear at the behaviour of her own mind’s projection.

But... I was finally off the antidepressants, why am I, all of a sudden, seeing things!? Is it not enough sleep? Did I eat any bad food? Wait... was it... am I... stress-hallucinating from seeing Martin?

She considers whether seeing Martin had caused her to set off her... damaged self... Did her mind respond in this manner? She is still dealing with something she didn’t wish to remember... something that was corroding her spirit to this day...

But... no I... I haven’t had any-- I was fine for the past 45 fucking minutes!! I focused on this shitty fucking exam and not even one thought about him crossed my fucking mind!!

Shaula glances at Ajax, busily working on his test, her alarm deepening. She wants him to look over and support her if he can; she wishes to rely on him... just this once... during a moment of sharp uncertainty.

But she doesn’t dare... this exam is important to him, to his future. Shaula can’t bring herself to push this development onto him in the middle of the exam...

I was better. She told me I could stop taking them in April. I never hallucinated to begin with!! Fuck! Why... why why why!? Jesus fucking-- why during this fucking exam!?

But suddenly--

Shaula freezes. Her vision constricts until she could only see the thing in front of her. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens slightly in shock. She can feel goosebumps activating in response to the terror before her.

Shaula can only look at it. She cannot do anything else but look at this thing in front of her. Her eyes become bloodshot in concentration and fear. She doesn’t take her eyes off of it.

It’s not real.

This thing that is real to her.

It’s not really here.

This thing that appears three feet away from her face.

It’s... please don’t... don’t move closer... please don’t...

Shaula prays to the god she doesn’t believe in for this existence in front of her to not move closer to her face. She, of course, doesn’t close her eyes to pray. She wasn’t so foolish as to avert her gaze from it.

The entity has paused in the air. It doesn’t move closer. Maybe god is listening to her... maybe it listened to her.

The vertical line of light is now open. But it isn’t a vertical line of light, Shaula knows that now. It is the connection between two invisible eyelids; the eyelids of an eye vertically oriented like the...

The third eye of Shiva the destroyer? Why am I seeing the third eye of...

Shaula makes the connection to the Hindu deity, Shiva, being the only entity she could think of with such a vertically-oriented eye right in the middle of his forehead.

However, this eye is not from a statue or an artist’s depiction. This eye is open and looking directly at her.

The edges of the eye are pure white borders enclosing the eye within. Normally, white would be the colour of the eye itself past the eyelids; but, this eye is not white. It is pure pitch black.

Blacker than empty space. Blacker than the heart of the devil. Light isn’t reflected from the black of this eye.

Within the darkness of the eye is a spotless, shadeless, bright, white iris with a blood-red pupil.

This entity doesn’t merely resemble an eye.

Shaula looks closer at it and she can see pure-white capillaries snaking the pitch blackness of the eye, just like the red capillaries on a human eye. The iris is making similar micro-movements that a real eye would make. The red pupil is dilating and constricting just like a real eye would in response to light and changes in focus.

Just considering its appearance rather than the shock of the situation, the eye looks... creepy. It’s looking not only at her but through her...

No... no... what is... what is this... I... Ajax...

Shaula gasps silently. Not silently actually.

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Christa Rowfield is talking to a student in the first row of the classroom. It appears to Christa that the test isn’t too difficult for her class. She could have made it even harder but she wanted the students to not leave her class hating the study of literature.

She isn’t looking in the direction of Ajax or Shaula’s tables.

Ajax is just in the middle of the short-story essay problem. He’s about a third of the way through it. He’s staring with sharp focus at his test paper; he’s disregarding his surroundings, the people in front of him, Shaula beside him, Ms. Rowfield near the front of the class.

He’s in his mind space solving these academic problems.

He has plenty of time to complete the rest of this exam. He feels happy. He’s about to get through this exam without any worries. He won’t be derailed from the future he wishes for. He can’t wait to show his mom and dad his grade for this class. Rita would be so happy too! They’d be so--

Gasp

Hm?

Ajax hears an audible gasp. It came from his left where Shaula is sitting. He lifts his eyes from his test paper and moves to look at Shaula, her face in dread, eyes wide with tension and panic.

Wait.

There’s something in his field of vision now.

Ajax looks to where Shaula is staring with her astonished and fearful expression. She doesn’t notice his gaze. But she does notice the white iris of the disembodied eye move in a direction away from her. What is it looking at?

...Ajax?

The eye has grasped Ajax in its sights. Ajax sees something he can’t quite comprehend. The hairs on the back of his neck shiver in panic.

The pupil of the eye, now staring directly at Ajax and absorbing his image into itself, turns from blood red to sky blue, dilating to cover almost the entire iris. Neither Ajax nor Shaula can tell whether this is signalling a change in emotion or demeanour.

The capillaries of bright white become thicker and more defined. This is the equivalent of the eye becoming bloodshot. The pupil constricts.

What-- what is...

Shaula stands up. Her chair is knocked over, her pens and pencils as well as her test papers fall over the side of the table. She doesn’t care.

The eye doesn’t disappear. It continues to stare at Ajax. The bright white capillaries pulsate while the pupil dilates and constricts over and over again.

Ajax feels horror.

The eye gets brighter.

I-I’m not... dream--

“Ajax... Ajax, can you see it?”

Shaula’s voice pierces through his stupor. There is no fear in it. One by one, their classmates turn to look at the two of them. Ajax is blankly staring at something while Shaula is calmly and forcefully breaking him out of his daze.

The eye gets brighter.

Christa who is standing near the front of the class faces towards the two of them. She looks in puzzlement at Shaula’s overly serious expression. She doesn’t see it. The entity that both of them are responding to.

There is slight hesitation in Shaula’s voice but no panic. Christa then looks at Ajax. She gasps,

“A-Ajax?”

The eye gets brighter.

Christa can’t believe her eyes. There is... panic and mania on his face...

“What the fuck is that? Shaula, what is that?”

Ajax steps back from his seat, knocking it over; he steps over his fallen seat, almost tripping, trying to back himself into the corner of the classroom diagonally behind him to his left. His terror rises further and further.

Shaula moves towards him but not to calm him down... she steps in front of the terrified Ajax and stares at something invisible, as far as Christa can tell.

Shaula moves to protect Ajax. He is shielded by her body. He continues to cower in fear behind her.

Yet even for the braver Shaula, trepidation starts to colour her face pale. Ajax feels the urge to cry before this being.

“Shaula... what... what is that?”

“I-I don’t--”

She doesn’t know what it is either. She cannot say anymore than that.

The surrounding noises start to get drowned out by the sound of a staticky white noise. Ajax and Shaula can hear each other but nothing can reach them anymore. If Christa or the students were trying to say something, Ajax and Shaula can't hear it.

The eye is now as bright as the rising sun past the curtains; the black part of the eye is outshined and recedes but the pupil in the centre of the eye is not blue anymore; it is a shining golden colour.

Ajax and Shaula’s classmates cannot see it. Christa cannot see it. They cannot see its brilliance, its overpowering holiness.

The eye gets brighter.

Ajax and Shaula can no longer see their classmates around them. Everything is painted over by the light of this being. Shaula considers the situation sharply, overpowering the depths of her fear,

“Ajax, listen to me carefully. Remain calm. I’m right here with you.”

“Shaula-- I-I can’t...”

Ajax is a fearful person. In his daily life, it doesn’t really impact him. But now in a crisis, his natural cowardice could mean the difference between him living and dying, between her living and dying as well. Shaula turns to face Ajax slightly, while not taking her eyes off of the brilliant divine eye before her.

“Ajax. I’m not going to repeat myself. Stay quiet and obey me. Listen to what I fucking say, right n--”

“Shaula, I just said I can’t!! I can’t even think, fuck... fuck!”

Ajax is panicking. Ajax is capable of making an incorrect decision right now. The panic itself is the incorrect decision. The critical moment is now. Ajax continues panicking, his face twisted in deep agitation,

“Fuck, what is this... we were just in the middle of... fuck, fuck, fu--”

Shaula raises her right hand. She smacks Ajax across his face. She hits him so hard, his nose starts bleeding profusely.

“Ajax! Look at that fucking thing! Something like that looks like it’ll kill us with a thought. Fucking calm down, you little bitch! If it kills you for being a pussy, I’m going to come to hell and kick you in the fucking balls.”

Tears fall from Shaula’s face as she makes her angry and frantic plea to him. She was forced to hurt him.

Meanwhile, tears of pain fall from Ajax’s face. Blood falls before him, disappearing while the overpowering light masks it away. He receives the message. Shaula is forced to apply drastic measures to keep Ajax alive. She believes in the power of the thing before her now.

It is real. They both can see it. If Ajax can see it, then it is real to her.

Ajax is snapped back to reality. He forces himself to take a defensive stance. He holds Shaula next to him rather than cowering behind her. Shaula feels Ajax's courage strengthening. However, she cannot bear to look right now at her Ajax who she was forced to hurt. Although that isn't the only reason she doesn't look towards him.

The majesty of this entity forces them to stare at its brilliance. Their eyes don’t burn out from the light emanating from this divine being’s eye; light more intense than a supernova.

The deity before them is now as bright as it can possibly be. Everything has disappeared from their sight. The classroom no longer exists to them. Even the images of their bodies disappear. Right now, only this entity exists. The divine being continues to look at the two of them. Until...

“I AM SORRY, AJAX LEONID AND SHAULA SEIKENNITH. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY... PREPARE YOURSELVES... YOU WILL BE SENT THERE SOON WITH THOSE OTHERS THERE. IF YOU MUST BLAME ANYONE... BLAME ME.”

It speaks. This being who is like God to them.

God speaks to Ajax and Shaula in apology.

e the easy questions (multiple choice, short answer, rudimentary knowledge, etc), then you deal with the ones that look more difficult. Simple enough.

Ajax starts looking through the test questions. The first question is an essay question.

Ok, no help there.

The second and third questions are also essay questions. Each of these three essay questions requires a minimum five paragraph answer.

Ajax reads the last question. The last question is a short-story analysis essay question requiring a minimum nine paragraph answer.

Sigh

Ajax reads all of these questions carefully, making sure to not miss any tricks in the questions.

Alright, time to get through this fucker.

Ajax starts working through the first question which looks easiest; he completes it without much effort.

Ok, not bad, not bad, let’s not get cocky...

He then moves on to the second question, which he deals with rather well.

Huh. Nothing too crazy...

To his benefit, the questions asked by Ms. Rowfield aren’t problems he knows absolutely nothing about; rather, he’s worked on similar practice problems already more than a few times.

His preparation for this exam has not been fruitless, it seems.

Rather than completing the third question, Ajax moves onto the last essay question.

At this point in the exam, 30 minutes have passed already and the time is now 9:45am. Ajax considers the fact that he’s making fairly good time. He doesn’t feel too thirsty. His nerves haven’t returned to an apprehensive state.

Actually, he has plenty of time left. He could even finish early depending on how he handles this short-story essay question and the third question.

Ms. Rowfield, who was sitting at the front of the class surveying the students, is now walking around the class answering questions that the students have about the test. She calmly answers their questions one-by-one.

Some students ask her for extra paper to complete their answers; Ms. Rowfield grants their requests and hands out specially formatted exam paper to those students.

As Ajax considers how he is making fairly good time, Shaula looks over to him sitting next to her. She smiles softly noticing Ajax has gotten over his anxiety and is calmly answering the exam questions without issue.

Just what I like to see.

Shaula and Ajax had spent a great deal of time preparing for this exam.

They would review practice exams provided by Ms. Rowfield, as well as past exams posted online by students in Ms. Rowfield’s class last year. They reviewed everything Ms. Rowfield had given them as assignments throughout her English class.

Shaula didn’t really need to do all that, but she did enjoy helping Ajax review the material. The look of joy as he understood a concept, the concentration he displayed when he worked methodically through a practice test question, the look of panic when he felt like he didn't understand a concept in the slightest...

All of it made Shaula feel euphoria.

She saw every emotion he displayed and every thought he expressed, right next to him; it was a treat for her, something she had all to herself. Ajax is her best friend and no one else's.

Well... ok, I can’t exclude Rita from this... but still, it is a privilege.

Anything short of hard work would produce mediocre results for this English class taught by Ms. Rowfield. It looks like it’s paying off for the both of them.

For Shaula, even though only 30 minutes had passed since the start of the test, she completed the first, third and short-story essay questions, with ease. Shaula is starting to get borned

Even the second essay question can be completed within a mere 10 to 15 minutes.

Sigh

Shaula takes her mind off the test and looks around the state of the classroom. While Ajax is calmly advancing through the test, their other classmates are more agitated.

With panicked countenances, these fellow students of hers attempt the test. Shaula relishes their suffering.

Shaula is detached to Ms. Rowfield as a person, role model or mentor but she has appreciation for her standards as an instructor. Ms. Rowfield treated both her and Ajax with nothing less than compassion and kindness but Shaula couldn't care less about anyone but Ajax and his family.

On that note, Ajax isn’t too far off from Shaula's demeanour towards outsiders either. While Shaula shows outward apathy towards most others, Ajax is distanced on the inside but polite and kind on the outside. Only his parents, Rita and Shaula hold true importance to him.

The test continues.

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Shaula surveys the girls in the class with indifference and the boys with pity and / or revulsion.

God... you know... I wonder if sitting in the front where I wouldn’t have to look at these worms would have been better than sitting here and having to have them in my line of sight all the time... sigh who fucking cares, I’ll be out of here in a week, anyways. I guess the lesson is... ‘live and learn’, huh...

Ms. Rowfield is three rows in front of Shaula and talking to a student. She is facing left towards the female student and patiently answering her questions.

Some of the students are looking at the ceiling, at their classmates around them, and towards the windows which are covered by curtains; some light is peeking through these curtains leaving lines of light around the room, especially on the ceiling.

It appears that others in Ajax and Shaula’s class are past the difficult part of the exam and calmly going through the rest of it as well. The panic at the beginning of the exam has subsided.

Shaula looks at the ceiling; her left elbow is on her desk and her head is being held up in her left hand. She’s feeling a little sleepy.

Did I get a good sleep last night? I think I got my 8 hours but wasn’t I, like, tossing and turning? Wow, yawn if I was in a difficult test, this might have been bad for me.

Shaula feels sleepy. Meanwhile, Ajax is staring at his test with a look of undivided focus. If Ajax could see her in this moment--

(Hm, there’s, like... a dot of light floating there...)

--he’d have some reprimanding words to say to her.

Shaula blinks a few times. She tries her best to snap out of her drowsy state. She finds a spot on the back of her right hand, slightly below the space between her index and middle knuckle and pinches it hard.

Rather than falling asleep, she turns her attention to the ceiling.

The ceiling is made up of a grid pattern, with half ceiling tiles, half AC vents and fluorescent light fixtures.

(What’s that floating light doing there?)

Continuing to sate her boredom, Shaula looks over at a group of three girls diagonal left to where Ajax and she are sitting.

Those girls... They’ve been spreading--

(Where is it coming from? Where is it originating?)

--rumours about Ajax, while colluding with--

(Is it being reflected by something? Or is it a firefly... no it’s not, it’s too bright... it’s just floating there... there is no origin... what is that?)

--other gossipy bitches... Huh?

Shaula stops thinking her peripheral thoughts. Rather, for the first time, she pays attention to the content of her peripheral thoughts, turning them into her main thoughts.

Shaula had been trying to move her attention away from something. Something... odd... Something that shouldn’t be. Shaula looks at it.

Wh... what is...

Two table rows in front of her, she sees something floating near the ceiling. She's a bit confused at what she is seeing however. There appears to be a light floating in the air.

Wait, wait, actually, where is that coming from?

The thoughts she had been having, previously almost subconscious in nature, start to gain consideration from her conscious mind. Right now, the object looks like a floating, fluorescent marble made of light... a neon marble, maybe?

It isn’t moving around the room, it remains floating in midair, not moving in the slightest.

It’s as if it’s caught in an invisible spider web. Unlike a literal, glass marble that emits light, it doesn’t have any definition or detail to it, nor any reflection from the glass.

It is nothing more, nothing less than a small mass of light floating in the air.

Shaula squeezes her eyelids shut, trying to wipe away any obstructions from her retinas. Her eyes are as clear as they can be... and still, the mass of light remains.

Shaula’s expression is one of confusion and apprehension towards this floating light. She looks around the classroom. Although some students are looking around the classroom, their gaze doesn’t lock on the floating light.

Ajax isn’t looking in any direction but his test paper. He seems to have received inspiration for the short-story essay question.

Can anyone see it? Does anyone else notice it? Maybe it’s too small to see properly? It is kinda close to the ceiling... But it’s so bright though...wait... it’s not... “emitting light”?

The mass of light floating near the ceiling should be showing light reflecting off of the ceiling tiles above it. It’s not that bright but it should be bright enough for light, just a little light, to appear on the ceiling above it.

Yet, there is not the slightest bit of light reflected off the ceiling from this bright mass. In other words, its light has no effect on the world. It has the same properties as the legendary vampire who cannot be reflected in mirrors.

Shaula considers this odd reality but stops abruptly; the floating fluorescent marble starts floating down.

It’s moving...

Shaula stares at its motion. It slowly floats until it is right above the table of a student two table rows in front of her; it disappears behind the head and body of this male student.

Shaula looks around the female student sitting directly in front of her towards the male student to see where the light went.

Shaula can only see the head, the back and the chair that the student is sitting on; he continues to work vigorously on his test without distraction.

The light should now be in front of the student right now, literally on their test paper.

The student makes no acknowledgement of the mass of light that Shaula had witnessed. His body language doesn’t change. He doesn’t see it at all. It shouldn’t be possible for the student to miss the light right in front of him or at least moving in front of him.

Did it disappear? Or...

Shaula starts to think that it is possible that only she can see it. As if to deliberately confirm her theory, the light appears again slowly from the back of the student’s head.

It just... popped out like it went through that guy... I’m... I must... oh no... I must be... hallucinating...

Shaula considers the most obvious reason for why she’s seeing a light that nobody else is seeing. As she does so, the light continues moving towards Shaula until it moves through the student directly in front of her.

This female student doesn’t do anything in response to the appearance of the light. The light passes directly through her head, proceeding to move slightly upwards about two feet into the air before coming to a stop.

The female student makes no reaction. She doesn’t see it. Nobody next to her sees it. Nobody in front has seen it. Only Shaula can see it.

It’s definitely not real...

The light is now right in front of Shaula’s desk but not directly over it; it hasn’t gotten that close yet. It is floating about six feet above the ground currently and Shaula’s neck is tilted upwards to make sure she doesn’t miss its movements.

She looks at it with even deeper apprehension. Why is she hallucinating this right now? What does it mean?

(what if it’s... real and only I... can see--)

Before she finishes that thought, Shaula notices the light is changing form.

The light, which was originally spherical, extends downwards forming a vertical line of white light about six inches in length and one-fifth inches in width.

Fuck what’s happening to it... fuck... fuck, fuck, fuck...

Shaula can only stare in fear at the behaviour of her own mind’s projection.

But... I was finally off the antidepressants, why am I, all of a sudden, seeing things!? Is it not enough sleep? Did I eat any bad food? Wait... was it... am I... stress-hallucinating from seeing Martin?

She considers whether seeing Martin had caused her to set off her... damaged self... Did her mind respond in this manner? She is still dealing with something she didn’t wish to remember... something that was corroding her spirit to this day...

But... no I... I haven’t had any-- I was fine for the past 45 fucking minutes!! I focused on this shitty fucking exam and not even one thought about him crossed my fucking mind!!

Shaula glances at Ajax, busily working on his test, her alarm deepening. She wants him to look over and support her if he can; she wishes to rely on him... just this once... during a moment of sharp uncertainty.

But she doesn’t dare... this exam is important to him, to his future. Shaula can’t bring herself to push this development onto him in the middle of the exam...

I was better. She told me I could stop taking them in April. I never hallucinated to begin with!! Fuck! Why... why why why!? Jesus fucking-- why during this fucking exam!?

But suddenly--

Shaula freezes. Her vision constricts until she could only see the thing in front of her. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens slightly in shock. She can feel goosebumps activating in response to the terror before her.

Shaula can only look at it. She cannot do anything else but look at this thing in front of her. Her eyes become bloodshot in concentration and fear. She doesn’t take her eyes off of it.

It’s not real.

This thing that is real to her.

It’s not really here.

This thing that appears three feet away from her face.

It’s... please don’t... don’t move closer... please don’t...

Shaula prays to the god she doesn’t believe in for this existence in front of her to not move closer to her face. She, of course, doesn’t close her eyes to pray. She wasn’t so foolish as to avert her gaze from it.

The entity has paused in the air. It doesn’t move closer. Maybe god is listening to her... maybe it listened to her.

The vertical line of light is now open. But it isn’t a vertical line of light, Shaula knows that now. It is the connection between two invisible eyelids; the eyelids of an eye vertically oriented like the...

The third eye of Shiva the destroyer? Why am I seeing the third eye of...

Shaula makes the connection to the Hindu deity, Shiva, being the only entity she could think of with such a vertically-oriented eye right in the middle of his forehead.

However, this eye is not from a statue or an artist’s depiction. This eye is open and looking directly at her.

The edges of the eye are pure white borders enclosing the eye within. Normally, white would be the colour of the eye itself past the eyelids; but, this eye is not white. It is pure pitch black.

Blacker than empty space. Blacker than the heart of the devil. Light isn’t reflected from the black of this eye.

Within the darkness of the eye is a spotless, shadeless, bright, white iris with a blood-red pupil.

This entity doesn’t merely resemble an eye.

Shaula looks closer at it and she can see pure-white capillaries snaking the pitch blackness of the eye, just like the red capillaries on a human eye. The iris is making similar micro-movements that a real eye would make. The red pupil is dilating and constricting just like a real eye would in response to light and changes in focus.

Just considering its appearance rather than the shock of the situation, the eye looks... creepy. It’s looking not only at her but through her...

No... no... what is... what is this... I... Ajax...

Shaula gasps silently. Not silently actually.

⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟

Christa Rowfield is talking to a student in the first row of the classroom. It appears to Christa that the test isn’t too difficult for her class. She could have made it even harder but she wanted the students to not leave her class hating the study of literature.

She isn’t looking in the direction of Ajax or Shaula’s tables.

Ajax is just in the middle of the short-story essay problem. He’s about a third of the way through it. He’s staring with sharp focus at his test paper; he’s disregarding his surroundings, the people in front of him, Shaula beside him, Ms. Rowfield near the front of the class.

He’s in his mind space solving these academic problems.

He has plenty of time to complete the rest of this exam. He feels happy. He’s about to get through this exam without any worries. He won’t be derailed from the future he wishes for. He can’t wait to show his mom and dad his grade for this class. Rita would be so happy too! They’d be so--

Gasp

Hm?

Ajax hears an audible gasp. It came from his left where Shaula is sitting. He lifts his eyes from his test paper and moves to look at Shaula, her face in dread, eyes wide with tension and panic.

Wait.

There’s something in his field of vision now.

Ajax looks to where Shaula is staring with her astonished and fearful expression. She doesn’t notice his gaze. But she does notice the white iris of the disembodied eye move in a direction away from her. What is it looking at?

...Ajax?

The eye has grasped Ajax in its sights. Ajax sees something he can’t quite comprehend. The hairs on the back of his neck shiver in panic.

The pupil of the eye, now staring directly at Ajax and absorbing his image into itself, turns from blood red to sky blue, dilating to cover almost the entire iris. Neither Ajax nor Shaula can tell whether this is signalling a change in emotion or demeanour.

The capillaries of bright white become thicker and more defined. This is the equivalent of the eye becoming bloodshot. The pupil constricts.

What-- what is...

Shaula stands up. Her chair is knocked over, her pens and pencils as well as her test papers fall over the side of the table. She doesn’t care.

The eye doesn’t disappear. It continues to stare at Ajax. The bright white capillaries pulsate while the pupil dilates and constricts over and over again.

Ajax feels horror.

The eye gets brighter.

I-I’m not... dream--

“Ajax... Ajax, can you see it?”

Shaula’s voice pierces through his stupor. There is no fear in it. One by one, their classmates turn to look at the two of them. Ajax is blankly staring at something while Shaula is calmly and forcefully breaking him out of his daze.

The eye gets brighter.

Christa who is standing near the front of the class faces towards the two of them. She looks in puzzlement at Shaula’s overly serious expression. She doesn’t see it. The entity that both of them are responding to.

There is slight hesitation in Shaula’s voice but no panic. Christa then looks at Ajax. She gasps,

“A-Ajax?”

The eye gets brighter.

Christa can’t believe her eyes. There is... panic and mania on his face...

“What the fuck is that? Shaula, what is that?”

Ajax steps back from his seat, knocking it over; he steps over his fallen seat, almost tripping, trying to back himself into the corner of the classroom diagonally behind him to his left. His terror rises further and further.

Shaula moves towards him but not to calm him down... she steps in front of the terrified Ajax and stares at something invisible, as far as Christa can tell.

Shaula moves to protect Ajax. He is shielded by her body. He continues to cower in fear behind her.

Yet even for the braver Shaula, trepidation starts to colour her face pale. Ajax feels the urge to cry before this being.

“Shaula... what... what is that?”

“I-I don’t--”

She doesn’t know what it is either. She cannot say anymore than that.

The surrounding noises start to get drowned out by the sound of a staticky white noise. Ajax and Shaula can hear each other but nothing can reach them anymore. If Christa or the students were trying to say something, Ajax and Shaula can't hear it.

The eye is now as bright as the rising sun past the curtains; the black part of the eye is outshined and recedes but the pupil in the centre of the eye is not blue anymore; it is a shining golden colour.

Ajax and Shaula’s classmates cannot see it. Christa cannot see it. They cannot see its brilliance, its overpowering holiness.

The eye gets brighter.

Ajax and Shaula can no longer see their classmates around them. Everything is painted over by the light of this being. Shaula considers the situation sharply, overpowering the depths of her fear,

“Ajax, listen to me carefully. Remain calm. I’m right here with you.”

“Shaula-- I-I can’t...”

Ajax is a fearful person. In his daily life, it doesn’t really impact him. But now in a crisis, his natural cowardice could mean the difference between him living and dying, between her living and dying as well. Shaula turns to face Ajax slightly, while not taking her eyes off of the brilliant divine eye before her.

“Ajax. I’m not going to repeat myself. Stay quiet and obey me. Listen to what I fucking say, right n--”

“Shaula, I just said I can’t!! I can’t even think, fuck... fuck!”

Ajax is panicking. Ajax is capable of making an incorrect decision right now. The panic itself is the incorrect decision. The critical moment is now. Ajax continues panicking, his face twisted in deep agitation,

“Fuck, what is this... we were just in the middle of... fuck, fuck, fu--”

Shaula raises her right hand. She smacks Ajax across his face. She hits him so hard, his nose starts bleeding profusely.

“Ajax! Look at that fucking thing! Something like that looks like it’ll kill us with a thought. Fucking calm down, you little bitch! If it kills you for being a pussy, I’m going to come to hell and kick you in the fucking balls.”

Tears fall from Shaula’s face as she makes her angry and frantic plea to him. She was forced to hurt him.

Meanwhile, tears of pain fall from Ajax’s face. Blood falls before him, disappearing while the overpowering light masks it away. He receives the message. Shaula is forced to apply drastic measures to keep Ajax alive. She believes in the power of the thing before her now.

It is real. They both can see it. If Ajax can see it, then it is real to her.

Ajax is snapped back to reality. He forces himself to take a defensive stance. He holds Shaula next to him rather than cowering behind her. Shaula feels Ajax's courage strengthening. However, she cannot bear to look right now at her Ajax who she was forced to hurt. Although that isn't the only reason she doesn't look towards him.

The majesty of this entity forces them to stare at its brilliance. Their eyes don’t burn out from the light emanating from this divine being’s eye; light more intense than a supernova.

The deity before them is now as bright as it can possibly be. Everything has disappeared from their sight. The classroom no longer exists to them. Even the images of their bodies disappear. Right now, only this entity exists. The divine being continues to look at the two of them. Until...

“I AM SORRY, AJAX LEONID AND SHAULA SEIKENNITH. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY... PREPARE YOURSELVES... YOU WILL BE SENT THERE SOON WITH THOSE OTHERS THERE. IF YOU MUST BLAME ANYONE... BLAME ME.”

It speaks. This being who is like God to them.

God speaks to Ajax and Shaula in apology.