Chapter 2: Why is the army here?
After a while of sitting in the cafeteria and staring blankly at Tik Tok for a couple of hours while all the other students had panic attacks in their classes.
No, I'm not joking this did actually happen because they had also called down those teachers with first aid training to go deal with it and since I was in the cafeteria the whole time I basically got front row seats to it all.
Though I do have to admit, I did get my hopes up every time they rang that little bell before they did announcements, cause maybe it was finally time to go to that…I really want to say stupid…but anyways, that assembly.
But now it was actually coming true!
Finally!
I packed up my stuff, which was just my backpack and water bottle, and practically ran to the assembly.
You know for someone who really didn't want to be at school, I had a lot of enthusiasm for this wacky assembly, it better be goddamn life-changing, that's all I can say.
Proudly, I ended up being the first person in the gym, and with the best seat, right at the front, so I could actually see and read.
Eventually, more students and teachers began rolling into the gym in groups, and soon enough every seat was taken and the noise was bustling.
I was fidgeting with my seat the whole time, like, I just really wanted to get this assembly done with. Especially since I had already seen Mr. Burns enter, he knew I was here. And therefore I must have been in his good books.
As I was pondering all of that, the lights of the gym started to dim, and everyone went silent, only a few whispers held themselves in the air.
"Students and teachers, hello," echoed a voice around the gymnasium, a dark figure stepped out onto the open floor below me, I watched tentatively.
"I am here today because you all have just finished one of your provincial exams," a few people in the crowd booed, the presenter laughed softly, and everyone returned to silence, "I'm here to say, that whatever mark you got, or will get, doesn't matter. You can do whatever you want to do, even if your academic skills aren't as great as the norm."
Oh so was this speech about me now?
"The mind is an organ, one of 78.
"So, you can do more, much more beyond your mind."
Well, that's inspirational or something, yay manual labour, is it?
At that moment, the light turned on, and we all saw who the speaker standing before us was.
He wasn't special, he wasn't unique, he was just a regular guy. He wore big black boots that echoed when he walked, tucked into them were drab green pants that were topped with a matching green tunic. His hat was green and flat against his head and labelled on his chest if you hadn't deduced it by now, was the logo of the military.
All of us seemed to nod in agreement, this was a military enlistment officer.
Well, that's cheerful, what wonderful prospects my country has set more me, much more, Mr. Burns has offered for me.
If I'm too dumb to do anything useful in the world of "academics," then I can just serve as a soldier, and die?
"Serve your country, be a part of something more, and see the world."
Aha, the usual speech given by enlistment officers, they made it out to be so wonderful and noble, the next part will probably be about free education and whatnot…
"All in payment for free education," knew it, "but there's more."
What?
Suddenly, the lights were turned off again, and the projector screen lit up. All I could think about was that this must have been thoroughly choreographed, just for the added effect of "suspense" and "surprise."
On the screen was a photograph of a group of old white men, sitting around in a circle in big comfy chairs, looking very serious. "These people," the soldier waved his hand at them. I recognized our prime minister among the few, he always seemed to look like a crumpled piece of paper, "these old white men rule the world," yes they do, and they do it quite horrifically.
He continued, "and they're not very good at it."
Stop reading my mind wacko!
"You, as well as I know, that they just sit and talk and talk, about doing stuff that they themselves never do," he looked out at the crowd of students before him, momentarily bringing his eyes to mine, it was an intense gaze, to say the least.
"That they will never do, but we will," he pressed his hand to his chest, right above his nametag, and military logo, regiment and whatnot. "They, the academics, rule us, the slaves."
A few people seemed to agree, they nodded and yelled out "yeah!" but I didn't.
You're not technically a slave if you get paid… jeez.
"Who dictated that?" He cried out to us all, high school students.
A murmur filled the crowd.
This was getting further and further away from being about enlistment, and more into something strangely political… I wondered why our principal was letting this guy continue, he seemed off the rails, driving along into the bush — straight into anarchy.
"Who did!?" He cried louder, wanted an answer, a good one.
"They did!?" Someone behind me yelled, timidly, and without any confidence, I noted.
"Exactly!" The soldier pointed to the crowd, where the voice had come from, straight over my head. "We, the slaves of the system, fight their wars, die for their wars! Why? Because they couldn't come up with another alternative, one that didn't involve violence? Aren't they the intellectuals? Shouldn't they be the ones who know what to do? Find an answer just like that?" He snapped his fingers, "but they never do."
The slide shifted, and a new picture was displayed for us all, it was a picture of our prime minister, again, he still looked old and white to me. He didn't look like power, I agreed.
"That needs to change," the soldier said, looking at the display sadly, almost like he had tears in his eyes. I wondered if he had fought in a war like what he described, maybe lost some friends along the way, deaths that could have been avoided.
"So," he said, "will you change that? And should it be done with your brain, or with your body?"
Some people laughed, it sounded awkward.
He furrowed his brow.
"Alright, then, tell me what you will do. What will you do to save our world?"
He pointed to someone in the crowd, a random boy who I knew to be one of the smartest in my grade. "What will you be, after high school?"
He stared at the soldier. I could imagine how tense that must be, placed on the spot like that, in front of our entire school, for a question every adult asked us.
The kid cleared his throat, "I'm going to be a doctor," he said, like a statement, there was no uncertainty there. He knew full well he could do it.
And I just felt sad.
"You think you can achieve that, on your own?"
"Of course," the student said, he seemed somewhat calm, again, I was envious.
"It's a noble thing, to be a doctor — a medic, save lives…" the soldier looked down to the floor momentarily, "except those of war."
God, this guy is just full of trauma.
Isn't he supposed to be making us want to join the military? It just sounds like what it is, watch all your friends die for nothing. Something that could probably just be handled with a political meeting or something.
"Medics can save everyone," the man said, still looking at the smart kid, who now seemed uncomfortable — after all, his dream job was just called "useless."
"Medics can't prevent injuries, they're the ones that come in the aftermath — the cleanup crew. Where is the prevention? The protection?" A few people laughed, and the soldier glared at them.
"Where is the peace?!" He continued, anyways.
Again, there was silence.
Until his eyes rested on me.
Why am I so unlucky, maybe I should have just gone home and ignored Mr. Burns. He wouldn't have gone any easier on me anyways…
"You," he said, pointing at me.
Dear god.
"What do you want to do, after high school, what will you be?"
I don't know, a loser?
I wasn't sure if I should lie, but everyone in my school — well at least my grade, knew I had bad marks, so they would know. Maybe they would even make fun of me for it, who knows.
So, I chose the easiest way out.
I shrugged.
But, the soldier seemed to be a very stubborn guy. He wasn't going to let me off that easily.
"Come on, surely you at least have an idea?"
Well…
"A dream… perhaps?"
I mean—
"It doesn't have to be academic."
Well, it's not— obviously—
"Come onnnn tell us!"
Why are you so pushy…
"Pleaseeeee??"
What the hell.
Screw it.
"I want," I took a breath, this guy was really ticking me off now, and my actual "dream," if you can call it that, was so pathetic and funny, that saying it might actually shut him up. So I continued, and gave it a shot, at the truth…
"I want to be a monk."
"A monk?"
"A monk."
"Oh."
Yeah, haha, didn't expect that did you?!
"In Thailand?" He asked.
How did he know that?
Scared, I nodded, he was creepy.
"AWESOME."
What.
What the hell.
Everyone was silent as well, it wasn't just me. No one even had time to laugh. He made it that way.
"You know," he tapped his boot on the floor once, then walked closer to me. I tried my best to keep my distance by leaning back in my chair — quite uselessly. "When I was younger, I wanted to be a monk too."
HUH?
"But, obviously that didn't work out, so I chose the next BEST thing."
The military?
"The military."
This guy is definitely INSANE.
"I like you," he nodded his head looking at me, "yes, we definitely need more people like YOU."
I—
I didn't know what to do, or say, or do. He thought I was… good enough?
"People like you, you and I, are awake.."
Awake?
"You understand, you understand," his voice almost dropped to a whisper, and happily (for me) he stepped away and returned to the center of the gym.
Still shaken by that whole experience, I decided, the next best thing to do would be to leave.
So, I did it the most casual way possible, so that nobody, and I mean NOBODY would see me, of course.
Which I'm being completely sarcastic about because the reality was that I ran.
I full-on BOOKED it out of that gym, and all the way home.
That was enough crazy soldier speech for me for one day…or ever.
—
Once I got home, drenched in sweat because maybe I didn't think this through all too much, I headed to my room. I didn't even stop to have a shower before I collapsed on my bed.
I had been through way too much.
As in failing my exams and getting yelled at by the military's most insane (or ambitious?) enlistment officer…who, in my opinion, may or may not even BE an enlistment officer.
More like, quote on quote, "enlightenment officer," as I'm sure he would call himself.
Before I passed out to sleep one of my friends texted me and basically said that after I zoomed outside like a madman (running from a madman, maybe?), the soldier stopped speaking, almost like he was…satisfied, and promptly left after not uttering another word.
Completely eerie.
But, as I had already made my mind up, as you probably know, he was insane, and insane people tend to be eerie and weird. So, it didn't bother me all too much, and I fell asleep right after, with plenty of nightmares about math equations.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
1tscrouton
1tscrouton Hello my friends! The goal is to point out my "bad grammer" - a wonderful quote from my friend Meme_Man_420 !
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