Developmental Math a short story
(A Short Story Written by Annemarie Widby)
My mind became numb as time passed slower and slower. Every second that passed felt like a minute, and every minute an hour. I stared blankly at the bright screen before me. My focus had submitted its self into darkness, a deep and dark tunnel I couldn’t hope to navigate on my own. I had been staring at the same problem for over an hour and I was still unable to understand what laid before me. The class continued to drag on only adding to the annoyance and sense of hopelessness that I felt.
I blinked, my eyes burned, oh how I wished to be done, or at the very least productive with the time I had been given. Yet neither of those things had come to pass. I watched on, envious of my peers as they moved up in the class, leaving me behind in a field that was once even between all students. Now it laid barren with very few stragglers left behind, and no help to be found or given. Those who were left behind were forgotten. I could already feel myself drifting farther and farther away into this vast wasteland. It’s not that we didn’t try, we did, we gave it our all, but it still was not enough.
A frown graced my lips, this feeling had not been something new to me, I felt this once before, in fact, it had been because of that feeling that I was been placed here. And even so, I had still been led down the same path. Wasn’t this course supposed to help people like me? Weren’t we supposed to be able to understand the things we didn’t the first time around? Yet somehow, I was left with more questions, and no way of answering them. I was lost. But as I have stated before, I had become familiar with this feeling. Not that this wasteland had kept track, it only wanted more victims, it was starving, with an unquenchable hunger, nothing could satisfy it, it just wanted more.
I almost wanted to give up, isn’t that what everyone wants from me, to allow this monster to consume me so they can walk free and I live in the belly of the beast like it was my fault. I couldn’t help that I did not understand what had been asked of me. I just didn’t! Why was that so hard to understand! They said that this place would help me, but it is just as bad as what I had left behind. I am still lost. I wanted to scream, yell, anything to get help, yet my mouth remained closed and my eyes fixed on that stupid bright screen. I didn’t understand this, I couldn’t! I blinked the tears from my eyes, I wouldn’t allow myself to cry. Class was over, and I quietly packed up my things and left. Leaving behind a future I couldn’t hope to obtain. This is not a story of success, this is a story of a student who was set up for failure.
Drama