I hear my father’s heavy footsteps march into our study area. “Young man, I hope you realise how important tomorrow is!” A hand touches my shoulders, gripping them to the point of me experiencing pain.
I gnash my teeth. “Of course I know that. And I’m prepared. As I always am.” I reply with enthusiasm.
He has always wanted the best for me, and I sure as hell won’t disappoint him. Not after I’ve tried so hard to get to this point.
Seeing that I was still immersed in studying, he quietly turned around and left the room. Before the door closed, he whispered “I know you are. Make me and all the others proud, okay? We don’t want a certain someone surpassing you after all.”
The door closed with a silent click, blanketing the room in a familiar and comfortable silence again.
After spending the entirety of the night at my desk, I finally get some sleep after 13 hours of work for my upcoming final exams.
To be honest, I’m disappointed that I couldn’t stay awake all the way through to the morning, but there are only so many all-nighters I can pull a week before I collapse.
Months of sleep deprival have been invested into these exams, and now that they are here, I’m still afraid I still haven’t worked hard enough. Maybe I should have started last year?
Damnit, I should have ignored all those annoying friends of mine. What if I don’t get full marks because of them?
The mere thought makes me angry. I make a mental note to interact less with other people once I enter a university. The only thing that matters is studying and comprehending the necessary information.
I stretch myself and prepare myself for the morning routine that I usually go through. Looking at the clock, I realize that it is already 5am. Just in time.
I exit the house in a slow jog, heading towards the big fields in the vicinity.
Breathing the fresh morning air in, I enjoy the fitness I’ve gradually built up over the last few years. The only reason I’m able to study that long and still stay in top form, is that my body is already used to strenuous exercise. So a few hours of missing sleep are barely a bother.
My feet lightly tap the hard marble plates in front of the entrance.
I pass the neatly trimmed bushes that show the way out of the heavily decorated mansion, absentmindedly inspecting whether the gardener had been slacking.
As I didn’t find anything less than perfection, I exit the expansive grounds at ease. I don’t feel good when we have to fire a gardener just because he’s incompetent.
Is it that hard to do one's job? I mean, if I were to be paid a sizable sum just to keep some slowly growing plants presentable, I would sure as hell not slack.
The sound coming from below my feet changes as the ground turns into a normal concrete pavement, and I accelerate tremendously in hopes of getting to the running park faster than her.
A quarter of an hour passes quickly, the dimly illuminated fields around me giving me an eerie feeling.
Our mansion was located in quite a remote corner of the suburbs, causing us to not have to bother with annoying neighbours and other pesky duties such as attending to birthday parties.
A very wise choice, I have to admit.
I round a corner and see my first destination today. I look at it, the dark green trees impossible to overlook in this otherwise quite flat environment. I could discern various structures through the low canopy of the trees, but nothing specific.
However, I am immediately met with a feeling of disappointment.
A brown haired girl is at the entrance to the forest trail, waiting for me with crossed arms and a smug grin on her face.
“You’re late, slacker. Decided to take the extra long route?” She mocks, maintaining her classic victorious pose.
I give a short chuckle before responding with a beaming smile.
“It appears that I have been beaten here.” I stop for a brief moment, letting her bask in the glow of victory. “By the girl who set off 10 minutes earlier than we agreed. No matter, now that I’m here I won’t be losing to you Catherine!” I run past her, my aim being the nearest structure: The Ladders, as we like to call them.
“Hey!” She shouts after me.
She slowly begins catching up to me, but I simply laugh and increase my speed again. It continues like this for ten minutes, after which we reach the ladders while panting from the long lasting sprint at the end.
I only take a few seconds to rest myself, immediately jumping up to one of the ladders that hung over my head. It was connected to two climbing frames, which held it up on both sides.
““3, 2, 1, let’s go!”” We shouted at the same time, swinging our bodies from rung to rung. We traversed the normally strenuous exercise with experienced ease, already knowing which movements were more efficient than others.
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My fingers started heating up as the rough ruts, that weren’t meant for being held onto, scraped against the callused skin, but I’ve long since gotten used to this now. By now, it’s more like a comfortable itch that tells me I’m actually exercising.
I reach the other side, Catherine just half a meter behind me. I let myself drop down, falling for a second and landing on the soft dirt.
“YES, I won!” I raise my hands into the air whilst celebrating my small victory, fully intent on savouring the feeling of gratification.
“Pah, you only won through luck. Don’t get too full of yourself.” She snorts at my silly antics. “I’ll have my chance tomorrow.” She adds.
“You’re just a bad loser. Admit it.” The happiness let me forget the slight signs of exhaustion that plagued me a few moments before, enabling me to pace around energetically.
She just raises an eyebrow, not replying anymore.
We set off to complete the rest of the course that consists of jogging around the massive grounds of the running park.
I strain my legs to run faster, seeing that she is slightly ahead of me. I overtake her in a flash, but she returns the favour in kind, increasing her own pace as well.
This repeats itself every few dozen seconds, with our average speed staying more or less the same. It’s like sprinting for a second and then jogging for ten, just far more drawn out.
“Don’t you think we should save our energy for the test?” Catherine manages to mumble between her gasps for air.
She’s right, I shouldn’t be compromising my future over a small rivalry.
We slow down to a comfortable pace, barely fast enough to be called jogging. Which is necessary as both of us are already sweating, something possibly very disadvantageous when absolute concentration is necessary.
Within a few more minutes, we reach the entrance again..
I stop momentarily alongside Catherine and turn to her.
“I should be getting back home to finish my preparations for today.” I pant out between hastened breaths.
Catherine, as equally short for air as myself, wheezes out. “Not that it’ll do you any good, I’m going to blow you out of the water with my results. Just you watch.”
After pausing for a few minutes, we both resume our jog, soon splitting from each other to go on our own ways.
The fleeting moments of my daily run comes to an end as I arrive at my front door.
I open the door, hearing a light feminine voice come from the first lounge. “Have your shower darling. Then afterwards, I’d like to speak with you.”
I take off my trainers and begin to make my way to the bathroom as I respond. “Of course mother!”
After moving upstairs and traversing our hallways awhile, I arrive at my bathroom.
Once in the shower, the slight ache in my muscles slowly vanishes as I let the hot water run down my tired body. My muscles relax under the comforting warmth, making me wish that I could just stay here forever.
Unfortunately, everything has to come to an end. As soon as the dirt and sweat has been purged, I exit the shower and grab a towel.
I can’t make mother wait after all.
Making sure I’m only moderately wet, I grab my school uniform, a normal black blazer and a blue shirt with the school insignia embroidered on them, and put it on.
It only takes me a couple more minutes to finish getting ready and make my way back downstairs to my mother.
As I walk into the lounge, I see her sitting on our comfortable brown couch, reading a book on chinese economics in the 19th century.
I sit down and wait for my mother to address me. A few minutes pass in silence, with none of us talking.
I sigh internally at her usual form of dominance. Really, I’m her son, so she doesn’t have to put that facade up in front of me.
Nonetheless, I am already counting the seconds it takes this time in my head, comparing them with the previous times.
Ahh, the benefits of having a good memory.
Exactly 375 seconds pass until she finally puts her book down and starts speaking.
“This is the moment we’ve been working towards all your life, son.” She leans forward, staring at me with her piercing blue eyes.
“I know you’re prepared, I really do. But you must be successful. If you fail now, then everything will be for nothing. All these years of studying. All the energy and money we’ve invested into your education, wasted. Everything destroyed.” She sighs, leaning back again.
“You know what to do. Don’t disappoint us.” She picks her book up again, not sparing me another glance.
“Yes, mother.” I stand up and prepare to go, feeling that the pressure has grown again. My heart tightens almost imperceptibly when I think about the consequences of failing.
I must not. No matter what happens.