Chapter 12: Art in its Truest Form
"AS PROMISED, FOR COMPLETING THIS TRIAL YOU WILL BE GIVEN A FRISBEE AS A MINI-PRIZE."
The usual podium sprouted out in front of me with a Frisbee on top of it. I dusted myself and the pieces of wood and glass off of my body. Behind me, Paula and Fiona had gotten out of the car and were walking towards me.
"Nice job Xavier, you made yourself useful for once."
"Hey, you said my name right this time!"
"Xavier's more of a thing rather than a name actually, like a thing I'm okay launching from a car at a door."
"Gee thanks…"
Fiona then walked past me and picked up the Frisbee from the podium.
"What's this?"
"It's a Frisbee Fiona," I said to her surprised, "do they not have these where you're from?"
Fiona shook her head
"Too much snow,"
"Oh shit toots, toss that here!" Paula said raising her hand up, "just flick the disc at me with your wrist and it'll fly straight no problem!"
"Like this?"
Despite it being her first time, Fiona's android physics were starting to kick in as the control of her muscle movement and angles when tossing the Frisbee back at Paula were perfect. A little too perfect. The Frisbee hurled at Paula with an incredible speed and rotation and Paula had to duck to not get pelted.
"Wait Paula, now the Frisbee's going to…"
The Frisbee flew straight out the open door and lifted a bit off the ground. Somehow, it aligned perfectly with the car and broken window right behind it. Before any of us could react properly, the Frisbee flew directly at Melanie who was still asleep on the backseat of the car hitting her directly on the forehead.
"Ohhh, that's gotta sting," Paula said.
I quickly ran back to the car.
"Melanie! Oiiii Melanie, you alright?"
Melanie however, just slowly opened her eyes and put a hand on her forehead.
"Owwww…. What was that? Why is there a Frisbee here?"
When I arrived at her however, there wasn't a single mark on her forehead.
"Wow… your noggin's pretty hard,"
"Xavier? What… what happened? Wait, did we make it through the 3rd maze? Why is the window up front smashed?"
"Can you sleep through anything? We finished the last maze already, see, we got the Frisbee!" I said grabbing the Frisbee next to her and hovering it in front of her face.
"Oh yeah, that makes sense."
"OKAY THAT'S IT FOR TODAY, PLEASE LEAVE NOW WITH THE FRISBEE THROUGH THE DOOR ON PAULA'S LEFT AS THERE IS A LOT OF CLEANUP TO DO. COME BACK AGAIN IN 2 DAYS."
"What? When did that get there?" Paula asked amazed at the sight of the door to the left of her.
"I'M NOT GOING TO MAKE YOU BACKTRACK ALL THE MAZES."
"I don't know…" Melanie said yawning, "it's pretty comfortable here. I might just lie down for a few more minutes."
As she said that, she leaned her head back and fell asleep again.
"IF YOU DON'T LEAVE, I WILL BE FORCED TO TORTURE YOU WITH TERRIBLE MUSIC."
"Ha, what are you going to do? Play country songs?" Paula asked.
"Country okay tho," Fiona said.
"EVEN WORSE. YOU ARE GOING TO BE FORCED TO LISTEN TO… EMO RAP."
And as the beat of the song dropped, Melanie quickly awoke from her slumber slightly terrified as the 4 of us ran out the door to the left of Paula right before any of the edgy verses of the song could start.
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Paula and I sat near the sea shore taking a break from fishing duty. We had already caught a decent amount of fish with the harpoon gun despite Paula's questionable aim towards my direction. Melanie had told us earlier in the day that she wanted to exercise the exploration part of her survival extraordinaire personality and decided to join Fiona on exploring some of the other parts of the island.
"Say Fiona…"
"Yeah dipshit?"
"You've known her for a while now right? I have a question about Melanie."
"Go ahead."
"Does she think I'm gay?"
"…"
"…"
"What?"
"You at least don't think I'm gay right? Because I'm definitely not okay! I'm as straight as they come. But whenever I talk to her, she seems to only want to imagine me in various situations related to other men. I don't know, it's pretty weird."
"Nah, you're definitely straight."
"Dang really?" I said slightly proud and flexing my muscles, "I come off as masculine right?"
"No dipshit… that attitudes toxic as fuck. You should be ashamed."
"Sorry."
"You're way too much of a simp to not be a straight. That's all there is to it. I'm sure Melanie realizes it too."
"What no… I just like being helpful okay! And wait, if that's true, then how come she only imagines me in gay romantic scenarios?"
Paula sighed and looked at me with an annoyed expression.
"You should take that as a compliment. When you imagine any person in a romantic scenario, who do you imagine usually, attractive people or unattractive people?"
"Uhhh… attractive people I guess."
"Right, and we can confirm that Melanie is straight right? You don't have to answer that, I can confirm this to be the case even if she's never had a guy friend before."
"Okay, what's your point?"
"So the fact she imagines you in any romantic scenarios, and you're a guy, means she must find you attractive in some way right?"
"Huh… that's a good point."
The thought felt nice in my mind. It made my heart skip a beat and I blushed.
"Yeah, you're right Paula! Thanks for the reinsurance."
"Well… either that or she wants to peg you pretty badly."
"… what?"
"Yeah I don't know why but she's pretty into that kind of stuff. She used to go on rants about wanting to see attractive guys pegged and that she thinks it's pretty hot. Yeah don't ask me, I don't really understand it either."
We stared at each other blankly for a few seconds.
"Whelp, back to fishing dipshit, the sun will be down soon so let's catch a few more and head back to camp. I hope that clears up where you stand with Melanie!"
The rest of the day we fished in silence.
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"WELCOME BACK, PRESS THE BUTTON TO BEGIN TRIAL 7."
"Say Ned, I have a question before we start today," Melanie said.
"Go ahead."
"Do you think Blackbeard ever inserted his wooden leg into Black Caeser's... you know where?"
"Wha... what?!" I said reflexing covering my ass with my hand. The conversation with Paula the day before was still lingering in my head. Besides me, I could see Paula chuckle to herself.
"I'M NOT ANSWERING THAT WE'RE JUST GOING TO BEGIN THE TRIAL."
The wall in front of us opened before we even pressed the button and the usual cave tunnel we had seen in previous trials appeared.
"PLEASE WALK ONCE AGAIN TO THE END OF THE TUNNEL."
"What is it this time?" I asked, "we're going to arrive at the same room with a TV and you're going to test us on like I don't know…math problems or something?"
"PAULA HAS ALREADY PROVEN SHE IS PROFICIENT AT MATH. NO, INSTEAD TODAY WE TEST YOUR CREATIVITY."
"Ohhhhh that sounds fun, I'm quite creative!" Melanie exclaimed.
"Me too," Fiona added.
"Ewwwwwww I'm not," Paula groaned, "what are you going to do, make us write poetry?"
"YES."
"…what?"
"THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO, WRITE POETRY."
When we arrived at the end of the tunnel and opened the door to the room, instead of the usual TV screen, there appeared 4 classroom chairs and desks with pieces of paper and pencil on top of them.
"PLEASE TAKE A SEAT AT A DESK AND I WILL EXPLAIN THIS TRIAL. DO NOT SAY A WORD OR YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY FAIL."
"What is this the SATs?"
"THAT'S A WARNING XAVIER, ONE MORE WORD AND EVERYONE FAILS."
"…"
"GOOD, OKAY I WILL EXPLAIN HOW THIS WORKS NOW. PLEASE SIT AT A DESK CHAIR AND DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING ON THE DESK."
We did as Ned instructed of us each taking a seat at one of the desks.
"EACH ONE OF YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN TWO PIECES OF PAPER. WHEN YOU TURN OVER THE FIRST ONE, THERE WILL BE A PROMPT ON A TOPIC. THE OTHER PIECE OF PAPER IS BLANK. ON IT YOU WILL HAVE TO WRITE A POEM AS STATED FROM THE PROMPT. YOU ARE GIVEN 10 MINUTES EACH TO WRITE YOUR POEMS. AFTERWARDS, WHILE STILL NOT TALKING, YOU EACH WILL HAVE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THE CLASS TO PRESENT YOUR POEM TO EVERYONE. THE ONLY THING YOU CAN SAY OUTLOUD IS THE POEM YOU WROTE WHEN RECITING IT TO THE CLASS. I WILL CALL YOUR NAMES TO PRESENT. ANY QUESTIONS?"
At that we all raised our hands.
"HAHA JUST KIDDING, I'M NOT GOING TO ANSWER ANY OF THEM. OKAY READY? BEGIN! 5 MINUTES REMAINING"
Having no choice but to follow his instructions, I turned over my paper to read the prompt on the topic I had to write.
· Write a poem about… anything you want.
"What the hell..."
"AND NO LOOKING AROUND AT ANYONE ELSE TO GET A HINT AT WHAT THEIR PROMPT IS OR YOU WILL FAIL AS WELL, 4 MINUTE 30 SECONDS REMAINING."
That was it, there wasn't anything else written on the piece of paper for the prompt. That's just what it said. And due to Ned's instructions, I couldn't find out if it was just me who had this prompt or if everyone had the same prompt.
"Shit… what?! How do I even begin with this?" I thought to myself.
"4 MINUTES REMAINING."
"Shit shit okay, anything I want? That means absolutely anything right?"
"3 MINUTES 30 SECONDS REMAINING."
"Okay okay, just think about anything, uhhhh uhhh…"
"3 MINUTES REMAINING."
"Alright just scribble words on the page. Something anything. How is this judged anyways what the hell?"
"2 MINUTES 30 SECONDS REMAINING"
It was at this point that I decided to trust my instincts and begin writing down the first thing that came to my mind. With each word I wrote down, I didn't take so much as a second thought to evaluate its quality.
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"OKAY TIMES UP, YOU MAY LOOK UP AT EACH OTHER NOW."
I dropped my pencil finishing the poem I had created. As I looked around at the girls, they seemed just as nervous as I was.
"Okay maybe I'm not alone," I thought, "maybe they were all surprised by the same prompt."
"Say Ned why…"
"SHUT UP PAULA, NO TALKING, THAT IS A WARNING. ANOTHER WORD AND YOU FAIL THE TRIAL."
"…"
"OKAY, THE POETRY PRESENTATION WILL NOW BEGIN. FIONA YOU WILL GO FIRST, PLEASE STEP IN FRONT OF THE CLASS AND PRESENT WHAT YOU WROTE DOWN."
The deadpan red haired android took her piece of paper and walked up to the front of the class. We sat there in anticipation waiting for her to speak.
"YOU MAY BEGIN."
"Apples" she began, "And pears, and oranges, and bananas, and cherries, and watermelons."
"…"
"…"
"…"
The red haired android did not say another word and simply took her sheet and sat back down.
"VERY GOOD FIONA, PLEASE GIVE HER A ROUND OF APPLAUSE."
Awkwardly, the three of us clapped at Fiona whose poem apparently was just a list of fruits.
"OKAY PAULA YOU'RE NEXT"
Paula grabbed her poem and went to the front of the room looking slightly embarrassed.
"YOU MAY BEGIN."
Paula cleared her throat before she began reading.
"Does the moon's light shine without the sun?
Does the ocean's blue shine without the sky?
You must walk so you can run.
You must run so you can fly.
Everyone in this world needs someone.
In togetherness, we live in peace.
Step after step gets it done
And evil things will then cease"
Paula stopped talking after that line. She took the paper and walked to her seat as we gave her a round of applause.
"Wow… impressive," I thought, "not the best, but not bad for something that you came up with in 5 minutes, certainly better then…"
I looked down rereading what I had written. It was my subconscious spilling out in all honesty with no second considerations. The thought of reading the poem out loud to everyone had finally hit me as I sank a bit into my seat.
"OKAY GOOD JOB PAULA, MELANIE YOU WILL GO NEXT."
Melanie took her piece of paper and walked to the front of the room.
"Oh boy… here we go," I thought.
"YOU MAY BEGIN MELANIE."
"Ahem," she said clearing her throat.
"Yo yo MC Melanie coming at you now
Come at me hard and you'll have to bow
I got flow like no other
Even more than your mother
Running from the law fast
None of you would last
I'm the king of the world
And you're all in it.
Mic, Drop…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"GOOD JOB MELANIE, EVERYONE GIVE HER A ROUND OF APPLAUSE."
The three of us clapped awkwardly as Melanie sat back down.
"OKAY, LAST BUT NOT LEAST, GO AHEAD XAVIER."
Cringing a bit at my own words, I awkwardly walked up to the front of the class.
"OKAY, YOU MAY BEGIN XAVIER."
I took a deep breath before beginning.
"Please don't peg me please that's not nice
I like hand holding and stuff to be precise
Pegging sucks and it would make me bleed
That would hurt a lot, if you did the deed
Oh shit I'm running out of time just write anything
Like words and more words or something
Yeahhhhh..."
As I finished reading my poem, the 3 girls in front of me all had different reactions. Melanie looked at me with a worried look, Fiona looked at me with her usual blank expression, and Paula looked like she was about to burst out in laughter at any moment.
"GOOD JOB XAVIER, CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE ALL PASSED TRIAL 7, YOU MAY ALL TALK NOW."
I breathed a sigh of relief as Paula burst out into laughter.
"Hahahahaha, what the hell was that dipshit, you read a poem about pegging?"
"I tried my best okay. And what the hell Ned, how were we even judged? That was the most subjective trial ever."
"WELCOME TO ART."
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