This was the last day of classes. Pretty sad, actually. It was our last full day in Oxford. Read on.
I haven't mentioned this before, but my dormitory at Oxford had five floors, and I just happened to be on the top one. The stairs leading up to them were very steep, and I realized that I went up and down them a LOT, so I started timing my trips in order to see when I'd have to leave to get to meals on time and such. Today, I went up the stairs 9 times and down the stairs another 9 times. 45 flights of stairs up, 45 flights of stairs down every day. That was my exercise while at Oxford. :)
< This is a picture of the stairs from a bird's eye view... I thought it looked cool. :)
In Writing class, we read our stories out loud. Mine ended up being about 2 typed pages, with the title "Escape." Check it out!
Escape
The dark-colored bandana concealing her hair fluttered in the wind as she stepped out of the plane arriving from Athens. The scratchy fabric itched my fragile skin. I found myself wishing for limbs. Anything would be better than just a tail.
We were at an airport. I flew up and down as she walked, her high heels clacking annoyingly. I let out a quick accidental hiss of frustration and recoiled at the sound. She reached her hand backwards towards my friends and I, found me among us all, and squeezed my neck tightly.
End this life, I wished sadly; though I knew it would not be fulfilled. My voice would never be heard. I writhed around in pain, trying to break free of her grip.
She let go. Relieved, I lay down obediently, though I hated it. I hated my life as a slave.
She adjusted her dark sunglasses and marched up to the immigration check, cut to the front of the queue, and filled out the form, her pen flying down the page as if it were a boisterous storm cloud in a stormy night sky. She knew her character well, though it wasn’t even close to the reality of her situation.
I peeked at the words through a tiny tear in the bandana. She just filled out some random nonsense on the card, but I couldn't help imagining myself answering some of the questions on the card truthfully.
Age?
Lost count.
Birthday?
Somewhere around 50 B.C.E., though I can’t be certain.
I hated those things already.
Race?
Snake. I guess I’d fall under “Other.”
Yes, I know. Scream all you want. But I’d really appreciate it if you’d just deal with it.
She cleared her throat, reapplied her lipstick, handed the form in, and walked through the doors without uttering a single word.
I bounced against the other snakes, my fangs scraping at my scales in agitation. My “friends” and I didn’t really get along, but we were fellow brethren: living the same stressful lives, thinking the same horrible thoughts, hoping it could all stop. It was a mutual feeling; one we all knew was present. We all dreamed that one day we’d be free through death, rid of Athena, who brought us here in the first place, and of Medusa’s harassment. She knew we didn’t value our lives, though she constantly abused us, reminding us of our plight, our struggle to remain compliant to her orders.
Medusa was hurrying to the baggage claim area, though she was never in a hurry. You never have to rush if you’re thousands of years old, especially if you have more thousands left to go.
She went up to a man at some sort of a reception desk at the corner of the room. “Where are my bags?” she demanded, her voice still heavy with a thick Greek accent, “I’ve been waiting for hours.”
His eyes left his work. “I’m sorry, miss, you’ll have to wait for your luggage in the claim to circle ‘round.”
That response didn’t please Medusa, little did. She drew him to the side. “Can I speak with you privately?” It was more of an order than a question, especially because her voice was rising, giving way to a threatening tone.
“What’s going on?” His face betrayed fear and his voice quivered as he followed her to a secluded part of an airport hallway.
“It’s over,” she said, scoffing softly as she tilted her sunglasses down. Our cue.
I hated this part. If we weren’t vicious enough, we’d be punished, going through so much pain that we’d shed our skin.
She threw back her bandana and I slithered up with my brothers. Twisting, turning, spiraling, spitting. I wondered if there was a split second in which our victims saw our wrath before their death. They could never understand our masked misery.
We watched him suffering through a spasm of fear, hearing the cracking sound of stone hitting stone, colliding together, and shuddered to ourselves as the shell came together before his face.
No sign of life remained. Poor mortal. All that was left was the horrified expression depicted on the stone face; its parted lips and wide eyes: though they were rendered emotionless, nonexistent.
With the slap of a single hand, the figure shattered into pieces and disappeared into thin air.
I dove into the masses of snakes, hiding from the scene. Though I could still sense everything, distantly…
The problem with Greek mythology was that most stories ended in tragedy, I thought to myself, but what if tragedy is the only way to escape from our dilemmas?
I pushed deeper and deeper through the crowds of snakes, stretching myself as far as I could go, closer towards her neck. I crossed over the other snakes to her arm. She didn’t seem to notice. I had never seen her before, not without her disguise, but I knew that I must in order to destroy my depression, for the life I led wasn’t worth living.
So I jumped, and just glanced at her face for a moment, all of her hideous features glaring upon me, just for a second, and then a sense of dropping.
Falling; down, down, down. And I never stopped.
We gave theoretical "awards" to each other. My class voted my piece as the most original! :)
In Psychology, we analyzed our personalities. (Haha, that sounds really strange....) Apparently, I am an extravert, slightly stable, I barely give in to social pressure, and I'm in between conformity and determination to be different.
Interesting.
We also played a Jeopardy game. Our team, the Gryffindors (I know, it's awesome, right?) won! The other team was being obnoxious, though. *sigh*
For lunch, I had chicken and chips! Next, we headed over to Leadership and Team-building again. We mainly talked and filled out a quick survey about how we liked the class so far. Most people weren't very enthusiastic, since we play childish games a lot.
In our free time, my friends and I went to Michael's Crêperie. I got a DELICIOUS crêpe with Belgian milk chocolate and bananas! They made them directly in front of us... it was amazing.< This is a crêpe that someone else got after me. I wanted to take a picture of mine, but I had already taken a bite, so it didn't look that amazing ;)
We also went to Ryman's to get Aubrey a folder, the Stickershop, and Past Times, where I got a new locket.
Dinner was basically the same thing as lunch. After that, we all got dressed up and ready for the graduation and the dance that would follow.
Graduation was really great. Everyone got a graduation certificate that looked like a college diploma, and several people got prizes if they did well in their classes. Aubrey, Sophie, Diana, Megan, and I all got prizes! :) Diana and I both got the Best Presentation Award for Psychology class as well as the two Noble Prize Winner in the Making Prize for Writing Class!
When we left the graduation, I realized that Metodi had gone! He had already left, leaving us a note on the white board telling us that he missed everyone. Ahh, Teddy.
I wasn't excited for the dance at all. See, there was this guy...
It's hard to explain.
Anyway, it wasn't that bad.
My friends and I mostly hung out outside by a bench. I took pictures, we laughed, had fun, etc.
The Evening Shout came afterward, followed by tears and hugs. It was our last night at Oxford.
~Cora
