It was the eighth week since we were grouped by our personality types, or so we were told. Everything seemed off. Everyone was just so mad at each other for no reason. Even more so against the different houses. I seemed to be the only one who noticed that this was bizarre. A simple test can’t dictate the rest of school life.
I was in my group's living section when I saw Ruth. We were alone, which was a first because the house was usually packed. I think everyone was off for a program. I never know, I stopped attending those things. She was unraveling, I could tell. A normally put together girl now looked in shambles. I knew this was my chance to get something out of her. “Hey Ruth how’s it going?”, “fine” she answered. “You look a bit uneasy, have you noticed anything strange lately?”. She then looked at me with what I could detect only as pure relief, which then quickly changed to fear. “No nothing”, she said. “They can’t hurt you” I told her, “All you need to do is show them that they're the ones acting weird” “All you need to do is….” Before I could finish my sentence a group of them came. “What the hell do you want?” the biggest looking one said. “Nothing, I was just leaving”, I said. “Best” she said. “Yeah best” Ruth said in a completely different demeanor. The rage had gotten to her again. I quietly left.
Later that night I wanted to continue my research. My goal was to visit the other houses and interact with their members, maybe find others like me who could see it. It was barely six o’clock; I headed for the Door gate. I call it that because it was modified. They somehow manage to make it look more depressing than everything in the house already was. It was like the door on those solitary confinement rooms in prisons. Full steel with a bared opening at the top. It was so high that you had to scream your demands to whoever was on the other side. Plus the noise coming from inside the house didn’t help.
I was in a pretty good mood so I tried doing a chin up with my hand on the spaces left by the bars, so I could raise myself and easily talk to the people on the other side. I heard a tiny scream as I tried; I let go of the one hand that was pressing against someone's else's hand who was on the other side of the door gate and pulled myself up with my other hand. “Do you want to kill me??!?” The female house master said. “No”, I answered, “I’m sorry, I was just trying to get higher so I could talk to you g-”. “GO BACK”, the male house master interjected. I hadn’t seen him before, he had just come into view. If I knew he was at the other side of the door gate I wouldn’t have bothered. See this man was crazy, even before ‘the great switch’ (as I call it) he always had a bug up his ass. “You see I just need to g-“, “GO BACK, OR I BURN YOU WITH THIS IRON”. He whipped out an iron out of nowhere like he was Inspector Gadget. I knew he was bluffing so I kept going. “Sir, if you would just-”. Then he opened the door, plugged the iron in, and calmly said “Go back”. I was scared but at the same time tired of everyone being so angry, I stood my ground. Now everyone’s attention was fixed on us, quiet and in awe. With these many people watching he couldn’t do such a thing. While I was soliloquizing, he thrust the iron. I put up my hand in shock and defense. It made contact. Hot metal to skin. I screamed. It felt like time had slowed down. He pulled the iron back as I stepped back. The crowd started mumbling, soon the mumbles turned to chatter, then full out rage. They started arguing with the teacher, screaming at him, questioning him. By this time the female house master had come inside to see what was going on. While the two were trying to calm the students down I slipped away.
There were four houses and I went to each one of them. They all turned me down and told me to leave, apparently nobody allowed people from different houses into their house. The last one I visited was guarded by a student who was once my friend. “Phil, we go way back, just give me five minutes and I’ll be gone”, I said. “If you don’t leave right now, something bad is going to happen”, he said. I had never seen him so serious. I decided to go back.
Upon getting to my group’s house I saw my things outside on the floor. My bag, books, and clothes. The house masters weren’t at the door anymore. I knocked and someone opened up. “You’re not allowed here anymore”, the student said. “What do you mean?” I asked. She then pointed at a teacher who was inside. I saw who it was and it was one of the good ones. He turned back and saw me. “Yeah you’re gonna have to leave”. “If he comes back and sees you, I don’t know what he’ll do”. I stared at everyone going about their business. The place seemed quieter, more peaceful. I guess this is the aftermath of a traumatizing event. Sadly I wouldn’t get to be a part of this new change. I asked the teacher “So what house do I go to now?”. “The fifth one”, he said. “Oh where’s that?”, I said. “The streets”, he answered. I couldn’t believe it. Was that even legal? I just smirked and left. Maybe there are others out there. Maybe those others see it.