He crushed the blue book in his hand. His face turned white as he stared at the number written in red ink.
"32.5."
Neo closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he spread the exam booklet across his desk. Each page bled with red marks — notes, X's, and circles carved by the merciless pen of his law professor. He flipped through it, faster and faster, as if somewhere between the pages he'd find mercy. He didn't.
There was no hope. He had failed his midterm exam — the one subject everyone feared the most.
Constitutional Law I.
His law school days were numbered.
"I'll make it up in the finals," he muttered, jaw tight. "This isn't over yet."
He pressed the blue book flat on the desk. At the back cover, written in cold, unforgiving handwriting:
Subject: Constitutional Law I
Name: Neo Sicarro
Rating:FAILED
Neo stared at it, disbelief etched on his face.
"This is only my first year," he whispered. "Not even three months in. And I'm not giving up. Not yet."
He stood up, his knees aching from kneeling too long. He raked a hand through his hair and took a deep breath.
"This exam won't stop me," he said, voice low but steady. "I'll ace the next one. I'll show that professor who I am."
He grabbed his jacket, stepped outside, and slammed the door behind him.
"It's a shitty day anyway," he muttered. "I deserve a cigarette."
Neo crossed the street in a rush—
BAM!
The sound split the air. A speeding truck had hit him. His body soared twenty feet before crashing back onto the pavement.
"Motherfu—" he gasped, blood filling his mouth. "This... this isn't the end—"
He opened his eyes. It felt like a thousand years since he'd last done so. His left eye still had astigmatism—he'd never gotten the chance to buy prescription glasses. But this time, it wasn't just his eyesight that blurred his vision.
Neo was underwater. His body trembled, but he couldn't move; something was holding him in place. The water was freezing. Through the glass walls enclosing him, he could see he was inside a tank. Tubes were attached to his mouth, nose, and chest.
He tried to move, but nothing happened.
"Wha—" he tried to speak, but the tube in his mouth stopped him. "What is going on?"
Beyond the glass stood a fat old man smiling at him—wide-eyed, like a lion stalking its prey.
"Is he… looking at me?" Neo thought. Then his stomach dropped. "No. He's staring at my dick."
"Senator, I'd like to discuss something with you," said a man in a white lab coat.
Their voices were muffled by the tank, but Neo could make out some of the words.
The old man's grin vanished. He turned toward the doctor.
"Yes, yes… what is it, Doctor?"
"The item you won at the auction is conscious and ready for delivery to your home, Senator. Would you like us to begin the orientation process?"
"No. There's no need, Doctor Strauss," the Senator replied. "I'll handle it myself at home. Just make sure my cargo arrives safely. These teleportation docks are quite reckless with deliveries."
"I'll remind them, Senator."
"Good. I'll be off, then. These inferior states have horrible prostitutes. Too old for my taste."
"Yes," the doctor said, glancing at Neo. "Especially this one's origins. The Philippines truly became the hell the Filipinos wanted it to be. At least they figured out how to accelerate aging to expand their workforce. Now it only takes a few weeks for a newborn to grow into an adult."
Neo struggled inside the tank, thrashing against the wires. "Where the hell am I? And what the fuck are they talking about?"
The Senator turned back toward him. His gaze pierced through the glass—cold, vile, unforgettable.
"You wait your turn, little shit," the Senator muttered. "I'll get back to you later."
The tank sealed shut. Neo couldn't see anything, but he felt the water begin to drain. The restraints loosened, and he collapsed onto the cold metal floor, gasping. Water streamed past him through the drains.
Panting, he tore the tubes from his body one by one. The last one came from his mouth, and he gagged—vomiting out the strange liquid that had filled his throat.
A hiss of vapor escaped from the top of the tank.
"Huh?" Neo blinked, dizzy. "What kind of hospital is this?"
He inhaled the vapor—and blacked out.
"Neo...", a familiar voice said, "Hey! Neo. Wake up!"
He raised his head quickly to see what was going on. He rubbed his eyes. A woman in her early twenties was right in front of him. Her hair was black. The curls were sharp like a lioness' and her eyes were kind but worried.
"Frea?" Neo asked, "Is that you?"
He woke up. He was in a coffee shop. The seats were filled with other people, enjoying their day. "Where are we?"
"We're at Arnold's. Silly. You dozed off while we're studying out?", she replied softly.
"Really? I had the weirdest dream. I was in some sort of water tank. And it was freezing."
"Oh? Another one of Neo's infamous weird dreams?" she jokingly replied.
"Yeah. yeah. Stop humoring me. I need to study for my Finals exam," Neo said.
"Exam? What exam?" She stroked her hair behind her ear. "Since when have you had exams?"
"You know the Final Exam for Constitutional Law?"
"Law? What are you talking about? You're a NEET, remember. You're not in law school?"
"Huh?" Neo looked around in panic.
"I'm just messing with you." She laughed. "It's really fun to take advantage of you when you're docile from just waking up from a dream."
"HA HA", he sarcastically laughed. "Duh, why would we be in our favorite coffeeshop studying?"
"Seems like I missed that huge clue, didn't I?" she retorted. "Dreams can be fool you into being reality. Babe, you have to really notice the details. Sometimes, the clue is just in plain-view, then you'll realize it's all a dream."
A waitress approached their table. "Here's the matcha, with extra cream, you both ordered. " The waitress tried to put it on the table but it was full of notebooks and reviewers.
"Oh sorry about that," Neo cleared a space on the table for the drinks. He noticed his blue-book notebook for the Midterm Exam. "Oh this thing."
He picked it up and saw the back of the notebook.
100
"Huh? 100?" his eyes focused on the number. Neo had realized it and smirked. "So, Frea, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure babe? What is it?" she replied with a pleasant smile and holding his right hand.
"Since, we're talking about dreams, remember when you told about that dream you had. Where you were in danger, then you looked at my phone."
"Yeah. That was one of my weirdest dreams," she responded.
"You noticed something, right? Something that made you realize, it was all a dream."
"Of course." She replied. "The phone in my dream was clear and new. I realized then that it wasn't your phone because your phone had a broken screen."
Neo stood up. He grabbed a fork and stabbed the waitress next to them, who was listening intently to their conversation.
The waitress screamed. The whole coffeeshop stood up and looked at the scene.
"Babe! What are you doing? Why did you just stab that lady?"
"There is one thing that I knew is the truth. I know my girlfriend. And I know my failed midterm exam score. And I know that I'm FUCKING lactose intolerant!"
A lound and deafening alarm played.
"BEEP! BEEP! Simulation broken. BEEP! BEEP! Simulation broken."
All the people in the room stood up and their skins turned into a dripping liquid.
The robotic bodies on the people were revealed.
Neo's face went blank in disbelief. "You bastards! Get me out of here!"
A voice from the walls started speaking. "Prepare for the next phase of the orientation. It seems our new member has reached the Radical Acceptance Stage. End phase. And move him to the next."
Guards smashed the glass door of the coffeshop. And dragged Neo outside.
"You motherfuckers! Let me go!" Neo shouted.
"Relax. If we wanted you dead. You would be dead already," the voice said.
While Neo was getting dragged by the guards, he saw rooms filled with different locations. It looked like a movie set. With scenes from the wild west. The medieval period. And what seemed like jungles.
"What is this place?" Neo asked.
"Stay calm," one of the guards whispered to Neo. "everything will be alright."
I know that voice.