Chapter 8 #3
He nodded, smiling reservedly, as if he would rather be somewhere else. As if this conversation made him uncomfortable.
Lucas patted him on the shoulder again. “But he's not as boring as his father. There's no one here who wouldn't like to be like our clever Zach.”
Zachary closed his eyes in resignation.
Poor guy.
“Why are you guys here if this is already your third semester?”
I looked around and spotted some people who looked like they were already in their mid-twenties.
“Tradition,” Lucas said, changing his voice dramatically to make it sound deeper. “One of the virtues of our university.”
I was about to ask Lucas if there were any other virtues that weren't on the banners when the room fell silent and both young men turned their heads toward the stairs, which was where everyone's attention was now.
Eyes Of The State
Abel Korzeniowski
It was as if a deadly silence had fallen over the students when the gray-haired old man in a dark, gray-checkered three-piece suit, with a black handkerchief peeking out of his breast pocket and a silver pin in the shape of a scale attached to it flashing sharply, stepped down the stairs.
The silver tip of his walking stick, with its ornately decorated silver handle, around which his wrinkled hand clawed, dug into the wooden floor with a dreadful echoing sound.
“Iustitia,” the professor I hoped would never discover me called out.
Immediately, all of the roughly hundred people present stood up, and I did the same.
“Iustitia”
I looked around at the young men, whose posture was alarmingly straight. All of them had their hands clasped behind their backs, their expressions blank. I immediately noticed the younger students, who were looking at their older fellow students before imitating their posture.
“Lex”
Professor Fitzek continued down the stairs with a cold stare.
“Lex,” I repeated along with the others.
What on earth was going on?
“Prudentia.”
Director Fitzek walked across the parquet floor toward the stairs.
“Prudentia.”
He stepped onto the large, long platform with six empty chairs, walked up to the podium, and looked around.
“Veritas.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“Veritas.”
The silence in the hall felt like a growing cloud of poisonous gas. And as if there were a five-second rule, all the students suddenly sat down.
I quickly took my seat as well, my heart racing.
The problem was that Professor Arnold Fitzek was the founder of the Maplecrest Law Institution. If he spotted me and had a problem with my presence, he would surely find ways to put an end to my little deception.
Yes, I could have skipped this lecture, but I was afraid that without it, I wouldn't be able to get an overview of the curriculum. Besides, I was less noticeable among the other freshmen. At least, that's what I had assumed...
Should I have a suit made to make myself less conspicuous?
The old man cleared his throat, and it sounded as if he had swallowed something sharp.
“Gentlemen,” he said, his gaze wandering through the hall.
“My name is Professor Arnold Fitzek, founder of this birthplace of education and order, and I am pleased to welcome you to the law faculty of Maplecrest University. An honor that only a carefully selected number of young men can receive. You all belong to the elite who have been given the opportunity to prove to the United States of America, through hard work and ambition, that you are worthy of a place at the highest tables of the country.”
His eagle eyes inspected the faces of the young men.
“A great responsibility rests on your shoulders, which is why this place will shape you with discipline and rigor. At Maplecrest, crystals are being polished.”
His gaze reached the two men next to me.
“Polished until...”
That was the moment his voice broke… and I – rule number three.
I froze like a pillar of salt, unable to prevent the heat from exploding under the skin of my face.
I was dogfood.
To make matters worse, the entire hall turned to look at me.
Some stared at me as if they felt sorry for me. Others' eyes gleamed with curiosity.
They wanted to know what would happen next, just as much as I did.
The man's stony gaze literally paralyzed me. Not like my father's could, no... This one was a silent threat that I couldn't interpret.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he looked away, not letting on that I was obviously a black ink stain on his white vest, which he had maintained for years.
Did he think I was lost? Did he want to ignore me?
Surprised, I inwardly took a breath of relief.
“Polished until it crystallizes...”
Once again, his gaze wandered around the room.
“...who can become part of the decision-making elite.”
Once again, he lingered on me, and the relieving pain caused by my index fingernails digging into the already broken skin next to my thumbnails failed to calm me down.
Something told me that I had made a huge mistake when I had enrolled at Maplecrest. One that would cost me things I hadn't had to fight for before.
“And who cannot.”
All that ink blood you gave me...
I poured it into my rusty typewriter
and allowed myself a breath.
– Leaking Batteries Diary