Walk the Perimeter

This is to be a prequel of sorts to an upcoming book I am almost done with. This story is clean for all ages with the exception of talking about mental health prescriptions.

My brother and I were walking down the sidewalk of the campus heading to the recreational center. Each of us had our own wagon we pulled along with our very own inventions with both covered in a white cloth. Once we got to the doors, I said, “Today is the day Vorovat!” I let out a deep breath. “I think we got this!”

Vorovat looked down with a small smile— his usual reserved self. He muttered, speaking with his usual stutter, “I re-re-really think I can…we… we'll blow them away.”

I smiled even bigger looking back up at the sign above me.

PERIMETER COLLEGE

Making way for the future

Perimeter College was built for making revolutionary discoveries by investing in students that were particularly elect in intelligence.

We walked into the wide open room and the audience banner against the wall in front of us that says in blue painted letters: Perimeter's 1997 Showcase. Throughout the room so many students had set up their stations, some more worried and others with faces filled with excitement. We walked through the sea of tables until we found ours, side by side.

“Let's get to it brother! We're in this together!” I said.

We laid out our tablecloths and put up our trifold presentation boards. We were both very meticulous about how the presentations looked, because we thought that this was a presentation of ourselves as people. Once we had finished, the showcase was just about ready to start.

The three judges went by every table, asking questions and rewriting things down on their clipboard. We knew that where we were in the room it might have been a while before they got to us. My brother and I anxiously looked at each other as we saw them stifle frowns to some and show interest in others, then finally they got to us.

“Dimitri and Vorovat.” said the female judge in the middle of the three. “Let's see what you have hidden here shall we? Starting with you, Vorovat.” She pointed her pencil to him.

Vorovat brushed away his flat dark hair nervously. He stuttered more as he spoke, “Al-al-alrighty! So under here I have what I wanna call uh Evo- Evocalex!” He lifted his white cloth and what was under was a clear case, in which he kept a little medicine bottle filled with these certain pills and beside the bottle decided to show what it looked like. “It's a med- medicine I have reformulated and tested on multi-ti-ple subjects. This pill is designed to heal certain psychiatric dis-dis-orders by numbing certain parts of the brain, such as the hi…ppocampus. In other words, this will a-a-lleviate trauma by completely eradica- getting rid of painful memories. I intend for th-th-is to be stronger than other, s-s..?”

I whispered, “SSRIs?”

“SSRI's in the ph-ph-pharmaceutical in...dustry!”

One of the skinny male judges asked, “And I must ask, how have you tested this?”

He said, “I-I ran a volunta-ta-tary trial.”

The judges showed a lot of interest, but raised their brows in suspicion on how voluntary it must have actually been. The lady, the skinny man, and the bearded man all wrote down their thoughts on their clipboards. Then afterward the lady said, “Thank you… Vorovat. Now Dimitri, what do you have to show us today?”

I took a deep breath with a smile. I whipped away my cloth and under it was a formula, an equation and two little balls on a metal wire. “This is my presentation on atoms!”

“Presentation on atoms?” the bearded man said with a lot of disbelief in his voice.

“Hear me out, so I have created an invention that will contain atoms in such a minuscule area, and put so many of them fighting against each other that I believe they could possibly open up, " I whisper in a lower voice, “Other dimensions.”

The judges all stare at me. The lady belly laughed and so did the skinny man. But not the bearded man. He looked about my presentation board reading the formulas I had written down, explaining the science behind my claims. Vorovat kept looking back and forth wondering what the bearded man was thinking about me. Trying to keep a smile so as to still look like an option to them.

“I'll come back around," he said with a serious tone, the other judges immediately cleared their throats as they walked on and finished going about the other booths.

Vorovat and I stared at each other for a moment. This contest meant everything to us. But we waited a long while before the judges stood in the middle of the room and started listing off who had won. Runner ups, 3rd place, then….

“Second place goes too…. Vorovat Adam Thumpkin for his invention Evocalex.” Vorovat had a small smile. Still somewhat grateful. He shyly tilted his head downward. Then…

“Our first place winner goes too…… Dimtri James Thumpkin!” I gasped and jumped with a smile. The whole room clapped and the judges waved me forward and to have me walk up and say a few words.

The bearded man handed me the mic and I looked at the room, as well as at my brother. My heart filled more and more with pride. I waited for the applause to die down then finally, I spoke, “This is truly an honor, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without… without…” I looked at my brother and back at the crowd with hesitation.

“I wouldn't have been able to do it without the teachers here at Perimeter and all the sleepless nights of my hard work.”

The crowd started clapping again, then I saw my brother's, slight gratefulness turned into a face I hadn't seen from him. Dejected, wondering where his praise was...

From me.

He threw his hands up, slapping his sides. He mouthed, “Together?” raising a brow. He grabbed his case of evocalex and left everything else behind.

I smiled at the crowd and finished up what was left of my speech, and I bolted out of the rec room, taking my presentation in my arms quickly.

I called, “Vorovat! Vorovat! Listen, I can explain! I'm sorry! I ran across the open grass beside the sidewalk we had previously walked together. Finally, I saw him leaning against the side of the brick building, with his Evocalex in his arms and one leg kicked up.

“You're sorry?” he said in a monotone voice.

“Ye-yes. Yes I am.” I found myself stuttering like he usually did.

“A-a-a after all we have done to-together. We st- stu- studied together, we cried-d-d together, planned what we-we-we would do, and most of all ha-ha-had a hand in each other's exper….iments and you let y-y-our pride get the b-best of you. Give me one good rea-rea-reason to trust you!”

I was at a loss for words. My mouth hung open like a fool.

“One day Dimitri, in a c-c-ircle of people like th-th-this, I p-p-romise you we are going to end up w-w-orking close again, a-a-and when we do y-y-your ego is going t-to come back to bite you!”

That evening I saw my brother walk away into the field, not knowing at all that one day that very sentence would come true.