Once upon a time in a place far away from the grasp of society and pressure there lived a girl. She didn’t really live there though; the place was merely a sanctuary for her thoughts. In fact the place wasn’t even physical at all, but rather a mental state. She visited this place often trying to stray away from the feelings that the normal world forced upon her. In her place fantasy and fiction found its way entangled in her normal reality, and sometimes the mess found its way on to sheets of paper.

One day she sat in her third period desk spacing out as usual. It was sometime in February so the air in the class was strikingly hotter than the air outside the windows. She began to sink into her world imagining all the wild possibilities that would make her class pass by just a little bit faster. Would the floor start melting, and if it did where would it start? Would one of the kids have to randomly run out of the classroom to take an important spy call, and if so would she follow or stay? Most times she put herself in the middle of the conflict or be the conflict itself.

Just the thought of the adventures she stirred up gave her a rush that she knew she would never really get. The feeling of being important was all that counted to her. The most terrible things could happen, but as long as she could leave it all behind she was fine. However, the day came when it started to get harder and harder to escape the reality chains. The chains made from the most constricting material, not iron or steel, but public schools and standardized testing.

The teachers began to focus more on preparing for the test that would make or break the scores of the school, of the teachers themselves, and students. Therefore, the quality of the education not only suffered but the girl's imagination struggled to get her through the darkest of times. When she felt down and couldn’t take much more her way of freedom wasn’t where it should’ve been to show her to positive possibilities. It wasn’t there to show her the light in a world full of thick tar-like world. So what could she do?

There was no key to unlock the chains and no strength left to try and pull herself out of them. She decided that it was time to follow in the path of those before her. She put on her uniform and converted to what society had made the rest of her classmates and peers.

She sat there in her third period with her pencil in her hand, and she did as a clone would do and copied. There was no individuality left, and nobody left to fight.