The Quiz

By Onyinyechi

“The Quiz” is a short story written by one of NorthStar’s students who participated in a short story competition for NSA’s Creative Wiring Club. Reader discretion is advised, as the story contains some fantasy violence. The first chapter of the story is here in this article. To read the full story, click here.

Chapter 1

This is for Lisa, and all the readers who are about to take that wretched quiz, or who are taking it….but if they have already taken it, there is nothing I can do. It’s too late–and I just hope they are given happier endings than those of my late companions. Perhaps they shall marry happily like Avery. But then again, they might not. If I’ve learned anything in the past, it’s this: don’t mess with fate….or quizzes about fate.

I recall that everything began the summer we were sixteen. School was out, but the four of us had signed up for drama lessons at the community center, so we were pretty busy. Our teacher, Mr. Evans, assigned us a project every week.

This time he had instructed, “Look up monologues in Shakespeare’s plays, I want you each to choose one speech of at least thirty lines and memorize it. You will present it next Monday.”

So the next day, we were in my bedroom, researching the best monologues on our cell phones.

I treasure that image—my three best friends and I all together enjoying each other. Even now, I close my eyes and see Violet Larson bouncing on my bed, unable to keep still for a moment. Janet Rich crouches on the floor, giggling in her sweet, frightened manner. Avery Beckham is beside her, focused on her recitation piece, her green eyes glowing intently.

I did not know then that that was the last time I would see them before that stain crept into our lives…

“Oh man, look at this!” laughed Violet.

“Saw a good monologue?” I asked her.

“Oh—oh, yeah, that. No, I forgot about it. This is something that popped up on my screen, and I clicked it.”

Looking over her shoulder, I saw her phone.

“Shakespeare’s Characters’ Fates: Which Is Yours?” I read. “What’s that about?”

Violet scrolled down and read: “In his lifetime, William Shakespeare created hundreds of characters in his plays, and they all met interesting ends. Which one are you? Will you end up at Katherine’s wedding or at the tip of Hamlet’s sword? Take this detailed quiz and find out!”

Avery and Janet had approached us, and were looking at Violet’s screen as well.

“Wait…is this a game?” ventured Janet. “I mean…it’s a little morbid, isn’t it?”

It was then that I made the greatest error of my life. I said, “Janet, please stop being so nervous. The quiz looks pretty interesting. In fact, let’s all take it.”

 

“Detailed Quiz” was a highly inaccurate term for the series of multiple-choice questions we answered. Hours later, we were still working on it, having completely forgotten Mr. Evans’ project.

Indeed, it took us six hours to finish. Now each stared at a page reading only, “SEE RESULTS.” We glanced at each other eagerly, wondering who would go first.

Without asking, Violet clicked on her link. We all crowded around to read it.

A single line read:

Answers indicate: You share a fate with Regan from King Lear.

We looked at each other nervously. Regan, we knew, was a woman poisoned by her spiteful sister as they competed for the hand of Edmund of Gloucester. If this was the sort of end that the quiz implied for Violet, we were all uneasy about what it would predict about us.

“Gina may be nasty, but I’m sure she wouldn’t do that,” said Avery. “You needn’t be afraid, Violet.”

She bit her lip and said nothing.

Janet was much too fearful to click on hers, so she gave the phone to Violet, who opened the link.

Answers indicate: You share a fate with Ophelia from Hamlet.

Janet screeched and leapt backward when she read it. Ophelia—the lady who drowned herself when deserted by Hamlet! The stories seemed worse and worse.

No one but Avery would ever have clicked on her link after those unhappy predictions. But Avery isn’t like others. She showed the screen to us very calmly, and we all relaxed.

Answers indicate: You share a fate with Beatrice from Much Ado about Nothing.

Oh, that funny lady who married the unlikely Benedick! For the first time, we became more confident. The girls even asked me to show my own results. But somehow, I still didn’t trust the quiz, and I feared to read the answer. I shook my head, and they understood.

When they had all left, I sat on my bed, thinking over the past day’s events. Suddenly, I felt weird…dizzy, light-headed.

I sat on my bed, drawing my knees up, holding my head on my arm, and trying to stop the dizzy feeling. I couldn’t see anything, even though my eyes were open... Then I could see, and before my eyes was a swirl of people…Violet, Janet, Avery, and even Violet’s elder sister Gina, and a strange young man whom I had never seen before. Then I was on my bed once more, and felt better again.

The episode passed, and I never spoke of it. I was to experience more of them later.

To read the full story, click here.

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