You know that feeling you get when something really bad is going to happen? Well I do, I know it all to well. I know it better than my best friend, better then my brother and even better than the back of my hand. And I know that feeling this well because I can predict the future. Not in that psychic mumbo-jumbo type of way (I don't even believe in that stuff), really I'm just a really good and really accurate when it comes to guessing. I'm 95% correct when I guess, and I will never stop trying until I get my answers and with all those answers come absolute chaos, just like my name Chaos Matthews.
My name comes from my father, a poet; a poet who lives to quote people. It comes from my mother, an author; an author who spent most of her life study writing. 'Chaos and Order are not enemies, only opposites.' as Richard Garriott once said. I have doubted the truth in this saying when it comes to my life; in science opposites attract, and order is something that is not lacking in my life. I have always approached this like science but maybe I should take the math approach from now on.
Today should have been the best day of my life. Today was my one chance in the whole year to do something that would make a huge mark in my life and send me sky-rocketing towards the best possible education. Today I could have won a half scholarship to one of the best private schools in the state. Today all I had to do was earn it with a presentation in front of the school. In our competition obsessed school this was the biggest competition of all, so every year there's a huge scam to win; most years we don't have a winner at all. I wanted that scholarship. Wanted it so bad I'd do anything to get it. Today my one and only goal was to get that scholarship, but goals can change.
'Anything that can go wrong will' 'If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.' Two of Murphy's laws, two of them that most indefinitely turned out to be shown today. Today I will get that scholarship I thought behind the velvety red curtains waiting for my turn. I saw a meandering wire a vicious stab mark in the center. I traced along it with my eyes and saw at the end that more plugs were in the socket than it was meant to have and were crammed in randomly. My guessing instincts were activated. Oh no! That's going to cause a circuit overload shutting down all power in the building for long enough to take the envelope with the winner off the podium and switch it with a doctored one. To fix this I have to find the fake envelope before my presentation. As I said, goals change- I wish I would have thought it through a little more, but I was careless. I wanted that scholarship and with my guessing abilities I got a little cocky. If I had stayed just a few minutes longer I would have seen Bradley nervously eyeing the socket or at least the handkerchief doused with lighter fluid hidden in the center of all those wires. But no, instead I walked away from my materials and aimlessly wondered the land that lied behind the stage.
I walked. Passed dolls, and costumes, passed piles of paperwork, and strange large mats, file cabinets and wigs. I wondered through the spacious area and saw things that you wouldn't expect to see behind the stage. And as I walked on I saw the decor getting more and more outdated and I felt the air chill like the heating bill wasn't being paid. I sneezed as the air got musty filled with dust that caught in my eyes causing tiny tears to drip down my cheeks leaving clean streaks on my dust and dirt covered face. A panic rose inside me. Why have I seen nothing peculiar? I walked to the end of the hall; I saw a small square of wall was slightly different colored then the rest. I knocked, and a hollow sound came back to me. Tired from walking, I pushed against that square with all the strength I could muster and it fell revealing a tiny tunnel, so I called through. At the end of the tunnel I entered a tiny room. There was a desk and a chair taking up the space. On the desk, the dustless desk sat a simple envelope with the words contest winner in fine golden cursive letters. It was just like the original. Only its contents were different. I took a deep breath. Here is what I have come for, here is my proof, and here is my chance at that prize! I thought as I raced through the crawl space and across the old part of the stage. I was already in the new stage when I, Chaos Matthews heard a siren. And smoke, I smelled smoke.
I stepped into a line. I knew that fire was my entire fault. Tears streamed down my face, I didn't start it but I could have stopped it. If only I hadn't gotten full of myself and paid attention this wouldn't have happened. Now no one got that prize. At least not how they should of. Not with the happy congratulating ceremonies, smiley faced cookies, or balloon and confetti showers raining from the ceiling there would be no celebrative dance when the winner had been told. No, none of that would happen, all the winner would get was a simple announcement on the loud speaker without any happy cheering, just a few simple congradulations. All that person's sorrow would be my fault. 5% wrong, as always. The guilt felt like a thousand pounds on each my shoulders. 'Anything that can go wrong will' 'If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.'