Boy to a Man.

Inside a small classroom, with sorted benches and a window leaking cool light in, filled with the musky scent of wood and paper, a class was ongoing.

The students all had focused faces, mulling about the story their teacher had just told them. No, it was not a story, it was a reality.

"And that, little ones...was one of the biggest turning points in my whole life, why I decided to become a teacher," Alexander said, sitting on his desk and looking at the blackboard, his back turned.

One particularly bright-eyed student, his short frame rather inconspicuous among the twenty or so others, asked, curious: "So teach, in the end... Did the scroll work?"

Alexander turned around and then shook his head, speechless at the mere stupidity of the question.

The other students also chuckled and the short kid's face reddened.

Sighing, Alexander muttered, rubbing his eyebrows in frustration: "How dumb can you be... Adam"

"Ha...ha.." wryly scratching his cheek, Adam replied, nervously shifting on his bench, "No, everything you said seemed like the start of a sci-fi novel with a lot of action and all so it just got me curious."

Another student chimed in, asking, his voice confident, "So teacher, in the end, did someone come to kill you? What is the essence of this story?"

Smiling to himself, Alexander's handsome face brightened and he said, still looking at Adam as he did so: "Of course, the scroll didn't work, it was just some prank or something. Seven divisions? System? We are not on a planet? What dumbo would even believe that except a 12-year-old..."

"So, what about your parents' death?" asked the same confident voice.

Turning to the smartypants with glasses, Alexander said with the same carefree smile, making the hearts of girls skip a beat, "Of course, they died in an accident. Killed? No, they probably were not killed," pausing and licking his molars at the thought, he then asked, "1 year, one whole year of loneliness! What do you think can happen to a 12-year-old if something like that happens?"

"Ah!" realizing something, Adam from the side exclaimed, "So you thought your parents were killed and you were being aimed at to be killed... as an escape? Your brain was coming up with fantasies! Keeping yourself distracted from suicidal thoughts. You were living in fantasy as a way of survival!"

"Exactly!" Alexander exclaimed, praising the kid in his mind, "After trying my blood on the scroll and seeing no changes on that damned prank, if I remember correctly, I was disappointed, and in the end... I just fell asleep," again quite thrilled, he went on, "And then... Waking up, it was already the morning of April 7, 2018, the day I was supposed to be killed, exactly 10 years from today. And of course, no assassins came to murder me..."

The class turned silent, they were reluctant to admit it but yes, they were rather turned off by the disappointing turn of events.

Alexander didn't mind the emotions of these teens and continued his story, it was a thing that happened a long time ago now, he didn't want to forget it.

"And then the deliveryman came to deliver food as usual, he was just sick for the last 3 days if I remember correctly.

I got my food back.

And then... I suddenly woke up, seeing that I have been trapped in an illusion for the past year, I just checked everything on my computer and then started to sort out the real and fake.

There was no such thing called a blue system, it was also probably another dream I had.

No such thing called a story of my parents' murder was there either, nor a warning of my death.

Everything was a fabrication of my mind.

Then...Suddenly realizing all that... I tiredly walked out of the room, into the outside world.

I came back to life in a sense, I changed from a boy to a Man at theage of 12. I matured.

Ah...Those were such despondent days..." he sighed and looked at the kids, they were all just fifteen, and he didn't want any of them to go through what he did.

"But teach," Feeling some incongruous parts of the story, parts that didn't link up, Adam asked, "You stayed in your mansion for a whole year and kept out of touch with all people... Then why didn't the authorities care? Why didn't the deliveryman report?"

Alexander nodded again, impressed, this Adam kid was a shut-in who couldn't speak straight a week ago, after all, now look at him... Speaking non-stop even while nervous.

"That...my students, is the dark side of this world, one where people try to find loopholes in the law. Where people are ready to sell their souls and kill children for money."

Seeing their confused faces, he explained, "I was the kid from a Millionaire couple, both my father and mother owned companies that had high potential. Of course, I had eagles behind my back.

My father's brother, one cruel fu...Anyway, this person tricked the authorities about me and kept watch over me using that deliveryman, he wanted me to stay at home and be depressed till death, to inherit my parents' riches after I, the only heir, die."

The students all turned silent. They all knew of this young talented teacher of theirs, he was a brilliant man and, he had no reason to boast lies.

So, true talent always comes out of suffering as they say...

"What happened to that person and the delivery man?" asked a young girl, her face full of freckles and her eyes moist.

"Of course, who do you think your teacher is Amera? I hid and walked out without no one's knowledge, at least my attitude made them drop their guard. So I escaped and contacted the police, and posted videos on the internet, the previous-gen thing of today's Ai net, from a random person's phone,

I was rich so I immediately promoted the video using my money, and it went viral. No one could ignore me anymore... The villain ended up in jail and after I became 18, I inherited everything of my parents."

"So, teacher," smiling with her eyes still moist, Amera questioned, "So why did you decide to become a teacher in the end?"

"Thats a good question," smiling kindly, Alexander said: "I wanted other kids to not end up like me, I wanted to try and change the world for the better... Atleast as much as I can."