I sat beside the windows and stared out into the courtyard, as an announcement occurred. An unfamiliar voice spoke, “Good afternoon. Today, we will begin a game. A game with only one winner. A game with either life or death. Now, begin!”

With the SATs having taken place just yesterday, every kid in school was itching to break free from the lingering pressure. Even with an authoritative voice, the childish ideas of the announcement gave away the identity of the speaker, a childish seventeen-year old who tried to create entertainment to take their minds off the dreaded release of the SAT scores. Nobody wanted to think about the scores they would receive, but I had another unique reason for my attempt to take my mind off the SATs. While the announcement momentarily distracted me, I simply found it weird, then forgot about the announcement. An hour into class, I began dozing off.

“Andrea! Andrea! Wake up. Its class time,” Mr. Wilson said.
“Yes, Mr. Wilson.”
“Go wash your face in the restroom,” he said again.
“Of course,” I said as I stood up quietly and walked to the front of the classroom. My hand grasped the doorknob and tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t budge.
“It won’t open,” I stated.

For the second time, an announcement came. “Andrea has discovered the beauty of this game. In the real world, the time has stopped, and the only way to escape is to win.”

“Everyone,” Mr. Wilson shouted. “This is a prank and we-”, but before he could finish, he disappeared, leaving behind his voice that whispered: “If this game is real, I must lie to my students so I can trick them into letting their guards down.”

His words startled me. LIES. He was lying, so he disappeared. This was the first rule: If you lie, you will disappear.

“DON’T LIE!” I screamed.

The room quieted down as they counted down to my disappearance, but contradicting the previous disappearances, I remained.

“Everyone, let’s work together,” Will said. A few moments later, he disappeared and his voice spoke, “Shut up, Andrea. Let those idiots die.” By this point, the room was dead silent.

Silence continued for another minute until a third announcement came and said, “Since you all are going to remain silent, we will proceed to questions! For each question, you have five seconds.”

“First off, Lena. Were you responsible for the incident last September?” I counted down. Five, four, three, two, one -- then without answering, she vanished.

“Question two: Adam, why did you run for class president?”

Adam answered without hesitation, “Because I feel superior, because I like power, because I look down on you idiots.”
“Correct,” the speaker spoke. In seconds, a wave of whispers and criticism traveled around the room.
“Who cares what I say? No one will remember. All I need to do is tell the truth, and then I’ll live,” Adam finished with a hysterical laugh.

“Now, we’ll proceed with the order of your seats. Number 1, was it you who cheated on the SATs?”
“No,” she replied.
“Number two?”

As the announcer counted up, my palms began sweating, and I could no longer focus. I blinked rapidly, a bad habit of mine when I’m nervous.

“Number fifteen”, the speaker announced. “No,” a voice said.

Then, at last, my number. It was that moment when I could feel time freeze. I looked around the classroom as the watching eyes of thirty students turned to me. No matter how hard I tried, I didn’t have the courage to admit to my mistake. They wouldn’t understand the pressure from my parents. They wouldn’t understand the debts of my family, the part-time jobs I held, and the responsibility I carried. I had to go to college, and this exam was the only thing in my way.

All human beings wear a mask during their life, but only some are courageous enough to rip it off of their skin. Neither I nor Lena had the ability to take off our mask and reveal our shameful actions, the representation of our identities. I, the one with the highest GPA of our grade, was THE lying, cheating fake of the century. Everything I had done in my life was to conceal who I truly was. From the very beginning, I was ashamed of the person I saw in the mirror. As I was unable to face my own true self, an ugly hearted, dumb, and hated person, I wore a mask of a kind, intelligent, and loved girl.
“Number Sixteen,” the speaker announced. I was ready, I shut my eyelids and counted down.

Five. This is the classroom of truth.

Four. Like this classroom, the world subjects every person to the judgemental eyes of society.

Three. I’ve always worn a mask to protect myself from the embarrassment, disappointment, and judgements.

Two. It is too late, my face has already grown to fit the mask.

One. Now, as I can no longer take off this mask, I can only accept my disappearance.

Zero. Suddenly, I could feel it, the huge force that made my heart burst, my legs crumble, and my arms disintegrate into bits and pieces, but compared to the how the weights of the truth dragged me down, it was nothing.