Near Fall

The quick scratching of pencil on paper made the otherwise quiet classroom seem frenzied. The teacher stood next to the board holding the eraser, watching the clock on the back wall closely. After about 30 seconds, he erased the '10' from the '10 MINUTES LEFT' scribbled onto the board in all caps and changed it to a '5.'

Cathaoir kept checking his smartwatch obsessively. He wasn't trying to keep track of the time for the exam, he had already finished it and flipped it over to let Mr. Tennent know that he wasn't cheating by using his watch. 120 beats per minute. His heart rate was up again. Normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal, exams are stressful, but he could feel the pounding in his chest, his neck, his lips. He didn't feel well. His head throbbed along with his too-fast heart. He thought he might be sick, so he raised his clammy hand.

"Yes, Whelan?"

"I need to use the restroom."

“The exam is over in three minutes, you can wait."

Cathaoir gulped. "I'm going to puke, Mr. Tennant."

His teacher said nothing, but rolled his eyes and made a vague gesture at the door, signaling Cathaoir could leave.

As he bent over in his seat to collect his bookbag, Cathaoir felt a rush of blood to his head. Fearing the exit of what little breakfast he’d had was imminent, he stood up quickly, realizing his mistake too late.

"Whelan? Whelan!"

Cathaoir's vision blacked as his knees buckled. Narrowly missing the desk with his head, he collapsed, the sound of his body hitting the floor covered by the loud gasp that echoed in the room.