Quiet Laughter

Alone in a classroom

filled with her peers,

she stifles a laugh.

This is a mere echo of life,

a horrific stage play of an era

long gone.

It is entirely fake.

All of it.

They stagnate here in their desks, each ashamed to admit the silent dreams that they are harboring.

Or do they dream at all?

She wonders.

Geometry.

Biology.

Social Studies.

It's all the same.

They are not here to be enlightened, they are here to achieve conformity, essential to erecting an army of mindless robots such as themselves.

Every fiber of her being screams at her to run, to jump, to cry, "Look at me! I am different! I still recall what it means to truly live!!"

But, instead, she simply chokes on quiet laughter.