The hum of anticipation surrounds her

Her foot hurriedly tapping the floor

Clutching her pen as if she wishes to extract the ink from its core 

She frantically opens her booklet and commences

Letters and numbers on the paper make no sense

Recognizing their familiarity 

Unable to decipher their meaning

Transforming the almost empty white paper 

into a complex web of thoughts and solutions 

is what is meant to happen

But her inability prevents her production

Her mind is as blank as her paper

With every tick of the clock

Her brain scurries to find the answers

attempting to navigate the labyrinth of her intricate thoughts

To discover the answers tucked away in corners or crevices 

Every corner she turns is a dead end

She hurries to escape before the time’s up

But winter is approaching

The maze starts to freeze over

Until she’s frozen in time, unable to function

The buzz of excitement surrounds her when the bell sounds 

Abandoning her amongst the faint sounds of footsteps 

Five minutes quickly became one hour

And all she had on her paper was her name