They took off the ceiling tiles,

and everybody noticed.



Before, it was rumored

that if you took off the ceiling tiles,

you could look up,

and see the clear, endless sky,

like heaven.



They presumed

the inspirational posters,

screaming, “Reach for the stars!”

and “Dream big!”

would fly through the ceiling and dissolve into the vast atmosphere,

if the old yellowing tape

didn’t pull them back to the wall of reality.

Before, the students couldn’t wait to grow taller,

in hopes that

maybe

they could reach the ceiling,

and move the tiles a just a trace,

to catch a glance at the airy, expansive sky.

Because,

Isn’t school the gateway to success? Doesn't everything fall into place?



Until the day the questions had been answered.

What was so greatly anticipated happened

overnight.

They stared, with unbelieving eyes as they poured through the hallways.

Knocking into each other in a passageway of chaos.



They couldn’t see that clear, unrestrictive sky.

Instead they saw the restrictive complications.

The intricate system of thin, yet untangled wires,

wrapped around the dull metal pipes,

cutting and carving through the corridor.

Solid, as they know exactly where they’re going,

which frightened the students even more.

The lights above their heads appeared brighter as one student asked anxiously,

“Are we going to have to make it through this?”