Higher Education

A Short Story

De: T.J. Ryan

Narrado por: Yousuf bin-Suhayl

One night between two childhood acquaintances forces them to revisit their pasts and question their futures.

Daniel is pretentious—he even acknowledges this himself. Although he's an intelligent student, he's too smart for his own good. He believes he's better than a university degree but lacks the self-discipline and maturity to really succeed as a playwright. This is highlighted when he has to work with the sister of his former best friend to bring one of his scripts to life, a script that breathes more truth than fiction. This one performance is the difference between a pass and a fail.

Jae values her education more than she can say, especially after living in the shadow of her perfect brother. In the last three years, she's broken the family's mould by studying performing arts instead of a medical degree. Now, Daniel and his endless rewrites could destroy all her hard work. With her diploma hanging in the balance, she confronts him over his changes that have actually worsened the script.

Over the course of one night, this aspiring playwright and actress knuckle down in the campus library to finalise the script they will both be graded on. Yet both realise that the play Daniel has written has a darker side to their unspoken shared history.

©2023 T.J. Ryan (P)2023 T.J. Ryan