by: Kimberly Ann Smiley.

Victoria clutched my hand as we toured the Middleton Gifted Boarding School. It had felt like winning the lottery when she was accepted, but something felt off.

The campus was undeniably impressive, but shouldn’t kindergartners be playing instead of solving equations?

The psychologists claimed this was the best option based on Victoria’s unprecedented test results. Yet none of the children smiled or laughed.

We’d selected “Maximize Intelligence” at the fertility clinic without hesitation. More thought went into picking her hair color.

We didn’t know what we were doing then.

We still didn’t.

I only knew my daughter wasn’t staying here.

© 2024. Kimberly Ann Smiley

Kimberly Ann Smiley is a mechanical engineer by education but has decided not to let the practical decisions of her youth define the rest of her life. Her fiction has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Sci-Fi Shorts, and Stupefying Stories.

Posted June 5, 2024.