Where it all Began

Life is about the moments we fucked up and here is mine.

I was abruptly awakened from my sleep by a sharp voice amplified through a microphone, causing me to be jolted. As I opened my eyes, I was met with an unsettling sight of my very own face being projected on the screen that was positioned right behind the speaker. 

This realization shook off any dizziness that I had and only deepened my sense of panic, causing my whole body to tremble for a moment with a frantic expression evident on my face.

After a few seconds of disorientation and recalibrating my disarrayed thoughts, I was finally able to remember that today was the day when my professor was going to give a thesis presentation. The voice amplified through the microphone belonged to none other than my professor, who currently stood on the stage, and from the looks of it, the man appeared to be visibly upset with the fact that someone had fallen asleep during his presentation.

I started to feel a rush of embarrassment and regret, realizing that all the esteemed professors and other influential individuals from the industry were present at this very moment, making the situation all the more awkward and uncomfortable.

"I'm fucked," I thought to myself, my mind racing with anxiety. However, trapped in this situation with no way out, I had no other way but to give it my all and survive. After all, since I was already in this predicament, what could there be more to make me be afraid

…..

Professor Rottem was fuming with anger when he discovered that one of the attendees had dozed off on a day when he was about to make his mark in the history of the tech industry.

As he looked closely, he remembered that the fellow was one of those poor students that attended his classes. He chose to accept such students for the sake of enhancing his reputation positively.

So, he decided to teach this brat a lesson today and let him know what his place was since the kid had decided to sleep on the day of his presentation, he was sure it wouldn't harm him in any way since he was going to have the best reputation one could have for someone in the tech community due to the groundbreaking thesis that he was presenting.

"Can you stand up?.... You.... yes, the one who was sleeping... Stand up," he said, emphasizing the student's sleeping so that even in the future when people wanted to revisit this history-making moment, they would know the reason as to why he decided to humiliate this student since he was sleeping during such a historic moment, they will without a doubt, side with him as people usually follow the successful one, meaning that his reputation won't be harmed in the slightest or it was even possible that it might even increase since it would seem that he was also a hater of lazy people or something. Whatever one might come to a reason!!!

As the professor looked at the still disoriented student of his, he decided to compound more to this one's misery by demanding an answer from him for a question that was the main crux of today's thesis presentation.

"Since you are capable of sleeping, it implies that you know more than all of us here. Care to explain this part?" he said, smugly pointing to the most challenging part of the presentation, eagerly awaiting his student's embarrassment, one that he couldn't even care to know the name of.

While he was waiting for the student to embarrass himself, he heard something he never expected to hear today.

"There is a mistake at this point."

"WHAT!!!" the professor exclaimed, surprised to hear the words. However, he quickly calmed himself down and regained his composure after remembering that the one who pointed out that there was an error was still a student and one who had been asleep just a few minutes prior.

"It seems you are still half-asleep, so sit down," the professor decided to make the student sit, so that the fellow won't embarrass him and avoid tarnishing his historic moment. But the student didn't sit down, instead, he continued speaking, "No, sir, there really is a mistake..." and then continued explaining where the mistakes exactly were.

The professor was horrified by the student's explanation, as he watched his reputation crumble by every second because the mistake was pretty obvious, but the reason why most people had missed it was because they didn't expect such an obvious blunder to be made by a professor of his reputation.

…...

"TAKE HIM OUT!" the professor thundered, commanding the security personnel to drag me out of the conference. Chaos erupted in the hall as the people were taken aback by the magnitude of the oversight that allowed such an error to pass through the rigorous review process and even be approved for presentation.

Little did I know at this moment that the reason such a glaring error went unnoticed was due to the professor's influential family background. 

Eli Yehudah Rotem Rothschild, the professor's full name, carried a weight of power that shielded him from scrutiny. But in my ignorance, I continued to mutter, oblivious to the fact that my ordinary life had just come to an abrupt end.

My muttered words were abruptly silenced as I was tackled and forcibly carried out by a group of security guards. It was in that moment of being forcefully taken away that the harsh reality sank in me—I had truly fucked up.

…...

Two weeks had elapsed since that unforgettable day, and Professor Eli Yehudah Rotem Rothschild had taken a month-long leave to recover from the 'emotional strain' caused by the incident. 

However, there was no such respite for Aron, a regular student in the final year of university. With a mere three weeks remaining until graduation, he continued attending classes, determined to complete his studies and forge the future that lay ahead.

On this particular day, Aron found himself in campus, making his way to the designated location to submit his graduation thesis. Exams had already been taken, and the results had also been announced. Now, all that stood between Aron and his coveted diploma was the successful submission and defense of his thesis.

Having completed the task at hand, Aron made his way back home, knowing that the review process was underway and an appointment for his thesis defense had yet to be scheduled. With an abundance of free time on his hands, Aron pondered what would be the best way to occupy himself until the next milestone of his academic journey.

…....

A week later.

A week after submitting his graduation thesis, Aron received an email from the university. Expecting it to be related to the scheduling of his thesis defense, he opened the email with a sense of eager anticipation. However, to his surprise, the contents of the email were nothing like what he had expected or what he had heard from others.

[Subject: Disciplinary Committee Meeting Invitation - Accusation of Thesis Theft & Plagiarizing

Dear Aron,

We are writing to inform you that a disciplinary committee meeting has been scheduled to address the serious allegations of thesis theft and plagiarism that have been brought against you. The meeting will take place on May 12, 2013, at 10:45 a.m. in the faculty of engineering building.

The allegations of theft are a very serious matter, and we take them with utmost seriousness. As a member of our academic community, it is expected that you uphold the highest standards of academic integrity. We understand that this may be a difficult time for you, but it is important that you cooperate with the investigation to help us reach a fair and just outcome.

During the disciplinary committee meeting, you will have the opportunity to present your side of the story and respond to the allegations that have been made against you. We kindly request that you attend the meeting on time and be prepared to provide any information or evidence that you believe may be relevant to the case.

Please be aware that if you fail to attend the disciplinary committee meeting, a decision may still be reached based on the evidence presented to the committee. We strongly advise that you attend the meeting to avoid any adverse consequences.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the disciplinary committee meeting or the allegations that have been made against you, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to support you and help you navigate through this process.

Best regards,

Julyan Lenny

Disciplinary committee

Columbia University

]

Aron was horrified instead of being startled since he knew deep down that this couldn't be true. He had diligently run his thesis through five different plagiarism checker programs, and none of them had found even a semblance of similarity to his work. It was clear to him that this had to be either a terrible mistake or a malicious conspiracy. 

Regardless of that, he knew that he was fucked up big this time.

….....

On the designated day, Aron arrived at the meeting location completely prepared for the discipline committee hearing, despite his previous attempts to clarify the potential mistake. As soon as he entered the room, he found four professors awaiting his arrival, ready to commence the proceedings without any delay.

From the very beginning, it was apparent that the meeting was heavily biased, leaning more towards a predetermined outcome. Even as Aron passionately defended himself, it seemed as though his words were falling on deaf ears or being deliberately disregarded.

By the 45th minute of the meeting, it became painfully evident to Aron that his fate had been sealed long before this MEETING had even begun.

The meeting continued, disregarding Aron's evidence as the committee pressed on with their accusations, armed with their own evidence.

What puzzled him was that they presented thesis papers dating back seven years, and there were some that were even more recent. Aron was certain these papers didn't exist until a few days ago. How did they discover evidence of plagiarism in papers that didn't exist before?

He highly suspected that he was being targeted, although uncertain of the culprit's identity due to lacking any kind of evidence. The committee informed him that the decision would be announced in three days.

Feeling disheartened, Aron returned to his dormitory, awaiting the committee's conclusion before taking any further action.

…..

It was a warm spring day, and the Columbia University campus was buzzing with excitement. Families and friends had gathered to celebrate the graduation of the Class of 2009 which was graduating in 2013. Among the sea of gowns and hats, stood Aron, a young man brimming with anger, sadness, and disappointment.

As he took his place among the crowd and glanced around at his friends in graduation attire, Aron couldn't help but reflect on the journey that had brought him to this moment.

It had been four years since he had first stepped foot in this campus, filled with hope and determination to make the most of his university experience. Now, here he was, on the brink of a new chapter of his life, holding an expulsion notice in hand and facing the brutal world that was waiting for him.

Anger coursed through Aron as he trembled, remembering how he was denied graduation on the very day of the graduation ceremony as they kept postponing the announcement of their decision. It was only then that he was informed of their decision by his professor.

And the decision was utterly fucked up. It was his first time seeing someone being expelled via email. Like what the fucking hell? AN EMAIL!!!

The reason they gave him was the blatant use of plagiarised material without citing them as sources, like WHAT THE FUCK. How was he supposed to know that he had plagiarised something without knowing it existed even after using 5 thesis checking programs and finding that none had flagged any similarities to his?

But what made him feel weird was how they even managed to find such a significant amount of information in such a short period of time. It seemed as if someone was deliberately trying to sabotage his already difficult life.

But who would want to do such a thing to him?