Past Bedtime

Miss bale lowered her head. She began to march slowly towards their desk, her hands still behind her back. It looked like she was on her way to a closed casket funeral. She had stopped with the notes. The only sound in the class was her stilettos clapping on the floor. The echoes they made were like a warning of an approaching catastrophe. An unavoidable destruction.

She stopped right in front of their desk. Sineas could feel her gaze upon him. He did not look up, however. All he could feel in that moment was the smell of her perfume. It would have been nauseating on anyone else, he thought, but on her, it was like a heavenly scent. But still, that did not stop him from feeling uneasy.

She cleared her throat in authority. She placed her hands on the desk and lowered her head to his eye level.

'Funny enough to share with us?' she said.

He looked aside, eager to avoid her knife-like gaze. She was close enough to kiss him. Or close enough to chew him up. He immediately thought of Clarissa's joke about her mouth but he had to expel all thoughts of laughter in his head. She clearly sounded like she was not in a laughing mood.

She folded her arms just below her massive breasts. 'Funny enough to share with the class?' she asked again.

He shook his head. He now thought that if he kept avoiding her eyes she would decide to take it as an act of disrespect. With great and painful difficulty, he turned his eyes to her face.

She said, 'You're probably still "settling in", which is why it would be wise to inform you that here we don't do detention, we do expulsions. So whatever nonsense you were laughing at, please share with us so we can decide with the rest of the class if it's more important than the end-of-year examinations.' She waited for an answer.

'It's nothing, ma'am,' he answered finally.

She smiled, but just. 'So, you think I walked all the way here for "nothing"? I'm not kidding, boy; tell us what you were laughing about.'

He could not take much more. He averted his eyes. 'Nothing, ma'am.'

She shook her head pitifully at him. She straightened her back. 'It's not your fault. I blame your parents. A child like you should never be placed in an environment with people who actually appreciate life. Do us a favour, child: try not to let your existence become a burden for us.' She placed her hands behind her back and began to walk through their row. She had returned to dictating notes. Everything had snapped back to normal.

Clarissa looked over her shoulder until she was far from range. 'I'm sorry,' she whispered.

'It's fine,' he said.

Miss Bale was dog-tired. She was just about to finish grading the Biology class exercise. Unlike all the other teachers, her desk was situated by the window at the front of the classroom. It was in front of Sineas and Clarissa's table.

She sighed. Fatigue was numbing her arm and slowing down her hand speed. She looked up at the clock hanging on the wall at the back of the classroom. The time was exactly 6:15 P.M. It was now dark and she had turned on the lights. The last students, the bookworms, had vanished from the school fifteen minutes ago even though the schools dismissed at 4 P.M. She slowly rubbed her face with both her hands. She was beginning to see nothing in the papers she was marking except black and blue smudges here and there. She rubbed her face again and the smudges focused into words. 'Tomorrow's problem,' she said and she lay back in her chair. She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. She massaged her right shoulder. She heard a crack in the shoulder blade and she laughed. 'Wow. I should see a chiropractor. A male chiropractor,' she laughed again.

She suddenly heard a noise in the corridor, not too far off. It sounded like a coin or a piece of metal dropping onto the floor. 'Someone there?' she called out into the hallway. There was no response. 'Is someone there?!' she called out again, and again there was no answer. Something black, four-legged, probably a small dog or cat, ran silently through the hallway and disappeared.

'Stupid janitor.' She swung her right arm then returned to grading her papers.

Twenty seconds later she heard the noise again. This time it was louder and the surprise almost made her jump out of her seat. Startled, she dropped her pen onto the floor. 'Mr. Thompson!' she called the school janitor's name. There was no answer. She grunted brusquely and leaned to the left side of the chair. She was reaching for her pen. Her fingertips barely brushed it. 'The hell!' she cursed under her breath. After what looked like a fruitless battle, she finally grabbed it. She felt heavier, as if someone had nudged her violently. She fell onto the floor on her left side with a loud thud. She swiftly got up and her eyes searched the room.

'Who…what the?' she whispered to herself, scratching her head. She dusted herself up, but then…the coin-like sound was heard again from the corridor. It was a lot louder this time. Her heart became stiff. 'Okay, now who's out there?!' Fear had crept into her voice. She looked around. As before, there was no one to respond to her question. She dusted herself a few more times. The lights flickered; twice…thrice.

Her heart increasing its pace, she turned back to her desk. With trembling hands, she began arranging the papers with such quickness. She tucked them away in the drawer beneath the desk. She dusted her blouse one more time and made for the door. At three-and-a-half steps she tripped on something and she fell face first onto the floor.

The lights flickered; once…twice…thrice. They went out.

Like a jackrabbit, she jumped onto her feet and ran for the door again. Her heart was in a marathon, thumping louder than a drum. She could already feel her body beginning to drip sweat.

She was now in reach. The exit was now only a couple of steps away. Make it into the corridor. At least make it into the corridor, she thought. Her hand reached out. Like a gunshot, the door suddenly slammed in her face. With a monstrous vigor, she began trying to turn the knob. It seemed like it had jammed; that or the door had been locked from outside...