Chapter Text
I thought she was lying. Honest to God, the complete truth is I thought she was faking it, on drugs maybe, and trying to scare me and the children. I didn’t think it was real and maybe that’s why I didn’t take her seriously. Obviously, I was an idiot.
It was a Monday morning, and I clearly had woken up with a hangover, I mean c’mon! A few hours ago, it was a Sunday night and I’m not one to waste it making lesson plans when I could be getting piss drunk and crying over my future. Anyways, back to the morning; After stumbling out of bed half blind and stubbing my foot on every single corner, I somehow make my way into the shower. I try to wash up, I really do! It’s not my fault that the soap drops, and, like a completely normal person, I reach down to grab it (I should have checked my horoscope, because if I had, I never would have risked it), and of course, of course , my foot slipped and my whole leg swung into the air while my back slammed into the ceramic tub. I swear in that moment, right before the pain set in, I knew that it was going to be a horrible, disastrous even, day.
I arrived at my class with a thermos of tea in hand—no that’s a lie. Sorry, that’s what I always tell my students when they ask what’s in it. In truth, it was twelve ounces of pure espresso with two of those 5 Hour energy bottles that you can find at Ace Hardware. Now let me tell you, my class is rowdy. They are horrendously loud, infuriatingly rude and every now and then I wish pain on some of them. They see my hypothetical nerves of patience and make it their goal to strangle and light on fire as many as they possibly can.
By the time third period arrives, I'm jacked up on caffeine and going crazy. I probably only needed one 5 Hour energy. I could feel everything . The little hairs on top of my head to the wiggling all ten of my toes individually. Luckily, I had brought my sunglasses with me, because otherwise everyone would have been able to see my pupils shaking and bouncing off the windows in the back of the room.
That’s when she came. She was small, barely reaching four feet tall and for some reason vibrating. Or maybe that was me. Eh. She strutted in like she owned the place and sat herself in one of the chairs next to one of my girls, Juniper. I could see as she sat down that she had lumps on her back, hairless and covered with small bumps. It vaguely reminded me of baby chickens wings before they grow feathers. What I’m trying to get at is that she was ugly. And then... she just waited. And stared. Oh god, her eyes . She didn’t blink at all, which gave me ample time to confirm just how much I hate them. Just an encompassing black hole, shaped in a ring, like a really messed up bagel. Except not a bagel, because even a bagel can become appetizing... Or something like that. The edges of her pupils gave off a dim shine and when she noticed me staring her lips lifted into a grin, which combined with the rest of her appearance, was really quite disgusting.
At that point I was 100% sure I was hallucinating and decided to give everyone a five-minute break to go hyperventilate in the faculty bathroom. Which I did. Promptly. Lucky for me, caffeine blows though every emotion you can have with surprising efficiency, so I was out of the bathroom looking only moderately freaked the fuck out in less than six minutes. When I returned to my classroom it was empty. Barren. All my kids were gone, disappeared, poof . Just like my first boyfriend when I asked him to meet my parents. At first, I thought they were playing a prank on me.
I checked everywhere in the room first, which might sound stupid to you maybe, but I know that it was a logical step. Those fuckers can fit in any confined space if you give them enough of a reason. But they weren’t there. They weren’t anywhere I checked and that’s when it hit me. The girl. The short, horrifyingly ugly girl that was the catalyst for my breakdown. Her .