It was his first day in his new school. Dad assured him everything was going to be alright when he dropped Alan. But Alan knew. This school made him feel uneasy. He was reluctant to take a step forward. He stood there looking up at the old dilapidated building. 'But..but.. the building was new couple of minutes ago..what happened to it?' Alan mused. Then he noticed that he was all alone, the usual hustle and bustle was missing.
A gentle wind began to blow, throwing Alan's long hair in his face. Between the strands he noticed a figure in the distance close to the building. It was tiny. The figure was waving at him. Then more figures joined the tiny figure and they seemed to be beckoning him. Pushing the strands of hair from his face, Alan saw that they were boys, probably his age. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, when all of a sudden he felt something sharp pressing into his back. Jolting in pain, Alan jumped and turned around to see what caused him the pain and he stood facing the one who was going to turn his life into a nightmare.
"I'm Mrs.Morris, the Math teacher and you should be in your class boy, what are you doing standing here all by yourself? What is your name?" she bellowed.
Alan noticed Mrs.Morris's nails. They looked like red talons. He figured she was using those to press into his back and startle him. She looked like an overgrown frog. 'Ugly..yuck!' he thought. He instantly hated her.
"Your name boy! Are you deaf? or rude?" She asked again grimacing her face until her eyes were slits.
"Alan, sorry Mrs.Morris, my name is Alan" so saying he turned to look for those boys who waved at him but they were gone. The place looked deserted again. And he turned around and Mrs. Morris was gone too. A cold wind cut through the morning like a knife. Pulling the collar of his sweater up to his ears, he slowly began to walk towards the school building.
The closer he got, colder he felt. He couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that grappled him like a stubborn gargoyle.
He opened the big wooden door of the building and stepped into an empty room with two tunnel-like corridors, one facing the other. The walls of the room were adorned with pictures of school teams and alumni. Without much thought Alan chose to take the right corridor. As he walked in, he found several doors with no signboards over it.
'Why am I even here! I should have cried and fussed. Dad would have let me stay home' Alan thought aloud. Fear was a factor in Alan's life. Fear of the unknown, expectations and now this fear was gnawing him from inside as he walked further down the corridor.
'Click-click' a faint noise.
Alan became alert. 'Click-click' he heard it again this time louder from the end of the corridor. Then he heard something that turned his insides around and froze his blood. The screech sounded nothing human. It was deathly and it was followed by the 'click-click' noise. Alan stopped in his tracks and watched as the owner of the sound made its appearance.
It was a grotesque Mrs. Morris who had turned slimy green with tentacles sticking out of her overgrown head. Her eyes were a sinister green and blinked vertical instead of horizontal. The horrible 'click-click' noise was coming from her mouth which had lips that looked like a frog's, bulbous and purple. Alan caught sight of her teeth which looked like the teeth of a saw and as she brought her lower jaw up to meet her upper, her teeth clicked hideously making that 'click-click' noise which Alan began to hate.
Rooted to his spot in fear, Alan failed to notice the Teacher Creacher dragging its heavy throbbing body towards him. "Mrs. Morbid!" he screamed as the creacher got closer. 'Morbid' was the only word echoing in his mind at that time. Just as the tentacles inched closer towards his face, Alan broke into a run towards the room where he came from. But there was no time. One of the doors on his side was slightly ajar. Alan ran into it just to lose sight of the horrible thing and locked himself in.
"Alan! Oh Alan!" growled the thing that was his teacher. "Come out now, wherever you are!" Mrs.Morbid snaked out her forked, slimy tongue licking her chapped, purple bulbous lips. Her razor sharp teeth was making this 'click-click' noise that made the hair on Alan's nape stand up like picket fences.
The room felt cold and dismal. There was nothing around him except an old wooden stool, some broken baseball bats and a punctured basketball. Alan wanted to cry for his mommie. But he couldn't, rather he shouldn't. Didn't his dad tell him the other night that he was now a big boy? He had two digits for an age.. a one and a zero! He was 10 years old! He puffed his chest at that thought. If only he could find the others. Or were they already dead? Did the teacher creature get to them ?
"THUD" the door to the room lay in a heap on the floor. The teacher creacher stood silhouetted under the doorframe blocking the only escape route. Alan opened his mouth to scream and "pchtuck" a tentacle cut his scream and went down his throat.
Alan struggled and choked and opened his eyes to see the world for the last time and...
....blinking Alan looked around. He was in his own room, in his bed and he had his hand in his mouth. He was going to start school tomorrow...
A gentle wind began to blow, throwing Alan's long hair in his face. Between the strands he noticed a figure in the distance close to the building. It was tiny. The figure was waving at him. Then more figures joined the tiny figure and they seemed to be beckoning him. Pushing the strands of hair from his face, Alan saw that they were boys, probably his age. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, when all of a sudden he felt something sharp pressing into his back. Jolting in pain, Alan jumped and turned around to see what caused him the pain and he stood facing the one who was going to turn his life into a nightmare.
"I'm Mrs.Morris, the Math teacher and you should be in your class boy, what are you doing standing here all by yourself? What is your name?" she bellowed.
Alan noticed Mrs.Morris's nails. They looked like red talons. He figured she was using those to press into his back and startle him. She looked like an overgrown frog. 'Ugly..yuck!' he thought. He instantly hated her.
"Your name boy! Are you deaf? or rude?" She asked again grimacing her face until her eyes were slits.
"Alan, sorry Mrs.Morris, my name is Alan" so saying he turned to look for those boys who waved at him but they were gone. The place looked deserted again. And he turned around and Mrs. Morris was gone too. A cold wind cut through the morning like a knife. Pulling the collar of his sweater up to his ears, he slowly began to walk towards the school building.
The closer he got, colder he felt. He couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that grappled him like a stubborn gargoyle.
He opened the big wooden door of the building and stepped into an empty room with two tunnel-like corridors, one facing the other. The walls of the room were adorned with pictures of school teams and alumni. Without much thought Alan chose to take the right corridor. As he walked in, he found several doors with no signboards over it.
'Why am I even here! I should have cried and fussed. Dad would have let me stay home' Alan thought aloud. Fear was a factor in Alan's life. Fear of the unknown, expectations and now this fear was gnawing him from inside as he walked further down the corridor.
'Click-click' a faint noise.
Alan became alert. 'Click-click' he heard it again this time louder from the end of the corridor. Then he heard something that turned his insides around and froze his blood. The screech sounded nothing human. It was deathly and it was followed by the 'click-click' noise. Alan stopped in his tracks and watched as the owner of the sound made its appearance.
It was a grotesque Mrs. Morris who had turned slimy green with tentacles sticking out of her overgrown head. Her eyes were a sinister green and blinked vertical instead of horizontal. The horrible 'click-click' noise was coming from her mouth which had lips that looked like a frog's, bulbous and purple. Alan caught sight of her teeth which looked like the teeth of a saw and as she brought her lower jaw up to meet her upper, her teeth clicked hideously making that 'click-click' noise which Alan began to hate.
Rooted to his spot in fear, Alan failed to notice the Teacher Creacher dragging its heavy throbbing body towards him. "Mrs. Morbid!" he screamed as the creacher got closer. 'Morbid' was the only word echoing in his mind at that time. Just as the tentacles inched closer towards his face, Alan broke into a run towards the room where he came from. But there was no time. One of the doors on his side was slightly ajar. Alan ran into it just to lose sight of the horrible thing and locked himself in.
"Alan! Oh Alan!" growled the thing that was his teacher. "Come out now, wherever you are!" Mrs.Morbid snaked out her forked, slimy tongue licking her chapped, purple bulbous lips. Her razor sharp teeth was making this 'click-click' noise that made the hair on Alan's nape stand up like picket fences.
The room felt cold and dismal. There was nothing around him except an old wooden stool, some broken baseball bats and a punctured basketball. Alan wanted to cry for his mommie. But he couldn't, rather he shouldn't. Didn't his dad tell him the other night that he was now a big boy? He had two digits for an age.. a one and a zero! He was 10 years old! He puffed his chest at that thought. If only he could find the others. Or were they already dead? Did the teacher creature get to them ?
"THUD" the door to the room lay in a heap on the floor. The teacher creacher stood silhouetted under the doorframe blocking the only escape route. Alan opened his mouth to scream and "pchtuck" a tentacle cut his scream and went down his throat.
Alan struggled and choked and opened his eyes to see the world for the last time and...
....blinking Alan looked around. He was in his own room, in his bed and he had his hand in his mouth. He was going to start school tomorrow...
Illustration: Jo
Copyright © 2007 Jyothi Samarthi
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2007 Jyothi Samarthi
All rights reserved.
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