Arabella Academy: Perfectly Imperfect

9. Salt To The Injury

Bad things can happen, and often do--but they only take up a few pages of your story; and anyone can survive a few pages.

~James A. Owen

***

"So, does anyone have anything to say about that prank they tried to pull off?"

It was Job, Grade Nine's class teacher, Marcus' class. He was fuming with fury and looked like he would blow up any moment. He obviously saw the situation as a desperate move by some undisciplined students to try and make the school send them home. That incident had surely soiled any of his efforts to try and make his students return to a state of calm. He was a passionate teacher who gave every ounce of his dedication to these students, ones who were now apparently taking it for granted.

The students all looked at him blankly. Pranks were a normal activity to pass time, but this was one which had crossed a line, a very delicate one for that matter. They had no idea who would have the guts to do that.

Their class teacher sighed in his anger and said, "Look students, I don't know the motive behind what you guys did, and honestly I don't give a damn shit what you were trying. But let me say this, you are a complete fool! How would you feel if it was one of your relatives who had died and someone did this? In fact-- Urgh!"

And with that, he stormed out of the class murmuring a bunch of inaudible curses to whoever had written the message in the school auditorium.

The students were left a state of quagmire as they debated between themselves what the message meant. Those words had caused quite a stir around the school and brought another interruption in the normal program of the school. The students had to be sent back to class and locked there as the teachers tried to come to terms with what had just happened. They knew that they were in for some serious lashing by William if he knew what had just taken place, of which he was sure to know. Their slacking had caused this disruption and they were preparing themselves to face the music and answer some serious questions.

Stevens was the most disturbed of them. He was in the hottest soup and he didn't see himself safe any time soon. Questions would be on him as to who had opened the auditorium yet it was under lock and key. He did not have an answer to that as the only people who had the keys to the auditorium were William, the Chief of Investigations at Middlewood's Police Department and John the Janitor.

John the Janitor!

Stevens rushed to find him in order to confirm whether he had the key at the time of incidence. He reached the janitor's closet to find John throwing things up and about the closet. John noticed Stevens staring at him and spoke even before Stevens could comment.

"Stevens I can swear before the Holy Bible that I had those keys right here, right here in my pocket!" He said, pointing frantically to the right pocket of his overalls.

"It's okay John," Stevens replied, "I believe you."

John the Janitor was a pretty old man for his age. He had worked long enough to see two generations go through Arabella Academy. He was the second person to stay that long after William. William had obviously stayed for longer. He solely depended on his salary as the janitor to provide for his grandchildren. Both his wife and daughter had died in a terrible car accident that left the children orphaned. John therefore took it upon himself to raise those kids. The money he got from his work helped him give them their basic needs. The loss of those important keys had caused him to be on the brink of getting fired and he was desperately looking for them.

"Hey John, did you see anyone pick those keys?" Stevens asked, hoping for any information that may get him off the hook.

"That is precisely what is bugging me. The keys were right in my pocket this morning. Now I can't find them," John replied. He was a devastated man, and the glabella lines on his forehead were more visible- caused by the stress of losing the key.

"Bummer!" Stevens remarked. He shrugged and finally added, "Alright then John. Just continue searching. Please notify me when you find those keys, will you?"

Stevens left John to his searching and went ahead to check on the classes. He was strolling along the hallways when Michelle suddenly emerged from class. She was going towards the direction of the washroom, from where Stevens was coming. On seeing the deputy principal, she stopped in her tracks and stared at him like some maniacal dude. To Stevens complete surprise, she started running in the other direction as if she was running away from him.

Stevens watched her run away and shook his head. He scanned himself to check if there was anything that might have scared the girl off.

"The bitch must be crazy!" He muttered to himself.

He continued walking along only to be intercepted by Job. He looked like he had something important to tell him.

"Excuse me Stevens."

"Don't tell me it's another problem because I swear I am going to kill myself."

"I think you should come and see it for yourself."