Ike Under Glass [and other short stories]

Snip

"Hey, should I shred these?" 

Atalanta looked up from the computer she'd been typing at. Her TA was waving a set of pictures at her. On them, the smiling faces of last years children beamed out. She was sad to say goodbye to the previous years children, but there would always be more 4 year olds and more pictures to take and put up so they could find their coat pegs. No need to keep the old ones around. Atalanta looked at the clock. It was already getting late. The shredder was kept in the main office, and Atalanta doubted anyone was still there. It would be rude to leave them a job to do, even a simple one like shredding pictures.

"Leave them here and I'll just cut them up. You get yourself home, Abdel." Atalanta smiled. As she said this, Atalanta could almost here her mothers warnings to never use scissors. Atropsia had scared Atalanta so badly about it as a child she rarely if ever picked up a pair even as an adult. It was hard-wired into her to be afraid of them. Atalanta loved her mother a lot, but she always questioned why she'd been so harsh about scissors. She'd become more confident as an adult though and regularly snipped open packages or cut strips of tissue paper for the children to use in their crafts. Nothing bad had happened, so the fear was fruitless, both in her mind and apparently her mothers.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. You've already stayed late."

Abdel placed the pictures on her desk, said goodbye and left her to finish the last preparations for next years start. Atalanta figured that if she had all of her planning done now, all of the resources ready and all of the equipment gathered then she'd have less stress when summer was over.

Unfortunately that meant more stress now. Last day, last chance, unless she really wanted to come back in during the summer. As a newly qualified teacher, she didn't want to be seen as lazy by those more experienced than her but she also didn't want to get into the habit of working when she should be relaxing. Employers took advantage of that. This one she'd learnt in her previous office job. 

Atalanta shut off the computer and picked up the set of photos. She looked through them fondly on her way to pick up a pair of scissors from the cupboard. They used to be in a pot in the craft area, until the children had decided that every spare piece of paper needed to be cut into pieces and then left out for her or Abdel to pick up. Next year she'd be more strict on how to use things. Atalanta knew she had been a bit soft this year, but confidence grew with age. She hoped.

They were good kids though. A fine first class and they would be missed. Well, it wasn't like she'd never see them again. The next years classrooms were just across the hall and she had dinner duties that would have her out in the playground around the same time as them. She hoped they had a good holiday and that the new children would like her just as much.

The tables and chairs were all child sized but Atalanta squeezed herself down into one anyway. She placed the pile of photos on the desk and picked up the first one.

Viktória, a little girl that was destined to be a dancer. Her coordination and ability to remember dance steps was impressive for her age and dancing would be a great outlet for her boundless energy. Atalanta had spoken to Viktória's parents about this and they'd agreed to enrol her in dance classes this summer. Whether they actually did or not was up to them. 

Atalanta placed the scissors on the edge of the picture. There was a strange tingling in her head when she did this. It travelled down her arm and through her hand, seeming to make the scissors hum softly. Atalanta shook her head to try and clear the feeling. It worked a little but the feeling of power didn't completely leave. Atalanta sighed. She really was tired if she was hallucinating like this. Atalanta started by cutting the girls scalp off, then she left a couple of centimetres and cut again.