The Teacher's Assistant

The Dark Pyramid

He walked forward and grabbed Peter by the arm, turning him so that he faced him and had his back to the girl.

Peter naturally tried pulling away but the professor's grip was surprisingly strong. "Excuse us." He said to the girl with an annoyed look.

The girl was clearly disturbed by the professor's rude interruption. She didn't think Peter even heard her say goodbye as the professor dragged him quickly down the hallway.

"Of all the things you could choose to spend time on Peter, of all the hundreds of thousands of things you could do; a girl is the last thing you want to be involved with. Now I suppose you think her hair is pretty and her eyes are beautiful. You probably think you will never find a pretty face like her anywhere else. Is this indeed what you think?" Mr. Devine asked as he stood over the boy.

"No! No... I don't think any of that, or not at least the way you described it." Peter said almost with guilt

The professor rose his eyebrows, "Care to describe it your way Peter?" The boy didn't answer so the professor went on. He assumed his heir of a learned professor and began, "See girls... women in general are hardly better than parasites. They drain you emotionally and materially until there is nothing left, then they leave. A girl may love you for a week, a month, or a even year, so long as you constantly pour yourself into her. This takes time, energy, and money; what more would a girl want than these three things? And what happens when they find a different person with more of these? Well it is quite obvious, they disappear. Or worse yet, although only the worst women do this, they try and stay friends with you. This way they can continue taking your stuff without losing their new and better man. It is a cruel game Peter, a game I have never seen won. But you already knew this before I even started talking, we all do, it is as apparent as the sky. Girls have a way of making us think that each one is different when in reality they are not; man knows this yet he is overpowered nonetheless. Is this girl different Peter?"

At first the boy said nothing as the words of the professor settled over him. A few moments passed and he replied, "Well I suppose not... But she loves me and that certainly makes her unique."

The professor scoffed at the word "Love." "Women don't love men, they love what men give them! I want you to be successful Peter and you won't find success or anything good in a girl." His tone had changed in this last sentence; the scorn in his voice was gone, he sounded passionate and caring.

Peter looked up at him, "You are worried I won't go now because of Jessica, aren't you? Well you are right because I am not leaving."

The professor's face changed not to anger but pity, "You really think she is going to care about you? What happens when she finds out who you really are? A poverty stricken nobody with not a friend in the world!? You think she is going to stay with that? When she has every other boy in the school?" Peter was horrified, he had no idea how the professor knew so much about him. Every word he said was perfectly placed, each one stung Peter venomously. "If you really want to go down this horrible road of being with a women you have to make something of yourself first, when you still have the chance."

The shadow that had only just left Peter's face returned. Once again he looked beaten and resigned to fate. "What if I don't come back?"

"There won't be anything to come back to Peter. She, like everyone else will only hurt you. If you don't come back you will have only avoided more suffering."

The boy sighed, "Alright... I will do it."

"You're making the right choice Peter." The professor put his hand on Peter's shoulder as a father would to a forgiven son, then left.

Physics class went as usual, or at least it did for everyone else. Peter couldn't get his mind off of what he was about to do. Was the professor mad or a genius? Would he really be sent to an alternate reality? Nothing about the shrewd man seemed right, yet nothing seemed exactly wrong. The future was utterly unknown to the poor boy sitting at his desk. He watched the clock with anticipation.

The professor on the other hand, didn't seem any different than ordinary, he taught his class as he would any other day. In fact, he seemed more relaxed than ever.

"That will be all today, you guys can enjoy a few extra minutes to make it to wherever you go from here." He said almost merrily. "There shall be no lingering however, except for Peter who will be helping with some work."

No one objected to this and the room was empty a minute later.

The professor shut the blinds and locked the door, the room dimmed. He pulled out his large suitcase and opened it, the room got even dimmer.

The pyramid, as it was pulled from the leather suitcase sucked almost all the remaining light. A shudder ran down Peter's spine, the bad feeling he had felt the first day he saw the dark object returned. But again, this feeling was accompanied by an attraction; like everything else in the room he felt drawn to it. He wanted to touch it.

Mr. Devine held the dark pyramid gently almost with a certain kind of reverence. He paused for a moment to gaze into its astounding darkness before quickly looking away as if something frightened him.

"The first time I showed you this you were afraid to hold it; are you still afraid?"

Peter was afraid but he couldn't turn back now. "No I am not, let me hold it."

"Very well then." He walked towards the boy, as he moved with the pyramid the concentration of darkness followed him and encircled him and the pyramid like a great dark robe. "Here take it." He outstretched his hand out for the boy to grab it.

The urge to touch the pyramid had grown stronger when it neared Peter. Without fulling knowing why he did it, Peter quickly snatched the black pyramid from the professor's hands, "Awe! Easy there!" the professor chuckled.

Peter didn't hear him, the moment his skin touched the icy surface of the pyramid the world around him faded out. All he could see was the blackness before him, it was so deep, so dark; an absolute void of everything, a bottomless black hole, a never ending abyss that sank into an infinite absence of all things. He couldn't look away and the longer he gazed into it the deeper he seemed to travel. Farther and farther down he seemingly fell.

In the dark school room the professor watched with eager attention. The boy had not looked up once since he handed him the pyramid. "So far so good, he doesn't seem to notice his surroundings." He thought to himself as he looked at his silver watch, "But a few more seconds and he shall be off!" The professor mumbled excitedly to himself. "Three, two, one, zero!"

The professor took a step back and shielded his face. The pyramid burst into a terrible blinding light. The room lit up as white flares poured out of the pyramid. Peter cried out in what was either shock or pain. The blinding light vanished as quickly as it had come and Peter was nowhere to be found.