Archaeology 101... The Classroom of Despair

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It's no fun to recall such a story from so long ago. I got sent to a mental hospital trying to explain everything that happened to people around me. It took me a couple years to get out and go back to college. I can never go back to that campus. Sometimes I like thinking of the whole story so as not to forget. No one believed that it ever even happened. I can't even be sure if it really even happened. However, as much as I try, the older I get, the more their faces blur. What did they look like? Who were they? I'm trying my best to hold on for their sake, but sometimes it's hard. Was it all a dream? Were they real? Honestly, I still have no clue. I have come to peace with the reality that no one will ever know my pain. It has been 9 years. I decided to face my fears and moved completely cross country to California. To face my traumas I decided to become a professor in Archeology which I so loved at some point in my life.

I get to my assigned classroom. Room 229. I pause, and a throbbing starts in my head. Deep breaths. I can do this. Inhale, Exhale. I took a big step into room 229. It was a beautiful room. Nothing terrifying. Nothing out of the ordinary. No Earl. The perfect classroom. I set up my desk as I want to, then sit down after a hard day's work organizing.

"My first class is tomorrow. I hope that you guys are watching whether you're real or not," I say with my head in my hand, fiddling with a small blank slate memorial I put on my desk that reads 'In Remembrance' so I feel more connected to my classmates, my friends. Everything went by so fast. How could I have been so stupid? Why did we go back? It's all my fault. If only I could have done more with them. If I were nicer would things have changed? If we spent more time together outside of the classroom. Only regrets filled my head, but I knew that there were happy times too. Playing truth or dare, spin the bottle. Laughing when everything was peaceful with Professor Ranking. Without a care in the world. It seems silly to everyone else, but they were all real to me. I don't care if they were truly real or not. I will always remember them. My friends.

Soon after I began teaching my classes, a class of 10. Just like we were. Things were progressing smoothly. One day, I was teaching. I saw the glimpse of a teacher past my window... Who was that? The glimpse that I saw was of Professor Ranking. Smiling. It couldn't be though. He's all the way in Connecticut. I haven't talked to him since the incidents.

"Excuse me, class," I say as I rush towards the door and slam it open. I immediately look both ways. Nothing. No one. I shake my head to clear my thoughts. It must have been some type of hallucination from all this reminiscing. I continued on with class.

I had just been teaching for a while, a lovely bunch they all are. I happily came in to teach them. It was February 29th, a leap year. There was a massive snowstorm going on outside, it was a miracle class hadn't gotten canceled. I reached my classroom and opened the door. I started prepping for my classes for the day.

I turned back around towards my desk. A cookie. That... wasn't there before. I glance around the classroom. No one is there. Okay. Kinda creepy. But I ignore it. Soon the wind is howling as loud as it can. My students start to arrive as time passes.

"Hey, professor, what is that?" One of my students asks me.

"What is what?" I ask while turning around from the whiteboard.

"That," The student says

My blood runs cold as my eyes widen. I want to scream. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No No. This can't be happening. My ears start to ring and I get the urge to throw up. My balance starts to waver. Breathing gets harder and harder. I am swaying trying to continue standing. I start seeing black in the corners of my vision. Everything is closing in on me. Flashbacks of everything that happened cross my mind. My head starts to spin and pound. My students. I can't break down in front of them. I muster every last bit of courage I can to stay strong in front of my students. Shivers shoot down my spine like no tomorrow.

"Class. This... Is Earl."