Resident of the Earth

My Childhood Crush

"Gooood Mooornniiiiinnngggg Siiiirr," the whole class dragged the three words into a million pieces.

"Good morning, class. Did all of you finish your lunch boxes?" asked my teacher.

"Yeeeessss Siiirrr," we said again in chorus. He smiled, and it was the best thing I'd ever seen. Mr. Gareth was my math teacher, and he was my first crush. He was young, handsome, and super talented.

I stood up, and the whole class scrutinized me. "Sir, did you finish your lunch box?"

He looked at me, surprised, and moved towards my bench. "I didn't, unfortunately, Ms. Jude Lancaster. Would you like to help me with it?" He asked, and my face lit up.

"Yes, sir," I said enthusiastically.

He nodded with a smirk, and his face became distorted. His skin peeled off to reveal hard, bone-like, sharp structures protruding from the sides of his lips. He opened his mouth to reveal a narrow hole covered with sharp, pointed spikes in a cylindrical fashion.

His mouth grew and grew until it was big enough to fit me. The whole class screamed at the top of their lungs, but I stood there in horror, not moving an inch, until the creature in front of me came close enough to

Ouch.

I opened my eyes to see that I was on the bedroom floor of my new apartment.

"These stupid nightmares", I murmured. I had been having these kinds of weird dreams lately, but the interesting part was that all my dreams were about my middle school math teacher, and he always turned out to be a monster in the end.

Bzzzz. Bzzzzz.

I picked up the call. "Mother?"

"Are you still there, Judy!?" My mother screamed like she always did when she was panicking or angry.

What was she talking about? I thought, confused, before it dawned on me. Wait? That was tomorrow!? Shit. She was going to kill me.

I had moved out last month, two hundred miles away from home. After a lot of fighting and pleading, my parents had one condition to allow me to live on my own.

I had to spend my birthday with them.

Yeah, it was a weird condition. They weren't very fond of me, but it was okay as long as I was able to escape from that hellhole.

I looked at the time. "My train is an hour late, Mother. I'll be there before dinner. I promise." She disconnected the call in displeasure.

Shit! I was freaking out. I needed to get to the station in twenty minutes. I hastily packed a few things and left.

***

I placed my face near the window. I really loved it when the wind caressed my face. Fortunately my train was an hour late and I escaped from the wrath of my mother. Suddenly, a long-buried incident resurfaced in my mind.

I was a small girl at the top of a cliff. It was like the wind was competing with itself to hug me. Just one step forward, and I would plummet to my death. I stepped forward like the naive child I was, fell from the cliff, and... flew. Not exactly flew, but... floated. The air around me was denser than normal, forming a bubble and enclosing me in a protective shield. Near me, there was a figure gracefully floating in mid-air, just like me. I didn't remember her face, but I felt a pull toward her. I reached out to her, and...

"Tea Coffee!" I was pulled away from my thoughts by the busy train station. What was it? A memory? Nah! I must've had a vivid imagination when I was little. I brushed away the thought and started to think about something else. More like someone else. Mr. Gareth.