Six Ways to One Day

Chapter 21

You woke up this morning from a vivid and disturbing dream. In it, you were trapped in a room with no exits or entrances, save for a large picture window that allowed you to look into an adjacent room. And all throughout the night, or at least it had seemed like it was all night, you had to watch Tae, interact with, seduce, and fuck different women, one after the other. You had recognized some of the women, and the others you didn't.

All night long, you saw and heard Tae, grunting and groaning his pleasure, as he rutted into the women, and the women, matching his vocalization of pleasure in moans and mewls of their own. Not wanting to witness the debauchery, you'd turn your back to the large picture window. However, every time you'd turn away to face the opposite wall, the window would move with you, so that you were forced to see what was going on in the other room once again. At one point, you tried closing your eyes and covering your ears to block all of it out. However, as if the images were burned onto your retina, you could still see and hear the couple's amorous congress. You were trapped, destined to watch powerlessly, as Tae indulged himself in a parade of women.

Needless to say, you feel like a piece of half-chewed meat this morning and when you arrive at work, you're in the foulest of moods. Normally, you don't use headphones in public, but today, you put on your noise-canceling headphones as you walk into the school building, in hopes that anyone you might run into this morning, would get the hint and leave you the fuck alone. To your delight, the headphones have the kind of effect that you were hoping for, and you make it to your classroom without having to speak to anyone.

As you get your door unlocked and opened, you see Tae in your peripheral vision, walking out of his classroom. Seeing the man in the flesh, makes the level of agitation you feel, crank up several notches. Not wanting your mood to tank any further, you quickly get into your room and shut the door behind you. You walk to your desk at the back of the classroom and put your things down on the floor. Dropping your behind heavily on your chair, you lean back as far as the chair will allow and let out a long sigh as you massage your temples. When you finally sit up, you notice that today's date is circled on your desk blotter/calendar. Inside it, there is a note that says that you have a general faculty meeting you must attend after school. You mutter to yourself, "Fuck! I forgot all about the stupid meeting."

The general faculty meeting takes place once, at the end of every marking period. "I was really hoping to just go home and chill out. Now I won't be able to get home until 6:00 PM at the earliest." Tilting your head back in defeat, you shout in your mind, "WHY?"

With your edges crackling with agitation, you put your things away and get ready for your first period. Your first class will be starting a new book today, and you go into your storage closet to retrieve the books for distribution. But as soon as you step into the small space, the memory of what you and Tae did in here, only a few days ago, comes flooding back, making your cheeks heat and mouth go dry.

Quickly grabbing the books, you bring them to the front of the classroom. You have to make two trips, but when you're done, you slam the door to your storage closet. Not only are you feeling irritable, but now you feel foolish too.

Not wanting to marinate in your foul mood, you take a deep, cleansing breath and look out of your window into the central atrium of the school. You try to focus on the beautiful trees and other vegetation growing below and tell yourself, "Just get through today. Tomorrow is Friday and you'll spend some time with your girls and have fun. Just grit your teeth and get through today. Do not kill anyone. You will not survive prison; you're not cut out to be Bertha's prison bitch. Just breathe. In through your nose and out through your mouth."

That little self-peptalk seemed to help and you feel calmer. Returning to the task at hand, you turn the lights on and open the doors to your classroom. About ten minutes before the first-class bell rings, your students start to trickle in, and as they do, you take attendance. Perched on a bar stool that you keep at the front of the classroom, you watch the doors. To your surprise, you see Siena McIntyre walk in and hear her say to herself, "Nope," and turn to walk out. You chortle to yourself and think, "Old habits die hard," and turn away from the doorway.