Short stories.

Things would have been worse.

I often thought that things would have been better without him. I see him five days a week patrolling the corridors in the school. He is very tall and pale-looking. Although his shirt is tucked in and his hair is always greasy, there is something about his that makes him look shabby all the time. His eyes always seem drowsy but still manage to scare of anybody with the rage filled in them. He is always seen with a broom and I sometimes imagine him like the evil warlocks in those fantasy movies who would be chasing the brave hero on their broomstick. In the eleven years of my school life I have never seen him smile, well except the ones which would suddenly appear on his face when a teacher would pass by.

He is always irksome and shouting at the kids. But his favorite victims are the seniors, for some unknown reason he just hates our guts. Every time we pass by, he thinks of some absurd reason to scold us. Not even one student in the school is fond of him. Almost every day I and my friends are late for class after lunch break. While we are struggling to reach the classroom doors, we are always spotted by his vulture like eyes to be shouted out. When we climb up the staircase with last-moment -decision- ice-cream in our hands trying our level best to finish them and rushing towards our class, he shows up out of nowhere and gives us warnings which sound more like threats. These threats are always about complaining to the most feared teacher in school- the sports teacher. So whenever we see him around we run like we are running for our lives. But leaving all the negativities aside, we do feel sorry for him. He works harder than any of us but all he gets throughout the day is purposely spilled water by the primary children and a day full of disrespect.

We used to think that it would be better without him, but when suddenly one day he stopped coming to school, our thinking changed. We were all so used to him being around and always telling us what to do, everything seemed different when he suddenly disappeared. It was like we missed being shouted at by him. The staircase and the corridors which should have been peaceful now, somehow seemed empty and unpleasant. Our ears were so accustomed to hearing his voice in the background all the time, whether it was in between lectures or our breaks. When we all had finally come to a conclusion that he had left school, surprisingly the very same day he returned. We all ran towards him and asked him why he had been gone for so long. Honestly all of us were a little worried. So when we saw him, all of us were relived and happy. He told us that his mother had been ill in the village so he had to go and visit her. For the first time I saw him smile. I was the only one who captured the one millisecond smile. It showed that he was touched that we cared about him. We were probably one the first students who had been affectionate towards him and given him respect. From that day onwards he always smiled at us and never threatened us again. We became his favorites. Honestly things would have been worse without him.

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Who do you think the story was about?