The One Who Was [ON HOLD]

Transformation

 I screamed. There's is simply no other way to put it. You would've screamed too. I was standing there in front of the bookshelf and I was yelling my head off. Thank god the librarian had decided to turn her hearing aids off. After a few minutes of this I closed my mouth and stopped screaming. I took a couple of deep breaths, started to calm down, and ran. I tore out of there like Death himself was on my heels. I ran up every single flight of stairs, and pulled to a stop outside of my next class. Panting and out of breath, I leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor.

The door opened and Mr. Hornswaggle poked his head out.

“Hello dear.” He drawled in that strange Russian accent of his. “What are you doing here so early? There is still 15 minutes of free period.”

With no excuse prepared, I used the first one that came to mind.

“I, um, came to see if you needed any help.”

“With what would I need help?”

I shifted my weight uncomfortably, and raised a hand to smooth my hair. He seemed to sense my discomfort, and relented.

“Very well, you may come in.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and followed him into the classroom.

The desks were lined up in rows of 7. At the front of the room was a blackboard, a poster with all the rules of grammar, and a podium that he stood behind while he was teaching. Having never been in here without the noises, and antics of my classmates, the whole place seemed strangely silent. Even those ordinary things seemed different somehow, like someone you meet who seems familiar, but you cannot place.

“Done staring, Miss Hobbington?”

I seethed inwardly. Everyone in the school knew that I hated my last name, so they called me by it to annoy me. But a teacher? Honestly?

“I asked you a question.”

“Oh, right, sorry sir. It just seems so different.”

“Since I am not in need of any assistance and you are falling behind in my class, you may read the grammar books over there.”

I kept my face blank until he turned and walked to his desk. Then I commenced making faces at his back.

“I saw that, Miss Hobbington.”

Oh well.

Deciding that I might as well read them so that I didn’t get detention, I shrugged and walked over to the bookshelf. It was filled with titles such as, “Grammar 101”, “The English Language for Dummies”, “There, Their, and They’re”, and “Don’t Forget Your Punctuation!”

I exhaled softly.

“I heard that too Miss Hobbington.”

What was he, a bat?

“And that.”

But I didn’t even say that out loud! Now he was a mind reader and a bat?

“Why yes actually I am.”

I froze. That was not the voice of my odd English teacher. That was barely a voice at all. It sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard, like ice in a blender, like a tree about to fall.

“That’s right. Although I’ve never heard the tree one before.”

I was now quite literally shaking. I could hear my teeth clicking together, and my socks were soaked in sweat. I knew that if this thing wanted to hurt me it could, and it knew it too.

“That’s a good girl,” it hissed. “Turn around slowly so I can see your face."

A lump had suddenly manifested itself in my throat. Swallowing tightly, I shuffled my feet around in a tight circle.

“Slower.”

Too terrified to think, I complied. Looking down at my feet, I haltingly turned in its direction.

“Good, very good.”

I heard the soft thud of its footsteps walking up to me. As they neared, I flinched back.

“Not so fast.”

I stopped in my tracks. The voice was right next to me. Something cold and slimy grabbed under my chin.

“I told you I wanted to see your face.”

The fingers tightened their grip, and pushed upward. My gaze was dragged up against my will, and my eyes locked with his.