The Beauty of Death

Chapter 8- Daily Routine

Time flew as I sat by her bed. Memories of how my wife died right before my eyes were hitting me harder than i wanted them to. I had shoved them down so deep that I had hoped I would never see them. Nikki needed to get back at her work as a social worker. I pulled her away of her job that night and I felt bad. So I had told her to get back home and back to work and I would call her if anything changed. I looked at the clock and realized that I really needed to get going. It had been two days since the wreck and I was required to get to my classroom. I swung my tie around my neck and tied my Winsor knot and kissed Kizzy's head and headed for my car. Ten minutes later, I was in my class loading my computer and pulling up my class attendance. I tried to start memorizing the names that popped up and I failed due to the fact that there were no faces to connect with them. I looked up and realized that I had been sitting there for awhile. There were kids already sitting and were either looking at their phones or on their computers. I stood up by my board and waited for them to notice.

"Eh-em." I coughed, trying to get their attention.

Every set of eyes were on me in a millisecond.

"Okay, so I know none of you know me, but I'm Mr. Vanderz and I will be your teacher for this year. I'm sorry that I wasn't here yesterday, but I had an emergency. I would like to know you guys individually as well. So I would like each of you to take out a piece of paper and write what you think you're all about. It can be anything. By the way, you have ten minutes."

After my speal, they grabbed paper and started scribbling. I went back to my desk and checked emails, Finished my attendance. I figured that I had fifteen kids in this class alone. I looked at the bell schedule and noticed they would be out of here in three minutes and nothing I said would truly matter. I had four classes left in my day and then I was free to head back to the hospital. I went through all the same things in all of my classes. I told them who I was, what they were expected to do and that they were to write about themselves. By the time the day was done, I was exhausted. I checked my clock and checked emails one last time. I logged out and shut the lights off and locked the door. I headed for my car and stopped. There was a woman just standing in the road, wearing all white. She stared at me and her clothes shimmered and were all black and then she was gone. I shook my head and went to my car and left for the hospital.