The Aptitude of Teaching

2008

Story by: Professor Zelda Aguera (Herpetology)
Written down by: Shelly Hobbs
Edited by: Ambrose Parsons
•~•~•~•

   Uhm… I remember this very well, and it's the most traumatic thing I've ever experienced in BSU. Since we have some extra time on our hands, I might as well share it.

   The 2008 Incidenr.

   It's the most gruesome happening ever recorded in Burnwood history, and I, and a few other of the Professors here, were the many to have witness and experience it. I was a first year at the time, one of the many child prodigies that enrolled. I was batchmates with Professors North, Snow, Easton, Lily, Bela and Flàvio, so you can ask them about this too if you want different versions.

   Anyway, back to the story. I was in my chosen course class, which is Biology. It was a normal day, nothing really unusual happening. We were learning about Punet Square during that time. Then, Headmaster William announced something over the speaker, which confused us all.

   He said; "Everyone, please lock the doors and stay in one corner of whatever room you are in. This is not a drill. Please—"

   We couldn't understand what he said next, because we heard a faint explosion coming from the speaker and the Headmaster's indistinct yelling.

   Everyone panicked.

   I remember one of my classmates scrambling to lock the door, and I was pushed by one of my friends to a corner, where everybody else was. The whole university was in lockdown. Our Professor stood infront of us, readying himself on whoever is coming.

   We waited in silence. Time felt so slow, and it was agonizing. All eyes were on the door, waiting and praying.

   Our class was on the ground floor and one of the first five classrooms in the hallway. So imagine how scared we were during that time.

   More silence as time passed, until a loud gunfire came from the outside. It made everyone flinch. Some whimpered, and others cried with hands over their mouths to avoid letting out a single sound.

   The door broke and it opened, and I could feel my throat tighten in sudden anxiety and fear.

   A woman and a man walked in. They both wore masks, and their hair were in bright neons. I gulped at the sight of their guns and knives coated in blood.

   They eyed us with malicious intent.

   One of them asked who are the prodigies in the class, but the Professor stood infront of me.

  "You'll have to get through me first if you dare hurt my student." That was the last thing he said before getting shot multiple times to the chest. I watched in horror as he crumpled down to the floor. Blood pooled beneath our Professor. Screaming and crying came next. We just witnessed someone get shot right infront of us. How else are we going to react?

   Before I knew it, I was grabbed by the arm and dragged out of the classroom. I was still in a state of shock, so I couldn't resist. Well, even if I did, I would… you know, die in the process.

   I was dragged to the campus grounds, where the other prodigies were, and was forced to kneel between Snow and another prodigy I didn't know. There were five more people with guns, masks and bright neon hair. One of them tied my hands behind my back and blindfolded me.

  I could hear them talk to one another in a foreign language I couldn't understand. I was now crying by that time, trembling as my tears stained my blindfold. I thought that this was it——this was the end.

   I heard gunfire, and someone dropping to the ground. More gunfire, and more people dropping. The gunfire was coming closer. I didn't know how many shots they've fired, I wasn't fond of counting at that moment. I trembled, silently praying that help would arrive already. I flinched when I heard a gun clicking behind me. I cried some more.

   "No worry" the person behind me said in broken English. "Time for sleep. Yes, yes, sleep. No cry. Cry bad for you. You be happy that you sleep now."

   I was shaking my head and whimpering out words even I couldn't understand.

   "Sleep well," she said. I shut my eyes under the blindfold, expecting the worse. But it didn't come.

   Loud sirens and the sound of a helicopter made the masked people yell something foreign, probably a swear word. There were more yelling, but this time it was from the police.

   My hands were untied and my blindfold was pulled off. Before me was a SWAT team member. Behind him were the masked people apprehended… and the corpses of the shot prodigies, and even the ones before me.

   "Are you okay?" He asked me, voice gentle. I looked at him, after seeing the aftermath of the incident. I teared up for the hundredth time, and shook my head. "Don't worry. Everything will be okay." He wrapped a shock blanket around me, and lead me to the ambulance outside the university. Fourty students and fifteen Professors died on that very day. Seven, including me, of the prodigies survived and a few Professors and students were injured.

   I was sent to a mental hospital, after being diagnosed with PTSD. There were no classes for weeks, and they resumed during mid-November. The whole university mourned the deaths of beloved students and Professors. It was a sad  semester for everyone at that time.

   The suspects died in prison a week after classes came back. The reason and cause is unknown, until to this very day. I remember a news anchor saying how they look like when they died; drained of blood and other bodily fluids, eyes rolled to the back of their skulls, and muscles stiff from whatever the cause.

   Ever since the incjdent in 2008, Headmaster William heightened the security of the university. There weren't much CCTV's here before, they were mostly by the stairway and around the campus grounds. But now there are in every end of a hall and every corner. There were more security guards and the rules became stricter.

   Imagine how would things be if that didn't happen. Heck, you might get a  different Herpetology Professor, and I would still be working in the Bio-Statements in Vine Town earning around half a million a month.

   But things happen for a reason, and I am actually quite happy in where I am right now. Though the pay is a bit lesser than Bio-Statements, but I am having fun and really grateful for this opportunity.

   So, I've experienced that mess years ago, I just hope all of you don't go through the same scary situation.