A Halloween Tale
“Lily? Lily? LILY?” a long whip like voice screamed in my ears, and then a loud crack hit my desk in front of my face. I tumbled out of my chair, hitting my head hard against the crusty dirt coated carpet. I looked around me, still weary and sleep deprived. The substitute teacher was a strange person. She held only one thing in her hand; a wooden ruler. It was the only thing I could imagine that could make the cracking sound on my desk. “Well?” Well what? I looked up at her and the odor of the carpet filled my lungs. A rotten cheese and peppermint smell clung to my nostrils and I had to plug my nose. “What’s wrong Miss. Kann?” She asked, folding her arms as she did so. “Nothing,” I said while standing and releasing myself from the bonds of a smelly death. “Sit in your seat and pay attention, or I’ll send you to the principal’s office for falling asleep in my class. I could only obey, and stick out my tongue when she had turned her back on me.” I looked at the girl with the blond ponytail sitting next to me. She was wrapping her pink polished fingers around her throat and sticking her tongue out. I tried to muffle a choked laugh with my hand.
Our substitute teacher was a fifty or so year old woman with short white hair and the eyes that could turn you to stone. Her skin sagged off her face although her nose stood straight and proud. Her voice was raspy and her laugh was more of a cackle; chilling you to the bone. She wore what could only be described as gypsy clothing. A gold shawl covered her boney shoulders and her multicolored skirt reached all the way to her black pointed shoes. She wore several rings on fingers, and as I said before, carried her wooden torture device. She had only been here for a couple of days and already she was calling it her classroom.
The sub sat at the desk putting on her large glasses that hung around her stretched neck. She reached for a pen and as she did looked straight at me with her snake like eyes. “Miss Kann! It doesn’t help your grade to be constantly observing me.” I quickly looked down at my five page test. I had circled three answers so far. I took one quick glance at her and saw the Conner of her mouth curve into a wicked smile.
I quickly circled answers at random and walked through the isle of desks and students to the substitute’s long judge desk. I felt as if I was on trial. The classroom was a dull grey in color with dark red speckled carpet and a few posters that promoted school rules. A black board was set right behind the teacher’s desk with the words Miss Bigspy written in jumbo lettering. Around thirty desks filled the small classroom; there was barely enough space for the two bookshelves that sad at the back. The only life like color I could see was from the clothing the students wore. This sub just made the whole room look even worse. I set my paper down in front of her. She took her eyes off of her book and slowly closed it. She then set the book slowly aside and placed an old notebook on top of it. I had barely managed to read two words off the color of her book; Black Magic.
“Miss Kann,” she questioned me, “you do know that you have failed by quickly circling the answers at random. Am I correct?” I just stared into the eyes of this hideous serpent. How could she know? “Lily if you hadn’t slept through the entire class you would have had enough time to finish the test.” “I know,” I answered looking down in shame. “ You might as well get used to me because I just received a message today that your former teacher has just resigned,” she said smiling through crooked teeth. The principal asked me to stay for the rest of the year. I stood there in shock; how would I bear any more of this torture? The bell interrupted my thought, making me jump. Everyone got up and left the class in a rush. “You’re free to leave Lily,” she said sternly. I quickly gathered all of my things and left the class in a rush. “Lily, by the way,” she said making me stop before the door, “ I would appreciate it if your tongue stayed inside your mouth.” I gasped. My back was facing her, but I could feel her eyes boring into me. She was probably smiling that eerie grin. Her cackle only proved my suspicion, and I departed from my torture cell.
Plot - underlined
Character-pink
conflict-green
Theme -orange
Setting -blue
