Teacher’s Pet
(Part Two)
By: Roger Alderman
Mr. Kenny walks across the cafeteria directly at Alex and Emma, “Mr. Cole … Ms. Murphy.” Alex looks at Mr. Kenny with a look of concern. An angry Emma turns her attention from Alex to the teacher, as well.
“Just wanted to remind Mr. Cole that he agreed to help me with an after-school project,” Mr. Kenny offers ingratiatingly. Alex lowers his head and nods in compliance. Emma looks at Alex with contempt and huffs loudly. She then returns her focus to Mr. Kenny, “Is there anything I can help with?” “No, I’m sure we got it,” Mr. Kenny asks shifting his attention to Alex. Mr. Kenny leaves the pair at their table and exits the cafeteria.
“What was that all about?” Emily insisted. Alex recoiled at her question, “He wants me to become his assistant.” “No, I mean about finding Shane?” Emily holds an intense look of confusion. “Well, I assumed you knew? That they found him,” Alex insisted, “someone had to identify the body before they sent it to us for processing.”
Emily bursts into tears, “What?! Nobody told us anything. My mom and dad are still looking.” Emily’s words become incomprehensible through the tears. Alex leans in and hugs his friend’s sister in an effort to comfort her.
Alex’s anxiety rises, as other children in the cafeteria begin to look and glare at them. “Shhh…,” Alex begs. Emily sits upright and wipes her tears and snot away with a napkin. Emily notices Alex glancing around the cafeteria. She realizes he is not so much trying to offer comfort, as much as trying not to draw more unwanted attention.
“Are you fucking kidding me!” Emily stands and scowls at Alex. Alex stares at her in shock of her reaction. “Are you even really sorry? I thought you were my brother's friend. I don’t care about these people. Fuck them and their opinion,” Emily flips off the other children in the cafeteria and waves her arms about. “Emily, you’re making a scene lets...” Emily slaps him across the face and runs out of the cafeteria sobbing, as she goes.
Alex slowly rises running his face, as the other children laugh and point at him. His face hangs full of confusion and sadness. He pauses to dup his trash and place his tray on the stack. Across the cafeteria, Robert enters. Alex quickly slips out of the cafeteria before he can be noticed.
Once inside the hallway, Alex flees the area to avoid detection from his nemesis. The bell sounds throughout the school announcing it is time to change classes. “Fifth bell already,” Alex looks surprised as he examines his watch. Alex races to his next class which is halfway across campus.
Alex quickly grabs his books from his locker and slams it closed behind himself. He turns and gets startled by Mr. Kenny standing there. “Alex, we need to talk,” Mr. Kenny starts. “Do we have to? I would rather forget everything,” Alex begs. Mr. Kenny scowls, “I want you to become my protégé.” Alex looks confused, “your teacher’s assistant?”
Mr. Kenny shakes his head, “No, With everything at your family’s disposal. We could really help people out.” Alex’s confusion deepens. “Come with me,” Mr. Kenny motions for Alex to follow him, “I can explain better.” Alex nods and reluctantly follows, as he recalls Mr. Kenny’s statement about his words hold more weight than his by the police.
Alex and Mr. Kenny stop outside of the cafeteria. Mr. Kenny points through the security glass and Alex glances inside. “Together we can stop people like, Robert,” Mr. Kenny says. Alex watches Robert slap another student to afraid to stand up for himself. “I hate that guy,” Alex lowers his head. “You’re not the only one, Alex, Look,” Mr. Kenny points at other students obviously trying to distance themselves from the Bullying scene unfolding near them.
“I wish he would just go away,” Alex whispers, “He has been messing with me and making me look like a pussy.” Mr. Kenny places a comforting hand on Alex’s shoulder, “Together we can do something.” Alex looks worried at Mr. Kenny potential message. “Meet me after school. We will do something about Robert,” Mr. Kenny smiles and walks away.
Alex shakes his head concerned about what will happen after school. He looks back through the window to see what is going on, but the door busts open as Robert thrust it open knocking Alex to the floor. “Dumb ass, Way to stand behind the door,” Robert grins devilishly, “Don’t I owe you a beating?” Alex jumps to his feet and runs away.
Fuck It, Alex thinks to himself, that guy deserves it. Alex runs to his homeroom class for his study time. The rest of the school day moves by at a crawl Alex remains anxious at the thoughts of what event will later this afternoon bring. He smiles, as the last bell of the day rings.
Alex navigates the sea of teenagers flooding the halls and surging out into the street and high school bus loop. “Alex!” Mr. Kenny calls, as Alex walks just beyond the school entrance. “Mr. Kenny,” Alex waves and jogs across the street to the parked car. Mr. Kenny gesture for him to get in. Alex complies and the car slips easily back into the flow of traffic.
“So, where to?” Alex prompts. “It’s a surprise, but I’m sure you’re gonna like it.” Mr. Kenny says as he turns on the radio. Mr. Kenny begins to dance in his seat to the rhythm of the top forties radio station. Alex smiles and shakes his head at Mr. Kenny’s reaction.
The car makes a right-hand turn leaving Fay Blvd and traveling south along Grissom Parkway. The car winds along the roadway through the densely forested area. After a few miles past the county correctional facility, they pull off the road in sight of a large community of mobile homes.
“Why are we here?” Alex asks with a very confused look on his face. “You have never been here before, huh?” Mr. Kenny smiles, as he pulls a brown paper bag from his back seat. “No? What’s up with this place?” Alex presses. “This is where Robert lives.” Mr. Kenny offers nonchalantly.
Mr. Kenny exhales and stares at Alex, “We’re here to help you come out of your shell…to… grow. You can’t grow if he continues to torment you, Alex. He has to go.” Alex’s confusion turns to shock at the directness of Mr. Kenny’s statement, “I…”
“We wait till dark and put these on,” Mr. Kenny pulls two clown masks out of the brown bag. He slips on a smiling green haired and purple lipped latex mask. “Here, you wear this one,” Mr. Kenny hands Alex a much older clown mask, but this one was made from some kind of leather.
The mask clearly was not finished and was overworked a few places and had burned edges in numerous places. Large leather threads were used to keep the various pieces held tightly together. A metal buckle attached to the mask with leather straps to hold it onto the wearers face. Alex handled it carefully, as he was in awe of the wicked looking ancient clown faced leather mask.
“So, we just walk up to the front door and are like hey your kids an asshole and we just want to murder him?” Alex presses Mr. Kenny for an insight to his greater plan. Mr. Kenny smiles, “Do you think that would work?” Alex frowns, “You’re kidding, right?” “Have you ever done this before?” Mr. Kenny scowls at his protégé.
Alex pauses for a long moment, “No… Have you?” Alex swallows hard in anticipation of Mr. Kenny’s response. “Yeah, actually. Does that bother you?” Mr. Kenny glares at Alex. Alex shakes his head No defensively, “No, um… when? Do you mean Coach?” Mr. Kenny studies Alex, as he questions if the boy is ready for what is to come.
“A couple years ago I was in military special ops. It was my specialty to access locations and extract people of interest.” Mr. Kenny offers. Alex stares at his teacher with his mouth wide open, “You were in the special forces?” Mr. Kenny nods, as he rolls up his shirt sleeve to expose a tattoo on his upper arm, “See that?” Alex nods. “My team decided to get cut together in honor of our fallen brothers and in remembrance of what we have been through.”
Alex examines the tattoo tracing the image with his index finger, “how long did you serve?” “Eight years in special forces,” Mr. Kenny adds quickly. “Why did you leave?” Alex puzzles aloud. Mr. Kenny lowers his head and exhales. Alex watches, as his teachers face contorts with sadness and pain. “I had a wife… but she was taken from me,” Mr. Kenny continues.
“Taken from you?” Alex presses. “Yeah, I lost her in a car accident a couple years ago, but that wasn’t the worse part,” Mr. Kenny grips the steering wheel tight and twists it in his hands. “I’m Sorry. I …” Alex apologetically adds. Mr. Kenny blurts out, “She was pregnant. I lost her and the Baby to that drunk fucking bastard in the accident.”
Alex and Mr. Kenny sit quietly for a few minutes. He looks at Alex with a shit-eating grin, “You ready for some payback?” Alex nods and puts on the terrifying clown mask. Mr. Kenny gets out and opens the trunk. Alex follows him full of curiosity and concern.
The color fades from Alex’s face, “I…” Mr. Kenny reaches into the trunk and hands Alex a baseball bat, “enough talk. It’s time to work.” Mr. Kenny pulls a machete out of the trunk and points at a faded green mobile home, “That one.” “Robert’s House?” Alex asks. Mr. Kenny nods and motions for Alex to follow him. Alex stays close.
Mr. Kenny moves silently and skillfully across the wooded lot to the rear of Robert’s family’s mobile home. Alex follows sloppily stumbling along the dimly lit wooded field. Mr. Kenny turns after realizing Alex is not next to him. He sees his protégé bumbling along and shakes his head in disbelief.
Alex eventually makes it to Mr. Kenny’s side at the rear of the trailer. “From this point forward you call me Smiles got it. No, real names,” Mr. Kenny demands. Alex nods, “Call me Shadows…yeah… Shadows the Clown.” “Whatever kid. I mean Shadows,” Mr. Kenny snickers.
Mr. Kenny peers in the nearest window. He turns to Alex, “Okay looks like his dad’s asleep in his recliner, but no sign of Robert.” Alex shrugs, “What now?” Mr. Kenny stealth fully moves up the wooden elevated porch to the front door and motions for Alex to follow. Mr. Kenny tries the doorknob and smiles showing Alex the door is unlocked.
Smiles and Shadows move into the mobile home quietly closing and locking the front door. Smiles slips behind the recliner and produces a roll of duct tape. Shadows' turns up the volume of the television, as Smiles carefully wrap the man to the recliner in the duct tape. He makes sure to wrap the man’s arms, legs, torso, and lastly mouth all separately for each other.
Smiles' gives Shadows' a thumb up. Shadows' moves down the hallway towards a bedroom in the rear of the mobile home. Shadows' slips down the hall and next to the bedroom door. He immediately gets assaulted by teenage horrible body odor mixed with cheap aftershave and fans in front of his face.
Shadows' pauses at the door, as he hears a metallic squeaking. He shakes his head and bursts into the room, “Time to pay mother fucker!” Shadows' stops dead in his tracks in shock, as he comes face to face with his bully masturbating violently to an old Victoria’s Secret Brochure. “Who the fuck!” Robert yells. Shadows' stands frozen in terror at the scene before him.
Smiles pushes past Shadows, as Robert jumps to his feet with his erect meat hammer exposed for all to witness. “Jesus put that away,” Smiles demands, as he points the machete at the young man’s genitals. Smiles slaps Shadows across the face to snap him out of the trance.
Robert raises his fist ready to fight. Shadows' rushes at him bringing the baseball bat down on his arms violently. A loudly CRUNCH announces the breaking of Roberts left forearm, but he continues to try and defend himself. Robert screams out in pain. Smiles steps between them in a flurry of motion and punches Robert like a man would hit another man. Roberts jaw POPs loudly and he collapses in a heap.
Smiles turn to Shadows shaking his head in disappointment, “you should have hit him in the head right away while he was startled. You lost your element of surprise.” “Sorry,” Shadows lowers his head in shame of his lack of action. Smiles lifts the young man’s shoulder and motions for Shadows to grab his feet.
The pair carries Robert down the hallway bumping along the false wooden walls, as they go. In the front room area Smiles directs them towards the door. Shadows' pauses when he notices Roberts fathers headless body. A small flow of blood pours from the stump pooling on the floor, but behind the body on the wall is gigantic blood splatter with a man-shaped section not covered. Shadows' looks to Smiles, “Did you have too?” Smiles nods, “no witnesses.”
Smiles and Shadows move out of the mobile home. Then across the field to the waiting car. They unceremoniously drop Robert inside the trunk and slam it closed. “Now what?” Shadows' asks. Smiles grins ghoulishly at Shadows and motions for his protégé to get into the car.
(To Be Continued in Vol. 3)
