I'm Going to Kill You

An adult Josh had a flashback to one memorable rainy Thursday in February, 1986. He and the rest of Mrs. Smithson's class had been relatively hard to deal with since Christmas, and it had been taking its toll on the teacher. Twice in the past two weeks, Mrs. Smithson had gone home after half a day. The previous Friday, she burst into tears in front of the class after sending four boys to the office.

Today, though, was going to be memorable, and for all of the wrong reasons.

School began at 7:45. Smithson didn't walk into class until half past eight, looking very out of it, still wearing the clothes she had on the previous day, smelling vaguely like alcohol and cigarettes, and clutching some papers in her hands. The papers were fresh from the copier, so it still smelled a little funny.

After passing out all of the sheets, Mrs. Smithson slumps down into her chair and slurs "G-go! All of you! Into the office, now!"

Josh and his classmates look at each other, completely confused. Finally, after a very tense minute, Brian Willis, Rachel Klein and Larry Johansen quietly stood up, picked up their copies of the note, and walked out of the room, into the hallway to the principal's office. Pretty soon, the other 27 kids in class followed suit, with Josh being the last one out. Mrs. Smithson had fallen asleep by the time Josh walked into the hall.

"Hey guys! Wait! We didn't do anything!" Josh called after his classmates as they all quietly marched down the hall. "This says we killed the teacher! That's not what happened! GUYS!"

1. Later, in the office...
2. And that's why Mrs. Smithson was "placed on leave" by lunchtime.
3. Josh gets stuck in his third grade self, and has to live his life over again.

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree