A Mess
He was drenched in tears when the teacher found him in the boy’s washroom. His fingers trembled, and his lips quivered as he tried to wipe the mess he’d made.
The teacher neared slowly, still trying to understand what was happening. She’d been alerted by his sobbing and found it odd that a student wasn’t in class at this time.
The red-stained floor made her ask wrong. She couldn’t call the authorities on his dad fast enough when she heard his answer.
Any Injuries
Amelia’s mind raced with questions as she knelt beside him. She checked him for further injuries, swallowing a dry lump at what she found.
Panic set in, rendering her fingers immobile as her brain flooded with irrational thoughts.
She took a deep breath, trying her best to pretend everything was under control. She needed to rush the boy to the ER immediately.
Searching For The Perfect Life
But for Amelia Emerson, this was supposed to be a peaceful and fulfilling job. A passionate woman through and through, Amelia had always striven to ensure she led the life she loved.
She’d opted out of many professions because she didn’t do well in hostile environments.
Teaching math at an elementary school was supposed to be safe and quiet. She had no idea what horrors awaited her.
This Is Home
From her earlier days at Greenwood Elementary School, Amelia had always felt at home.
The kids and staff welcomed her as one of their own, affirming her belief that this was where she was meant to be.
Even after two years, she was still experiencing new aspects of being a teacher. She never knew that all those sunny days would culminate in this dark and stormy one.
A Rainy Morning
The incident occurred at the beginning of the fall semester. A constant downpour had devoured Amelia’s town, making everyone wish they could stay at home cuddled beside a fireplace or in bed.
It was a Monday morning, and Amelia, who usually arrived two hours before class started, was already in the staffroom prepping for her first period.
Unknown to her, someone terrible was headed her way.
A Bad Feeling
Dressed in a knitted sweater and scarf, Amelia sipped her morning coffee as she waited for students to report in.
She’d always loved the downcast weather of her town, a key reason why she moved here.
So the constant rain spoke to her. Yet today, everything felt wrong. She kept looking outside the window, wondering why she couldn’t shake this bad feeling.
Her Mind Is Far Away
Teachers filed in one by one, greeting Amelia where she sat. They talked about their night and commute to work, leaving comments about the rain and how it was making everything difficult.
Amelia engaged them with a smile as she’d always done. Yet today, her heart wasn’t in the conversation.
Her sight kept inching toward the rain-covered parking lot outside. What was wrong with her today?
A Voice
Amelia had always been a bundle of disarming smiles and joy. Yet today, she felt like a completely different person.
Something within her kept clawing at her mind, seemingly warning her that something terrible was underfoot.
Yet Amelia dumbed down that voice, focusing on her day’s activity instead. The school bell rang just as she was finishing her coffee. But she wouldn’t get to class that day.
Going To Class
Amelia gathered all her teaching apparatus as kids hurried to their classes. There was something about walking into a full class and imparting knowledge that had always made her feel whole.
She hoped that teaching would help eliminate the almost crippling feeling that had snared her heart. This was her safe space, and it could cure anything.
But what she’d find would demand way more than what she had to fix.
All Clear
Amelia waited for the hall to clear before she got out of her seat and headed for her first class.
The bright hallways of Greenwood always looked lovely, no matter the time of day. Today was no exception.
Amelia stamped down the nasty feeling clawing within and grasped her books, pens, and rulers tightly. Just being in this space made her feel at peace already. But that peace was about to turn on its head soon enough.
Sobbing
As Amelia turned a corner, her ears caught the sound of sobbing. She slowed, her sight sweeping the empty hall before and behind her.
Did she imagine it, or was a boy in distress?
She stepped forward, concluding that it was all in her head. But the sound came again, this time rooting her in place. What was happening?
Is It All In Her Head?
Amelia listened in carefully, sharpening her hearing as much as possible.
Although all the kids were in their respective classes, they were yet to settle down.
Their chatter was enough to drown what Amelia was trying to pinpoint. She’d have difficulty ascertaining whether what she heard was a figment of her imagination or if someone needed help.
There It Is Again
The sound slithered through the hallway, making her brows furrow. She bit into her lip, trying to isolate the sound from the chatter noise that had long blanketed the hallway.
Amelia’s eyes narrowed as the sound came again. A child was crying somewhere in the expanse of the school. The teacher turned around, trying to determine where the sound was coming from.
If only she knew this would end with her in the hospital with officers taking her statement.
Searching
Amelia started walking around from one end of the hallway to the other, hoping to pinpoint the sound’s source.
She wouldn’t be able to concentrate in class knowing a child was in distress.
She’d call another teacher to cover her period if needed. But her brave nature would lead her to make a bloodcurdling discovery that would mark her for the rest of her life.
Door To Door
Amelia spent the next ten minutes wandering the hallway. She moved from door to door, listening in to see if she was getting closer to the child.
Students were already staring at her through the window, wondering what Miss Emerson was doing.
But that didn’t matter to Amelia. Her mind was focused on her goal, not knowing what she’d find would change her life forever.
The Washroom
It took her a good fifteen minutes to reach the boy’s washroom.
Amelia’s heart throbbed as she realized the cries and sobs were coming from the other side of the green door before her.
Amelia had already called in favor of the other math teacher to take care of her period. As gently as she could, she knocked on the bathroom door.
Boundaries
“Hello?” Amelia called. She knew she couldn’t barge into the washroom, no matter how badly she wanted to.
She didn’t want to spook whoever was inside.
The cries and sobs halted as soon as she spoke, making her brows quirk. “Hello,” she called again, this time with a softer voice. “Is everything okay? Do you need help?”
Go In!
The answer was a brief silence followed by shuffling of feet. Something squeaked on the floor before whoever was inside the washroom yelped.
That was Amelia’s cue. Whatever reason she had for standing back flew out the window, and Amelia pushed the door open and walked in.
But what she saw had her taking a step back.
I’ve Seen It All
In the two years that Amelia had been a teacher at Greenwood Elementary, she’d seen everything that teaching had to offer.
She’d been through the best of the best while also wading through the worst. Each of these experiences informed the person she was today.
She was confident nothing could frighten her anymore. Well, that was until she walked through that green door.
Is It Empty?
Concerned, Amelia stepped into the washroom. The school was usually filled with the cheerful chatter and screams of children, but the sobbing that brought her here was different. It was a cry of anguish.
Pushing open the door farther, Amelia entered cautiously, her eyes scanning the room.
At first, she couldn’t make out anything. The walls were a bright white, and the floor a creamy taupe. But as she neared the first stall, she saw it.
She Sees Him
The sight that greeted her tugged at her heartstrings. There, huddled inside the first stall, was a little boy named Todd.
Tears streamed down his face as he frantically tried to clean up a mess on the bathroom floor.
Amelia thought he’d made a mess while using the bathroom until she got close enough to see what was happening. A cold chill shot up her spine.
Help Him
Amelia’s instincts kicked in, and she rushed closer to Todd, but she froze the moment she saw what was happening.
“Hey there,” she said even as she held back a retch. She’d long been squeamish, and the red liquid trailing down Todd’s hand didn’t help one bit.
She took a deep breath, knowing this moment wasn’t about her. She needed to stabilize Todd’s situation before asking him questions. But was she ready for what she would hear?
Terrified
Todd wasn’t the only one terrified. Amelia had never seen so much red in her life.
She was a respectable and reserved person, so she’d never seen it before in person. She remembered scraping her knee as a kid. That was probably the only other time.
But she started to feel weird staring at what had happened. She felt woozy and struggled to keep her balance. What was going on?
Vertigo
It was like she was feeling vertigo, but she wasn’t anywhere high up. Was she really this squeamish? She had never considered it to be a fact. But it didn’t matter how she felt. She had to help the small boy.
But dread crept up her spine as she considered her options.
She could run out and find the nurse who could properly help the boy, but as she stared at the boy, she had a suspicion that wasn’t an option.
Skittish
The boy seemed very skittish. He must have thought he was in some kind of trouble. Amelia worried that if she left to get help now, he wouldn’t be here when she returned. He might have been doing something he wasn’t supposed to.
She couldn’t leave now. He’d either be gone or in worse shape.
She decided that if she acted right now, she’d find a way to help him. But the boy had other plans.
Making Things Difficult
She had no idea that the boy was going to make it more difficult than she could ever imagine. He was frightened that he was going to get in trouble, and she could tell. “Everything is fine,” He said in a frantic voice.
But she didn’t buy it. Judging by everything on the floor, she knew that he wasn’t okay.
The boy may have been trying to cover up what he was doing, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hurt.
Trying To Help Him
Amelia tried to get closer to the shaken-up and injured boy, but as she reached out a hand, he winced and backed up further against the wall like a traumatized animal.
Clearly, she wasn’t going to be doing any help if she didn’t try something else first.
She racked her brain, thinking of anything that she could do to reassure the boy that she wasn’t going to discipline him – she only wanted to help him.
Reassurance
Maybe reassurance was the key to success. She said, “Hey, don’t worry. You’re not in trouble, and all I want to do is help you. You look like you could use some assistance, darling.”
Her low voice seemed to indicate that she was only trying to help. The young boy seemed to slowly warm up to her. Her motherly instincts were slowly getting to him.
He was finally willing to accept help.
Could She Do It?
Now that the boy wouldn’t reject her advances, she could help him. But as she got closer to the scene of the accident, she felt her stomach start to churn. Could she even do this?
She stared at the boy in pain and knew that no matter what, she had to fight through whatever she was feeling to help the boy in need.
If she didn’t, could she even call herself a teacher anymore?
Reaching Out
Amelia reached out to the boy. This time, he didn’t wince. He let her touch his shoulder as she smiled at him.
“See, it’s not so bad!” She said in an assuring and sweet tone. The boy seemed to calm down a bit.
But the bulk of the work was still ahead of the teacher. She needed to secure the boy and make sure that all of his wounds were tended to.
Something She Didn’t Notice
Now that Amelia was so close to the boy, she noticed something that she hadn’t before. Despite his panic, she could tell that he looked tired for some reason. Then she saw something she didn’t like.
The bags under his eyes were only the first sign that something was wrong, but she was about to see something much more troubling.
Looking above his wound to his bare arm, she couldn’t believe what she saw.
Marks
There were a dozen or so marks leading up the boy’s arm. They weren’t any ordinary marks. They looked a lot like they were from a needle.
Alarm bells went off in the teacher’s head, but the first thing was first, she had to help him.
It didn’t matter what he was doing in the bathroom. What was important was that he needed help, and he needed it now.
Dark Revelation
Amelia couldn’t help but wonder what the boy was doing. She was only human, which meant that she did wonder what he was doing.
She had already promised the boy he wouldn’t be in any trouble, but she would have to break her promise if he was doing what she thought he was doing.
The dark revelation came over as she thought about the trouble that he may have been in if he had resorted to such things.
Forcing Herself To Act
Even though Amelia had never faced anything like this before, she was always able to act in the face of danger. However, this time was different. This time she was frozen in place.
She had to will her body to move even though it was protesting on the deepest of levels.
What on earth had she just walked in on? What was little Todd doing in that stall?
As She Got Closer
After a few failed attempts, Amelia got herself to move, and she inched closer to the little boy. But as she did, his behavior shifted completely.
He was wiping his hands across the floor in an attempt to hide something. But instead, he was just making more of a mess.
That was when she realized that something was incredibly wrong.
What To Do?
Amelia couldn’t help but address the thoughts she had earlier when she saw the needle marks on his arm.
She had thought about older kids who had resorted to such things. They were expelled and ended up homeless.
She didn’t want that for the young boy. That’s why she knew how important it was to try and resolve it now.
But she had a heavy decision on her mind.
Injured And Scared
She wondered if it went hand in hand with whatever he was trying to hide from her. What should she do?
He was injured and scared, but as a teacher, if she didn’t act quickly, he could flush whatever he had, and she wouldn’t have any evidence.
But as a mother, she thought about how the little boy must have felt at that moment.
A Dilemma
The teacher had a difficult decision to make. Would she comply with school policy and get whatever the boy had away from him, or would she leave it?
He would only be more hysterical and scared if she first grabbed the item before tending to his wounds, and what kind of precedent did that set?
To make matters even worse, time wasn’t on her side. He was getting paler by the second. She had to make her decision now.
A Decision
After a second of thinking, Amelia had made up her mind and stepped towards the boy.
As her shadow fell over him, he felt even more scared than before. Every step forward broke her heart a little.
It tried climbing up the wall, but she was firm in her decision and kept approaching him. If she didn’t get close, then she wouldn’t be able to render aid to him.
He Cried Even More
With each step she took, Todd’s cries became louder and more severe. It wasn’t just a soft sob anymore. It was a full-blown hysterical cry.
This confused the young teacher even more as she was just trying to help, and she thought the little boy would appreciate that.
But then she saw what he was trying to hide, and her protective instinct went into overdrive.
What On Earth Was Going On?
Scattered around the young boy were a bunch of vials and syringes. That was what he was trying so hard to hide, and the teacher couldn’t help but wonder why that would be.
Was he dragged into some illegal activity? Was he being used to transport narcotics?
The thought was just as bad as the sight in front of her, and she needed to decide what she had to focus on first.
What Were Those Things?
Amelia decided that her focus should be on her young student as he needed help as soon as possible. But that didn’t mean she was going to let this situation slide.
She needed to find out what was going on there, and she needed to do it right away.
If her student was in some kind of trouble, she needed to get him out of it before it was too late.
Cleaning The Wound
Ignoring the questionable sachets and vials by his legs, she helped him to his feet, informing him they needed to clean his wound.
She couldn’t ask him what had happened. Not now when he needed first aid.
But as she held his hand over the sink to clean it, Todd mumbled something that gave her a clue about what had happened.
What Happened
“My dad,” Todd cried. He kept wincing and grinding his teeth, clearly trying to stamp the pain.
His tears wouldn’t stop flowing down his cheeks, and his fingers wouldn’t stop trembling.
The sink turned crimson from his hand. No matter how much water Amelia ran on it. She couldn’t breathe clearly, and her mind kept screaming that she was doing something wrong. She needed help.
Not Fit Enough
Amelia’s mind was screaming, reminding her that she wasn’t fit enough for what she was trying to do. And her body reacted. She felt her stomach knotting together as a lump rose up in her throat.
She was on the verge of getting sick, but she knew she couldn’t afford that, at least not at that point in time.
Todd needed her, and she couldn’t let him down. But could she do what needed to be done?
No Training
Amelia was still trying to get her first-aid certificate. She hadn’t even started the course yet. And she had absolutely no training in dealing with wounds, especially not wounds that deep.
That was what got to her the most. It was what had her mind spinning at a thousand miles a minute.
It was what had her questioning every move she made. Was she doing the right thing? Or would her actions cause more harm?
So Severe
The injury Todd had sustained was so severe. There was a long cut along his hand, and the bleeding seemed to be getting worse.
The more she kept it under water, the more it looked like more crimson was spilling from his hand.
But was that really the case? Or was it just her mind playing tricks on her?
She Couldn’t Do It
There was a voice in Amelia’s mind. A constant reminder that she couldn’t do it. That this was beyond her expertise and that she should give up before things took a turn for the worse.
But she tried her best to suppress it. Amelia knew that this was way out of her league, but she would still try her best to do what she could until Todd got the help he needed.
He Needed Medical Attention
It was clear that Todd needed medical attention, or at least to have his hand patched up by someone who knew what they were doing.
But until they got to that point, Amelia was his only option, and she would do whatever it took to get him the help he needed.
That thought brought her back to what she had seen earlier. Why did Todd have all those vials, to begin with?
Don’t Listen
But Amelia didn’t listen to the voice. Todd was among the best kids in her class, and she’d give anything to take away his pain.
She rinsed his hand until the bleeding stopped and kept assuring him everything would be fine.
But each time she’d speak to him, he’d say the same thing repeatedly. What had his dad done that had landed him in this difficult position?
Racing Mind
The more Todd mentioned his dad, the more Amelia’s mind began to race. She couldn’t help but wonder how the man was involved in what she had seen.
And since she didn’t know what the bottles contained, she could only think of the worst.
Was this young boy really dragged into something he shouldn’t have been a part of? Was his dad doing sinister things behind closed doors?
So Many Questions
Amelia had so many questions passing through her mind. She had seen so many shows, and she had even met parents who didn’t have their children’s best interests at heart.
Was that what was going on with little Todd?
Was he a part of something bigger? Something that could have dire consequences for all those involved?
Even More Assumptions
The more her mind wandered, the more assumptions Amelia came up with. She had thought of every possible scenario.
She tried to play off everything she saw.
But there was no denying the facts. Her young student was in a bathroom, surrounded by vials, packages, and syringes. And he tried his best to hide them from her when she arrived. Why was that?
How Was His Dad Involved?
And how on earth was his dad involved in everything that occurred that day? Amelia had met the man.
She had spent time with him at parent-teacher conferences. She had spoken to him more than any other parent.
And he didn’t seem to be the type of man that didn’t care about his son. He didn’t seem like the type who would do the things she thought of. Was she wrong for believing that?
What Could She Do About It?
Amelia felt that she might’ve been wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time she misjudged someone, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.
But what would she do about it?
Would she leave the little boy to his fate so she wouldn’t have to intervene and get in trouble? Or would she do her duty as a teacher and report what she found?
This Is Her Calling
“It’s okay, Todd,” Amelia would say after each of Todd’s painful refrains. She was starting to realize that this was where she was meant to be all her life, helping kids that needed her. “You’re safe now. He won’t get you.”
But Todd pushed himself away from her, rushing to the mess he’d created in the stall.
Amelia hadn’t seen it before, but she gasped when her sight caught it. She couldn’t rush down to Todd fast enough.
Insulin
“I-I didn’t mean to make a mess,” Todd whimpered. “It was an accident.” He started picking up the vials, which Amelia could now see were tiny insulin bottles.
A few of the vials had scattered on the floor, and beside them, one had shattered into several sharp pieces.
Understanding dawned on Amelia, and she hurried down to help.
Sharp Glass
“Oh, Todd, it’s okay. Accidents happen.” Amelia realized that Todd had cut himself on one of the pieces. She helped him pick up the vials, knowing he needed to go to the school nurse immediately.
“But why do you have insulin vials? Are they yours?” she asked. Todd looked at her, his lips still trembling.
“They’re for my dad. He has diabetes, and he needs them to stay healthy. I accidentally put them in my bag this morning. Now he won’t have them, and he might get sick.”
We Need To Get These To Him
Amelia’s heart sank. She realized the gravity of the situation. “Alright, Todd, we need to act quickly. Can you tell me where your dad is right now?”
Todd nodded again, his eyes filled with hope, although he’d wince periodically from the pain in his arm.
Amelia took him to the nurse, not knowing that something terrible was happening across town.
A Phone Call
While Todd was at the nurse, Amelia called the company Todd had told her his dad worked.
But whoever answered told her they hadn’t seen Todd’s dad, and he wasn’t picking up their calls.
The panic that had taken over Amelia in the boys’ washroom fell over. “No, no,” she started, pressing 911 as she rushed back to the nurse’s office to talk to Todd. But would she make it in time?