homework horror.

i sat in the deserted staff room. droplets of murky condensation from the faulty air-conditionaing system dripped into my pile of unfinished markings. i shifted my dog-eared marks book from underneath my cup of rancid coffee. to my left was a monutain of filing; to my right its mirror image. i was imprisoned in a cell of paper. my only way out was to try to tackle it head on. i had to mark it no matter how dull, how repetitive, how mind numbingly boring it was; it was my only escape.

i reached to the top of the pile and plucked the first of the compositions. it was lucas'. i knew it was his neither because his name appeared at the top of the page nor because i recognise his handwriting, but because it was incomplete. i scanned the first paragraph. despite my explicit instructions he had began his composition with direct speech. i felt ill. i placed the sheet down and looked for another.

next was hong yi's work. he had insisted i say something good about his work so i wrote "good to see you spelt your name right" at the top of the page. hong yi's story was about a gorgeous english teacher with whom the narrator fell desperately in love. it was a love that could never be, however, because the teacher went completely insane and killed all her students when they made a stupid 'wooooing' sound just one time too many. i felt a great empathy for the teacher. hong yi received a b.

mini hwee's competition was next, then miss see's then miss chen's. they were all of reasonable sound standard. but there was one piece of paper that stood out from the rest. a pink piece of paper that contained three simple words "you will die".

i looked at the paper till my eyes watered. i knew its author. it was a script i'd seen before. nadiah's handwriting was unmistakable. she had threatened me every day since i messed up her hair. she was bitter that i was obviously more goregous than her, and she was particularly angry that i had used her as my antagonist in my story.

"i see you've got my note," hissed a voice behind me, "i've come here to warn you- it's not fictionous."

"nadiah, i don't have time for these shenanigans," i muttered. " i know you're still annoyed i said you were flirting with johan, and that's why you moved seats, but i was only joking. besides, he really does like you, you know?

"damn yo darbyshire!" nadiah screamed hysterically. " how can you?"

"nadiah, you're getting your tenses wrong. you should have said 'how could you'. don't you ever pay attention?" i sighed as she stormed out of the staff room. such displays from nadiah were, unfortunately, commonplace.

i sighed again and decided to alleviate to the ache of marking with a comforting cup of milo. i rose from my wooden seat and was suddenly struck with the unmistakable sensation of pins-and-needles. my left leg, which i'd hooked under my buttock, was almost completely numb. it had happened before. i knew exactly how to deal with it. all i had to do was remain still for a minute and i would regain sensation in my limb. i stood still trying to deal with the discomfort and silently berating myself for causing it.

the lights in the main office went out. i assumed the automatic timer was. once again, faulty since they were not due to go out for another fifteen minutes. then, the staff room plunged into darkness. i became increasingly aware that something was wrong. those lights were controlled manually.

i tried to walk towards the switches, but an intense pain shot up my leg. the pins-and-needles were yet to subside. i was obviously suffering fro an unusually extreme episode. it was then i heard the footsteps. at first i assumed they were caused by the dripping air conditioner. but as they grew louder, they were soon accompanied by a malicious breathing. it was obvious i was no longer alone.

was looking for graph paper in my cluttered drawer when i saw my old sec 2 file. some nostalgic moments later, i relived my sec 2 days. i miss margo darbyshire like crazy. english lessons haven't been much fun without her.