Cursing as he tried to wipe up the spilled coffee, Andrew Sinders angrily scrambled out of his seat. Already late, he placed a small pile of leftover napkins from McDonald’s over the small puddle accumulated in his car. Grabbing his briefcase, he proceeded to walk briskly towards the school. Arriving late was something he always avoided. Today however, he had merely forgotten to set his alarm clock. As he entered the school, a few students began to smirk and giggle at his appearance. He was prematurely bald; barely 5 foot 4 inches, and quite fat. The stains on his dress shirt made him appear like a slob. Students usually made fun of Mr. Sinders anyways because of his well-known cruelty to students in class. An easy target, Mr. Sinders was constantly murmured about in the halls. Today was no exception.

If there was one thing Mr. Sinders hated the most, it was kids. Adolescents were Mr. Sinders’s worst enemies. He absolutely hated the disrespectful, uncooperative attitudes of these teenage slacks. Why did he choose to become a teacher then? Oh no, he never chose to become a teacher. Previously, he had worked at a prestigious university. But, his job was not stable, and he eventually found himself searching for a “profession” that would match his education. Little did he know how miserable his life would become when he agreed to teach at this lowly high school. Respect that he once knew simply passed the minds of the students he taught. Mr. Sinders had no incentive to educate these children, but he knew his job was at stake. He continued to teach the disrespectful weasels despite the insults that would fly from both the teacher and the students.

There was, however, one student in particular who concentrated his energies towards the embarrassment of Mr. Sinders. One could say this student occupied the position of Mr. Sinders’s nemesis. His name was Evan Stork. His mind focused constantly on ways to get even with Mr. Sinders for all the times he had been humiliated. Unlike his schoolwork, he was always successful in causing his classmates to take his side and attack Mr. Sinders with insults and disrespect. Evan, along with his posse of friends conjured up stories about Mr. Sinders which spread like wildfire throughout the school, eventually reaching the ears of Mr. Sinders himself. Mr. Sinders could not deal with Evan in any way besides the string of witty insults which would turn the boy’s face crimson red with embarrassment. It was no surprise that Evan sought every opportunity to outwit Mr. Sinders in their battle of superiority.

“Good morning Mr. Sinders,” snickered Evan. A tone of false sincerity hung as his friends stood by his side smirking at his remark. “Glad you could finally join us.”

Mr. Sinders scowled at this remark. He remembered how he had used the exact same comment to bring Evan’s tardiness to the attention of all his classmates. Now he was the target of the same embarrassment.

“I do not appreciate your tone Mr. Stork. Talk to me like that one more time and I will have you in for another detention. You are aware that you spend more time in detention than you do at home?” A small sense of triumph occupied Mr. Sinders conscience as a few students passing by giggled and pointed to Evan.

Instead of searching for a witty comeback, Evan turned away and called his friends to his side as they walked down the hallway. A suspicious smile slowly formed on Evan’s face as he quickly glanced back at Mr. Sinders.

Mr. Sinders had more things to worry about than the lowly Evan Stork. His higher power, the principal, had scheduled a meeting this morning that lacked his attendance. Not only was this a blow to his name, but his chances of the increased salary he had been hoping for were now demolished. How was he going to explain his absence? Things were not going his way.

Bumping into one of his fellow teachers, he snapped out of his pool of self-pity. His co-worker, Mr. Neekolus, was one of the few teachers Mr. Sinders got along with. Not taking note of their minor collision, Mr. Neekolus proceeded to greet Mr. Sinders. Mr. Neekolus looked extremely pale; deep, heavy bags hung below his eyes. He had been unfortunate enough to also acquire an unrelentingly painful headache.

“Hey Andrew,” wheezed Mr. Neekolus, obviously needing some rest. “As you can probably tell, I’m not feeling at the top of my game today.” A slight chuckle escaped from him. “I was wondering if you could do me a favor.”

“What kind of favor are you talking about?” questioned Mr. Sinders.

“Oh, well, I’m taking the day off today,” hinted Mr. Neekolus. “I can’t possibly make it through the day.”
“So you want be to substitute for you?”
“Not all day!” laughed Mr. Neekolus. “Just for one class period until the substitute teacher arrives.”
Reluctantly, Mr. Sinders nodded off the sickly teacher as he made his way towards the room where his responsibility was required. Sighing as he turned into the room, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Imagine his surprise when he saw Evan Stork, standing at the whiteboard. Drawing after drawing of inappropriate caricatures covered the whole face of the whiteboard. Numerous drawings were labeled “Mr. Sinders”, and they were all associated with words such as “the man who will never marry” or “the being no one will ever love”. Evan was not the only drawing the offensive cartoons. He had convinced his friends and his classmates to contribute these hateful drawings towards Mr. Sinders. Many students fell silent as Mr. Sinders appeared in the classroom and began scanning the whiteboard.

Mr. Sinders could take no more. This was his breaking point. A rush of rage unfathomable, even to himself, swept over him like a crashing wave. Mr. Sinders ran straight towards Evan Stork and grabbed him by the collar. As Evan looked into Mr. Sinders eyes, he saw a crazed look of insane rage. This stunned Evan as Mr. Sinders took a hold of Evan’s head and rammed it into the whiteboard with the force of a thousand trains. A loud scream escaped from the poor boy’s terrified body, and every single one of his classmates watched in paralyzed horror. Hot blood trickling from his ears, Evan glanced up pleadingly as Mr. Sinders stood over the boy’s limp body.

“Not so clever now are we?!” yelled Mr. Sinders in mockingly hilarious tone that passed insanity.

For Evan, the only words that he could mumble as he stared into the crazed eyes were, “I…I…don’t know. Why…why...are you doing this?”

A smile spread across the insane man’s face. “Oh, you know why.” Laughter burst from his lips as he reached for a stapler sitting on the teacher’s desk.

Evan watched in horror as the stapler came down, towards his face. The first blow made solid contact with his nose. Bits of shattered bone felt like shards of glass as a red river flowed from his nose. Beginning to cry, he begged for mercy.

The second blow, as merciless as the first, made contact with Evan’s right temple. Knocked out cold, the terrified Evan Stork lay motionless on the floor. But this did not satisfy Mr. Sinders as he proceeded to beat the motionless body over and over again until he too collapsed, exhausted and covered in hot, sticky blood.

But before he lost consciousness, the terrified students strained to hear his last mumbling words. “Not so clever now are we?” giggled Mr. Sinders as a silence loomed over the room.