Life Lessons

“Alright good!”  I said with mild excitement, “Now, who in the class can tell me the answer to number 4?”  I faced the whiteboard that was next to me and looked at the problem written.  It was a very simple multiplication question, 2 X 12.  Pointing at the question I turned my head to look back at my class.

Several students raised their hands, I pointed to one in the middle right-hand side of the class.

“24.” Said the child in an almost questioning tone waiting for me to reassure him that it was the right answer.

“Correct, 2 X 12 is 24, great job!” I replied with a happy tone.

Oh...I probably should introduce myself.  My name is Chris Marsh, Although my students call me Mr. Marsh.  I’m 28 years old and a 6th grade math teacher.  As for what I look like, I am 6 foot tall, I have short dark brown hair, dark blue eyes, and a medium build.  Teaching was something that I wanted to do towards the end of my high school years, so I decided to pursue it in college.  As of two years ago I got a teaching job at a school not to far from where I live now.  I love working with the students, and being able to pass my knowledge onto them makes me feel successful in life

I moved on to the next question.  “What about number 5?”  Just then the sound of gunshots and a few screams rang from the hall outside my classroom.  Everyone jumped suddenly and terrified looks began to appear on the students faces.  I urged everyone to remain calm and to move to the back corner of the room, away from the door.  Once all the students were safely hidden from view, I slowly made my way to the door and peeked through the window.

Looking through the window I saw a man wearing a long, dark gray trench coat pointing a gun at some cowering students in the hallway, his back facing me as his full attention was on the kids.  The look of fear and horror on the children's faces made my mind kick into overdrive.  I knew that if I did not act fast, the kids would surely be killed.  With nothing else on my mind but the children held at gunpoint, my adrenaline started to flow.

Without much thought I opened the classroom door as quietly as I could to avoid detection.  The gunman was only a few feet from where I was. With adrenaline still pumping through my body I quickly closed the gap between us.  One of the children noticed me and soon all of them were looking my way.  The gunman realizing something was behind him quickly turned to see what it was.

Right as the gunman made eye contact with me I sent my right hand towards him in a powerful punch, my fist striking him in the side of the head.  As my I made contact, he pulled the trigger of his gun in defense.  Feeling no pain I knew the bullet must have missed and I quickly swung my left hand around in the same form that I had done with my right.  With two powerful blows to the head he Immediately dropped to the floor unconscious.

Realizing that the gunman had been subdued I began to feel the adrenaline leave my body.  I looked up at the kids in front of me finding that they were unharmed.  The weird part was that even though the gunman was unconscious, they still had looks of horror on their faces.  With all the adrenaline out of my body I began to breathe heavily as reality began to come back to me.

I went to move forward to check on the kids and cringed as I felt searing pain shoot through my body.  I gritted my teeth and dropped to my knees, placing my hand on my chest.  Looking down I saw that my shirt was drenched in blood as I felt the warm, sticky fluid flow out of my body and quickly covered my hand.  It then occurred to me that I had been shot but did not feel it at the time because of my adrenaline.

I applied more pressure to my wound to try to stop the blood flow, but soon began to feel very weak from the startling amount of blood that I had already lost.  My vision became blurred and my mind started spinning as I fell to the floor.  Muffled screams filled my ears as everything seemed to fade.  The last thing I saw was a crowd of blurry figures standing around me and what I assumed to be a paramedic kneeled down next to me before everything faded to black.

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Darkness filled my vision, an empty void. Am I dead?  My thoughts running through my head.  Some of my senses began to return.  I felt a slight breeze blow by and a softness on my back.  As more feelings began to return I noticed that I was laying down on my back on what appeared to be grass.  Am I outside?  The faint sound of nature and the soft whoosh of the wind filling my ears.

I laid there for a while letting my body return to its normal state.  I slowly began to open my eyes,  immediately being blinded by the bright sunlight.  I quickly shut my eyes to try and stop the new burning sensation behind my eyelids.  After the pain faded I tried again, opening my eyes slowly and letting them adjust to the bright light.

I tried sitting up, but found it very hard to move.  All my energy not fully returned.  I laid there for a few minutes and felt my body regain some of its energy.  I lifted my upper body, pushing off the ground with my arms.  After some struggle I finally made it to a sitting position.

I looked around, taking in my surroundings.  I was sitting in a open area right outside of a forest.  The forest was behind me, it had a very dark look and feel to it, the sounds of animals came from somewhere deep inside.  In front of me was a very quaint looking village that had an older feel to it.  The buildings were made from wood with straw roofings.

I looked down at myself, checking to make sure I was alright.  I then came to a startling realization as my memories poured back into my head.  I had been shot!  Did I die?  No, If I died then why would I be awake right now?  I looked down at my clothes, noticing that they were the same ones that I was wearing when I was shot.  Navy blue collared shirt and a pair of blue jeans.  Not very professional I know, but I’m a 6th grade teacher not a college professor.

I looked at the spot on my chest where I had been shot.  The hole and blood stain that were there before was gone.  I lifted my shirt up to check my chest.  To my amazement there was no sign of the wound, not even a scar.  I lowered my shirt and started to stand up.  Slowly rising to my feet and feeling a little off balance.  I soon stood straight up, the blood leaving my head as I felt the rush.  I stood there for a few seconds to let my body return to normal.  Taking wobbly steps forwards I slowly began to regain my composure.

Deciding to find out where I was, I began to walk towards the small town.  I found a dirt path not too far from where I was and followed it into town.  After what I assume to be about five minutes of walking.  I came to a small bridge that allowed me to cross a creek.  The bridge seemed to act as a sort of entrance to the village.  I continued over the bridge and entered the villages outskirts.

I continued walking as I kept look out for any people that I could talk to.  My eyes still searching I noticed many small horses roaming around.  The weird part was that they were all a varying range of colors.  I saw blues, greens, reds, oranges, pinks, pretty much any color you can think of.

As I was thinking to myself about this weird phenomenon I was looking at, I heard someone scream right next to me.

“Monster!”  I looked around and heard multiple screams, but was still unable to find any people.  All of the horses began to run around in mass panic, running into the nearby buildings with the doors slamming behind them.  In a matter of seconds, the whole town was quiet and deserted.

“Well that was odd”  I spoke aloud talking to no one in particular but myself.  I wandered the streets some more still trying to find someone who could tell me where I was.  After a few minutes I caught a glimpse of a flash of light from the corner of my eye.

“Stop right there!”  Shouted a stern feminine voice from behind me.  I quickly turned to meet the person that was talking to me, only to be disappointed with what I found.  In front of me where more horses, it looked like there were six of them.  They were standing side by side with angry looks on their faces.  I didn’t even know horses could make faces like that.   All of them were wearing some sort of jewelry, five were wearing necklaces and one was wearing a...tiara?  The one with the tiara took a step forward.

“Be ready if it tries anything girls.”  Seeing her lips move caused my whole body to jump in shock.  D-d-did she just talk?  My head started to hurt, my body started to tense up.  Hundreds of questions were now racing through my mind.

I tried to speak but the immense shock I was feeling left me speechless. The look on their faces told me they were looking for a fight and I knew that in my current mental state I would be completely useless in combat (not that I would be good anyway.)  My fight or flight instincts kicked in and my conscious was screaming at me, RUN.

Not wanting to be where I was standing any longer, I quickly snapped around and broke into a full out sprint.

“It’s makin’ a break fer it, after it!”  I heard another one yell from behind me.  I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, not knowing where I was headed.  I knew that horses were fast and that it was going to take all my strength to outrun them.  I made a few turns trying to lose them, though I wasn’t going to look back to know if I had.

For minutes I ran , the chase continuing and my legs were starting to burn from the intense use.  I turned another corner, my breathing was very heavy.  I knew that I would not be able to keep this up for too much longer.

Looking over my shoulder to see if my pursuers were still there, I noticed them turn the corner and catch a glimpse of me.  I turned my head to look in front of me, and immediately felt something very hard hit me in the face.  Whatever I had just ran into had knocked me out cold and my unconscious body fell to the ground.