Chapter 14: A Teacher's struggles (Patreon)

I was told that being a Teacher wasn't for me.

That I couldn't relate to most normal children, granted, my upbringing was less than stellar, and being an orphan thrown away by my mother surely made me look at the whole family thing in a different light.

Being thrown from home to home until I was fifteen and no longer someone that would get adopted made me cynical enough to understand that life sucks. And barely getting a scholarship that allowed me to be a teacher was something other teachers took offense.

I couldn't get a job in higher education schools, not in middle schools either, some elementary schools would take me, but most just wanted me to cover shifts and wouldn't let me take a class for myself.

That is till I found my current employer, this one took problematic children, take Meli for example. Melissandra Singh, she is the daughter of a couple of rich parents, but they don't know how to deal with her, she is among the first wave of [Core Users], people who awake extraordinary abilities.

Hers allows her to feed into the emotions of people around and distribute them equally among the people around, she as a kid didn't understand complex emotions, so when she took the [Disgust] her mother felt for her husband and fed it into said husband...

Yes, that one was an interesting way to find out your wife didn't love you. I would feel bad for the husband, but when the girl took the remnants of [Lust] he had after coming home from an affair and fed it into that woman.

Yikes, that must have been quite an interesting day at the Singh household.

She didn't have problems with the girl, that was one convenient powerset to have at a school, she just needed to ask two types of problem children for her class, the hyperactive ones no one wanted and the shy ones that always got at the back and no one wanted to deal with.

Then you put Melissa in the middle and she feeds the hyperactive emotions to the shy ones and equalizes the whole class making for a more normal and average one.

She still smirked when some of the other teachers tried to take one of the hyperactive ones thinking she had fixed him, it got sent back to her before the day ended and they didn't try that again. The only one she didn't allow to leave was Melisa, and that didn't need help, no one wanted to deal with the flak you get for taking care of the Singh brat.

The kids in her class, thanks to that, tended to be of the problematic type, bullies that had problems at home, love children that got thrown away, you name it.

So when that blonde girl showed up of course they shoved it her way, she had no evidence of that, but she also didn't have doubts.

The girl reeked of abused or street kid, her dress had blood stains that seemed to be almost washed over, and she wasn't wearing any shoes at first, but at some point, she had a pair of sandals.

And she was dressed so light, as in the girl only had a sundress on her, nothing else. That was the biggest red flag of all, why would you send your kid into the streets without anything but a sundress, a very thin and almost see-through sundress at that.

You only used those at home in hot summers, or in more rural settings, you know the type of small town where everyone knew everyone and they slept with the doors open. Not the case for her, they stood in the middle of a city in a very dangerous neighborhood, she half believed the girl had escaped from one of the test chambers, to be honest.

But since the clerks didn't panic nor say anything she crossed that one of the marks, no. The girl was an enigma, and the fact that Melisa stuck to her like glue was another sign.

Melisa equalized emotions, so she gravitated to two types of people, the ones that emanated the most emotions in a place that wasn't charged... Or the ones with the more complex emotions, usually that meant that she stood near a teacher (me) or a faculty member that was around, since we were the most emotionally stable or the ones with more complex thoughts.

But the girl stuck to the blonde girl, which meant that either she was brimming with emotions, or that she had emotions more complex than what she was feeling.

And right now she was trying to not seethe, that was a more complex emotion of anger, one she was trying to not feel as that would spook Melissa.

Getting the name of the girl had been somewhat hard, and that spoke more against her, happy children didn't mind giving their name, but abused children did. They were trained to not give away information, as that usually meant that their parents could be traced.

She got it in the end, Alexandra (Probably), as Melissa interrupted them. That wasn't the problem here, but the face the girl made as she gave her name, first as if that wasn't the name she wanted to give, or more like surprise at someone saying it and nothing bad happening. She wasn't sure what it had been.

It could have been guilt for giving a fake name, but Melissa didn't react, so it was probably the second. And wasn't that something to make her stomach drop.

Alexa had thought something bad would happen since she gave her name, another tally against whoever her parents were.

But she had a plan to make the little girl happy, they would get a turn at seeing the stupid mascot the scientist had, she had needed to fork some money to make sure they would get a turn of course, but she used the chance when Alexa and Melisa went to the bathroom to make that.

"And the bunnies are safe?" She asked one of the scientists as he counted the money.

"Yes, they can't attack unless we give the order, so you want your sundress brat to be among those that get a chance?" Asked the scientist, she didn't ask for a name, not that they would ever meet again, she wasn't sure if she would keep this job longer either, the Singh family would probably want their daughter back, and that was the only reason she had managed to keep the job.

"Yes, make one snuggle her or something. If you make her laugh I will fork more money." She said as she showed another 200 bills.

It was most of her money for the week, but if it made the girl happy it would be well spent.

"Sure, but I will not give the money back if the girl doesn't like the bunnies, some kids seem to be able to feel they are fake. Stupid [Awakeners] and their stupid [Core skills]. They are making our lives harder." The scientist seemed to be against the new order in the world, she was okay with that.

"So long we are clear, we will steer you towards the room that will get the petting session, move along." And like that, they ended their deal.

She hoped that would make the girl open. A happy kid is a speaking kid, so when the girl returned and she was now wearing underwear that had been interesting.

Had she stolen it? Doubtful, kids usually snitched quickly enough, did anyone else bring extras?

Also, doubtful, kids these ages weren't that forward-thinking, and if someone sent them extras they would have given it to the teachers, and she was sure she didn't get any extras. So how was it possible?

Maybe the girl had sneaked them and forgot to put them on? That or she just took the chance to put them on in the bathroom.

That was the next thing, she was too mature. No lisp, no nagging, no joy in her eyes...oh god, her eyes.

She had seen more emotions in the dead eyes of a fish at the market, the girl's eyes were empty. Such beautiful blue eyes, her face was almost as if it had been carved by the gods, and her eyes were as devoid of emotions as the blue sky.

If her behavior, dressing, or the way she spoke was something of a clue, then her eyes would be the deciding factor. She had the eyes of someone who hadn't hopes nor dreams, those weren't the eyes a child should have.

Those were the eyes of a grizzled war veteran, of someone who had seen the worst humanity had to offer and then moved on. She...she would have nightmares if she didn't do anything, but then again, what could she do?

She would need to report the girl to the other teachers and then make a count to see if someone had a girl missing, if she wasn't found to be missing in a class then they would ask her for her parent's name or a number to call.

If nothing was given then she would be sent to protection services or something and be searched in the system, then she would be sent back to her parents, the same ones that abused her, the same ones that would probably come crying and thanking them, only to starve the girl for escaping and wanting to see something nice.

And they were starving her, she could see her figure easily enough thanks to the same sundress she was using, she didn't have any baby fat on her, not on her face, not in her stomach, not in her arms or legs.

She didn't even have long hair, and wasn't that a crime? The girl had one of the most beautiful hairs she had ever seen, and it was short and mangled. As if no one had ever cared, wasn't the hair a woman's pride?

She needed to find a way to help her, as she kept thinking that they arrived at the place where they would find the stupid bunnies, and where Alexa would probably get some happy memories.

She had been wrong.

So wrong.

She soon enough found that, as she felt a tug at her clothes, looking down she found the hand of the little girl grabbing her jeans and trembling, Alexa showed for the first time an emotion in her small eyes.

Fear.

Pure and unadulterated fear, her lips trembled, and her eyes darted around the room as if searching for something that would attack her, she warily stood behind her with most of the room in front of her.

And after speaking something more they had decided to leave the room, which calmed Alexa but she was still stealing glances backward as if to make sure no one was following them.

Had she seen a familiar face? Impossible, no one seemed to react to her. Then did the room layout look similar to her home? That would be bad, and mean that she was definitely getting abused.

Or...was it the testing chamber? The pen looking room?

Was...Was Alexa stuck in a F%ck!ng PEN!?!?

She almost wanted to scream, to find Alexa's parents and take their head and shove it so far their own A$$ that it made it to their mouth, but in the end, decided to give Alexa a chance...Not a good one, one that would get her fired if she was a student in another of the teacher's classes.

But the best one she wished someone had given to her when she was a kid.

"Will someone hurt you when we go into the reception?" She asked Alexa, wondering if her parents were there, wondering if someone would hurt this poor kid.

"No." Answered Alexa, she had said more of course, but I wasn't in a normal emotional state to understand.

The next series of questions was hard and to be honest, not something I remembered well enough, the important thing was "No one is waiting for you in the hallway...is it?"

And Alexa's almost heartbreaking answer of no.

In the end, she had decided to risk it, risk it by giving Alexa all the help she was able to, her card with most of her information. An answer of what had given her act away... And...A wish to make sure she would escape that bad situation.

She knew no orphanage in this city would actually do something good for Alexa, no matter what they said, she knew that if she tried to take her away she would either be arrested or fired.

So instead she gave her one of her personal information cards, with some luck Alexa would either call for her later (When she wasn't at work) or go to her house for a safe place to sleep.

Either way, she walked with Alexa in hand into the reception area. Alexa seemed to tense when they walked into it but in the end nothing happened, no worried parents coming for their child... No one motioned towards them, nothing.

As she walked toward the reception desk she saw in her peripheral vision Alexa looking at her, so she pointed at the doors with her eyes and ignored her.

"Can I help you?" Asked the receptionist.

"Yes, I'm one of the teachers of..." She started explaining that she would need to make time for Alexa to run away.

"What can I do for you?" The receptionist cut her short. Rude.

"When we arrived you all marked us with biodegradable chips, can you make a headcount of them and make sure no kids are in weird spots?" Well two could play that game, so they better get a headcount.

If Alexa was a student of theirs, that would mark her up, and it was better they burn that one out now than later.

"Let me see...Most are in the pet a-bunny room, some are on the playgrounds...a few are in the bathrooms...Nope, all accounted for where they should be." Said the receptionist, "Did you lose one?"

"Not a single student is on this reception or outside?" She asked while trying to not smile at that.

"No, why?" The receptionist looked at her weirdly but that was okay.

Alexa wasn't a student, so she sneaked in...So the school had no reason to search for her, if Alexa was abused as she suspected, then at the very least they wouldn't try to get her back to her home.

Not unless a teacher wanted to do so, that is...And of the teachers in that school, only she was the one that really cared, so maybe she would try to search for Alexa's parents...

Just to make sure they weren't a danger to Alexa of course, she wouldn't try to sue the hell out of them.

No sir.