short story (draft 1)

By the end of class, the color of Thomas’ Simmons face was almost completely white. The pallor of his gaunt face made him appear to be see through. He definitely looked sick. I maneuvered around the labyrinth of glitter dusted tables, and piles of light up sneakers to the rug in the center of the room, where all the children sat, and waited anxiously for the ding of the afternoon bell. I squatted down near Thomas, and eyed him keenly. He didn’t usually get sick, and was normally jumping off the walls by the end of the day.
“Thomas,” I asked, concerned, “Are you feeling alright?”
He deliberately shook his head, and breathed deeply as if to calm himself. Then he leaned back and cast his lunchbox on the floor.
“The nurse is still in her office. We could go stop by if you’d like.” I suggested.
“No, that’s alright Ms. Annie. It’s almost the end of the day, and I don’t feel that bad.”
“Ok.” I replied suspiciously, “But keep me updated.”
I smiled and tickled his chin, and then I turned to look at the clock. Five minutes before three, just in time for afternoon announcements.
“Alright second grade, listen up!” I clapped three times, and waited for them to repeat.
“Tomorrow, we have Nathan and Thomas’ parents coming in to tell our class about each one of their jobs for Parent week, so think up some interesting questions to ask them when your home tonight, okay? And our first spelling test is on Friday, so you only have two more days to study. And have a good day!” I managed to get that out right as the bell rang.
I hopped up on one of the benches on the rug to avoid being trampled by the stampede of children, and then walked over to clean up the cubbies. I stopped in front of Thomas’ to scoop up his change of clothes that had fallen to the ground. Thomas was by far the recluse in the class, but also, no question, the most inquisitive. Instead of swinging from the monkey bars like the rest of the class, we had a whole conversation about long division yesterday at recess. I was surprised at how much he knew, but lost him once I talked about the concept of remainders. Not only was Thomas smart, but he thought differently than the other kids did. Once they got an answer to a question, they were through with it, and kept it stored In the back of their little brains, cluttered among other useless information. But Thomas would toy with the subject, questioning it until it was dry, wanting to understand every aspect of it. I had known Thomas and his family for quite some time now, and loved him just as much I would my own child.
I walked over to Nathans cubby, at the other end of the cubby rack. His large pile of action figures and rancid spoiled food represented his callowness. He and a small bevy of his friends were the bullies of the class, but Thomas got the worst of it. He knew the time out corner like the back of his hand, and didn’t seem to be ashamed of it. And it wasn’t uncommon when he had Thomas in tears by lunch time. But I never seemed to mind reprimanding him, and pulling out the ‘old ruler and giving him a good smack every time that happened. What I wouldn’t do to protect Thomas.
I got to school an hour early to set up for parents day, when I ran into Thomas’ mother in the office. I waved, and smiled graciously, but the smile in return wasn’t nearly what I’d hoped it would be. There were dark circles under her eyes and her hair was pulled up into a messy pony tail. She looked distraught. Worried maybe? Regardless, she came over to say hello, and walked me out of the office into the hallway by my classroom.

“Hello Ms. Annie. Unfortunately, I have some bad tidings for you. It’s about Thomas.”
I was vexed by her story and knit my brows together in confusion.
“Well,” she continued hesitantly, “About an hour after he came home from school, we found him passed out, and prostrate on his floor. We took him to the hospital, not expecting anything to be wrong, but they told us he had some, “complications,” and needed to run some blood tests.” She took a deep breath before she spoke again. “It turns out that….Thomas has leukemia.” She cupped her hand over her thin mouth, and made a shrill crying sound, then started to sob softly. I embraced her and let her cry on my shoulder.
The news took me completely off guard. I gasped, and soon felt tears of my own start to run down my cheeks. Why Thomas? Why now? I asked myself. I asked the Office to find me a substitute for today, and took off with Thomas mother. She informed me that he was at the hospital now, starting treatment, but it didn’t look promising. The whole thing just felt unreal.
I got to the hospital only to find Thomas knocked out from the pain medication, and decided to go home to think things over. I kissed him on the forehead before I left, and left my good wished with his parents.

The next day went by in a haze. Without Thomas in class, it felt like an important piece of me was missing. Some of the kids asked where he was, others didn’t notice. But what they did notice was my change of mood. From cheerful, peppy teacher to dismal, pessimistic Annie. I hated to make them sad, so I tried to put my best face forward, but I was still aloof to the class. Weeks passed by, a number of hospital visits, only to find Thomas asleep, or in some type of surgery.
But then, in the middle of math class on Monday, I got a phone call. A simple exchange of three lines, between me and Mrs. Simmons when I learned that Thomas had been pronounced dead this afternoon. I cried with the class, and even Nathan joined in and apologized for all he had done to Thomas. For the rest of class, we decided to write letters to him in heaven; talking about all of the things he’d done that made us happy. Mine was the longest.


(sorry jenny! its not that good, and it ends kind of fast. ill make it better)