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It was the last Friday of term 3. Everyone was having a great time. It was multicultural day after all, one of the best days of the year.
Everyone spent 1st period hanging out in class, doing no work at all, then for pretty much the rest of the day, everyone had free range.
There were groups of friends heading stall to stall, trying different foods from different countries, kids playing on the nearby handball courts, and live music being played by the students.
After all that, all the students and staff would gather in the PBC for a ceremony, celebrating everyone’s different culture and heritage. People would walk for their countries, proudly holding up the flag. And the day would always end with more live performances by the students.
It was the annual event everyone looks forward to. Seriously, who doesn’t take the time to enjoy it?
One person.
Dr Longsdale.
A few days prior to multicultural day, she’d purposefully locked her two least favourite student in the percussion room. She had noticed the boys stealing glances at each other during band and clearly not focusing properly because of it, so she decided that whatever it was between them, that was quite obvious to her, needed to end.
Now, being a teacher in p block means you know everything, those staff are yappers so you know all the goss. Dr Longsdale had of course heard story of the week; Two boys locked overnight in a percussion room and came out looking… well, like it was a long night.
And she did NOT like that.
She hated these students; she didn’t want them to get along in ways other than friendship. While other students were oblivious, she knew. She knew the whole time the thing Isaac had for Arik, and vice versa. She’d hoped there’d be a fight in that percussion room, she’d hoped they’d stay away from each other.
Plan failed.
The opposite happened. She’d seen them around school, and they were closer than ever.
And damn that mad her mad.
She knew she was skating on thin ice, she knew both boys had accused her of locking them in, who knows when the shoe will drop and she’ll be fired.
She had to do something first.
She tried and failed all day to blend in with the crowds while secretly following the two around. She even pretended to enjoy the day, buying the last fried rice to act natural, even though the poor girl behind her deserved it waaaay more. She still holds that grudge.
She shoved the – in her opinion – half decent fried rice into her mouth, her eyes secretly tracking Arik and Isaac as they maneuvered through the crowd to each stall. She was fuming. Her first plan had failed; so over the last 2 days, she had to make a new one.
Step 1: get the two away from each other
Easier said than done.
They were practically clinging to each other all day. But mama didn’t raise no quitter. There was no way she’d let herself fail on step one.
Then it hit her.
Isaac. He performs with his band. A band Arik isn’t in. While Isaac was distracted, she could get to Arik easier. Okay, now just to do it smoothly, you only get one shot at this.
Isaac stepped up onto the stage, electric guitar in hand as he took a deep breath, ready to play his songs. Dr Longsdale read the list of songs. 4. She had approximately 10-15 minutes to do this.
Her hawk like gaze snapped onto Arik, obliviously sitting in the front row, cheering for his secret boyfriend. She carefully made her way over, acting normal as if she just needed his help for something. For some stupid reason, Arik followed her, not wanting to cause any more trouble with teachers since the incident. Ms Purnell still gave them dirty side eyes and refused to talk to them. She talked more to the random girl who lined up at their classroom every lesson then she did them and she wasn’t even in the class.
Arik stupidly followed Dr Longsdale out of the PBC and out the back way, down to the carpark. Honestly who knows what he was thinking, he was pretty stupid to follow her all the way to her car.
Because that’s where she struck, knocking him out cold, tying him up with rope and a muffle and throwing him in her car boot before dusting her hands off like a supervillain. She honestly thought it’d be much harder to fight this kid but he has surprisingly and concerningly low awareness.
She made sure no one was around to hear his muffled cries before carefully heading back inside, lie ready in case anyone wondered why she went out there. I left my water bottle in the car, silly me.
She got back as the last song was reaching its end and made her way to where the members of the band would come out behind the stage, U block. She watched each member go past, waiting for her target. Lucky for her, Isaac was last out. She immediately jumped into conversation, trying to convince him to come with her
“Let me help you with your guitar, come this way!”
“I’m good thanks”
“I know what I’m doing I promise, I’m so smart because I’m a Dr after all”
“I’m really okay…”
“No no, I feel horrible for my mistake the other day, let me help”
Isaac sighed, reluctantly agreeing and moving with her, the opposite way to the rest of the band. He was confused where the hell she was taking him. Behind some bushes? What the- before he could finish that thought and realise what was wrong, he was out. Surprisingly to most people, Dr Longsdale had participated in Mr Purnell’s karate classes and had some tricks up her sleeve. Also, while looking for Arik and Isaac’s English class, she’d caught a bit of the karate kid through the window. Wax on, wax off she reminded herself.
Now came the hard part, getting Isaac to her car without anyone seeing. She still had to get through the gates and she could hear Daufi calling his name, obviously worried where he went. She waited for everyone to go back outside to the stalls before making a run for it. She hauled Isaac’s limp body all the way to the backseat off her car before jumping in a speeding off. She’d done it. Step one, done.
The drive to her house felt impossibly long. She was also now very conscious of other cars, worried they might see the problem in her car… at least the drive gave her time to think about her plan.
Step 2: Get them into position
She’d spent hours planning this perfectly, how it would go, she just had to do it before either of them woke up. She finally arrived home. She struggled at the front door, rushing because of how sacred she was of one of her neighbours spotting her dragging 2 unconscious kids through the door. She finally inserted the right key and twisted the lock open so quickly the key almost snapped.
Once inside, she slammed the door shut and dragged each boy down to the basement and quickly dragged both bodies down to her basement. She tied them up in each corner, just how she’d planned and kept a gag in each of their mouths. Feeling proud of herself, she went upstairs to start making dinner for her and her unsuspecting husband when he arrived home.
Arik slowly opened his eyes, taking a moment to comprehend he was awake now. He brought his hand down to rub his eye- or at least he thought he did. He tried again but it still didn’t move. On his third attempt, he finally felt something restricting his wrist from moving down to his face.
He forced his eyes open and before he could even look up at where his wrists were above him, he noticed Isaac sitting across from him.
He got excited, seeing his boyfriend made him want to go and- oh yeah…
He finally looked up to his wrists only to see them tied up to the wall above his head. His brows furrowed as he pulled a bit more, still confused.
He looked around the room again and only then did he realise he had absolutely no idea where he was.
Panic built up inside him as he started to thrash, desperate to get out of the restraints that definitely weren’t letting go anytime soon.
He squeezed his eyes shut as he yanked and pulled and wriggled around on the spot despite his strategy clearly not working.
After a few minutes, he thought he finally felt the restraints become loose. Adrenaline flooded through him as he was slowly becoming free.
When his hand slipped free, he tried to cheer but forgot about the gag in his mouth. He reached up and grabbed it out and threw it across the room... except it didn’t go far, bouncing off something in front of him and landing back in his lap.
He finally opened his eyes again only to be met with the disgusted look on Isaac’s face and the now wet patch on his shirt from where the slobbery gag had hit him.
“Ew” Isaac finally muttered. Taking in Arik’s shocked face, he sighed, ready to explain. “Whoever did this mustn’t’ve paid attention to mine because I slipped right out. Now get up and help me get out of here already”
They headed over to the door. Padlocks covered the whole thing like a decorative wallpaper, but due to Dr Longsdale’s delirious state of mind, she’d forgotten to actually lock them. The boys were able to quietly sneak up the stairs, through the house, and out the front door before sprinting down the road to freedom.
They managed all that while Dr Longsdale sat in her room watching security camera footage she didn’t know was on pause.
Earlier
The door to the basement opened and Dr Longsdale slowly stepped down the steps, stilling living out that supervillain life. Both boys were still knocked out.
She giggled manically as she placed down plates, leftovers from dinner because she actually does have a heart, though it might be small. Not surprising.
Not sure if she has a brain though, considering she left the plates out of reach from where the boys were sitting. After giving them her whole evil monologue that they couldn’t even hear, she left both of them in the room. She was excited, she was going to watch them go insane over the next few days, tied to a wall with no way of communicating properly.
Yeah, that’s step three.
Step 3: watch them crumble
This was what she planned to be the last step, yet with her headspace right now who knows how far she could go. She was going insane, watching the two boys on the camera for hours... And hours... Somehow finding amusement in them doing absolutely nothing.
For days she sat in front of this computer screen, watching the footage, laughing at nothing. She hadn’t left her room in days, she hadn’t fed them, her mental state was rapidly diminishing the longer she stared at the screen... Waiting… and waiting...
The boys report everything to the police, the school, their parents, literally anyone they can tell. Dr Longsdale is, of course, immediately fired and arrested by the police. They found her laughing evilly in her room at the paused footage, unaware the boys escaped hours ago. Instead of sending her to jail, they send her to a mental institution where she can get the help she really really needs.
When asked why she did it, her answer was disturbing to say the least. She explained how her husband never gave her proper love and seeing the young boys find it so easily caused her to be distressed and act out. Her husband’s neglect had been causing her mental health to decline, making her more and more insane. The love and connection the two boys shared was the last straw as jealousy led to all these problems
Isaac and Arik both got out fairly unscathed. Isaac explained everything to officers, followed by Arik explaining his side of the story. Both boys spent the following school holidays recovering from their trauma and preparing for next term.
Term 4.