That morning, despite a persistent headache, she had prepared herself as usual, made up and dressed in the usual dark colors that suited her.
She had wrapped a black scarf around her head, to keep her warm she had said herself, as if she were a turban.
She had put on her dark glasses and had a quick breakfast. She had gone, with her bags, to the car that would lead her to school.
She loved to drive through the deserted streets, when the sky was still dark and the shy pinkish dawn struggled to announce the birth of another new day.
The journey was long, as usual.
Fortunately, her feline eyes were accustomed to the lack of light, so without problems, she arrived at her destination, in the large building.
She went up the stairs and greeted his colleagues, moving quickly to get to the class before her students.
She sat down at the chair and started writing her report on the computer, hoping to mitigate that vicious headache with an aspirin.
Soon the boys would arrive, noisy as always, early in the morning.
She looked at the window, holding back a sigh...
The pinkish dawn had given way to the bright star.
The bell, with a harrowing scream, announced the beginning of the lesson.
A minute later, a small rumble like the hooves of fleeing buffalo came closer and closer to the door.
"Oooh, heeeeeellooo teacher!"
"Good morning, Prof!"
The sleepy greetings of the students, as they crawled around the place, made her smile, despite the headache...
How much life in front of them...
She began explaining to the board, making patterns, trying to juggle difficult concepts, and demanding discipline.
Several times She had been on the verge of snapping and submerging them with improper, but She had restrained herself, biting a lip and taking a large breath. The classroom was large and the words fell into the air gap that divided the ceiling from the young boys’s ears.
"Oh, Prof, why are you dressed like an Indian woman, today?"
"Shut up, don’t you see it’s an Arab hairstyle? Are you, Prof., an Arabian woman?"
"Do you want to try to follow and take notes?" She asked, exasperated by the confusion.
It was always a challenge, to be able to teach in the midst of confusion; She had repeatedly threatened punitive tasks, surprise checks, and various notes.
Everything had been in vain, because the words had not been followed by action; She did not want to be a repressive teacher.
"Stoooooooop! Now, it’s ENOUGH!" This time, however, between screams, silly and stupid heavy games and laughs, the bottle splashed.
The vessel of endurance, already saturated, overflowed and she raised her voice, and at the same time, with one hand untied the knot that stopped the scarf behind the head; with the other,
She took off her glasses from the slightly smoky lenses...
A flash of light hit the class
Suddenly, there was no sound, no breath.
No movement.
Everybody shut up, and stop.
No noise, except for the serpentine hiss, which came from the thick hair of the Prof.
An intricate tangle of snakes with emerald bodies swung their gaze fixed on the boys, their bifurcated ligues tested the air.
What the students' petrified ears heard as the last sound was the Gorgon’s violent and guttural laughter.
BY TEACHER - Alessandra Virgillito