Page 7 of Defined and Defiled (Ghostlight Falls)

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When I wake up, Melon is in my bed taking up more space than you’d expect a dog of her stature to. As soon as she sees I’m awake, she stretches and we’re off. The same three trees receive their daily watering from Melon as we walk the neighborhood.

Even the sun is too shy to come out yet. The distant sound of a rooster crow is the only sound of life at this time. I am a morning person by trade, not by choice. After a quick shower and brushing my teeth, I went to wake Richard. His pages are still spread out, and ruffle with each deep breath he takes. His ribbon bookmark has fallen out and hangs loose on the couch..

“Come on sleepyhead, it’s time for work.”

I nudge his side. Wednesday’s are my long days with carpool duty in the morning and the Homework Helpers meeting after school.

“Couldn’t you just carry me?”

He mutters. I reach down and place the fallen ribbon back inside of his pages and he shutters slightly before I close him.

“I could, but then you’d miss out on what happens next to Edith.” I grin.

“Shirley- do not use my love for literature against me. It is too damn early in the morning.”

He huffs.

“And next time don't put my ribbon back, I can do it myself.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I should have asked first.”

I grab my laptop bag, badge, and keys and move to grab Richard but he activates his doodle and floats near me.

“It’s alright. It’s just,”

he pauses to think.

“I think the ribbon may act like another tongue for me. It’s fine when it’s in my pages, but when you touch it, well. I don’t think you want to start the day with me licking you.”

I struggled to think of anything less appealing than to be woken up by being licked by him but I got his point. Melon’s sloppy kisses were enough.

“Got it, so your ribbon is a tongue, and your face can sort of break the barrier of your cover but not really. And you have magic doodles.”

I shoot my hand into my laptop bag.

“Oh, which reminds me. May I?”

I nodded to his body and he nodded. It wasn’t hard to flip back to the page where that nasty heart was, and I put a thick, pink tab over it.

“I don’t think we should leave that out in the open just in case. I’m not trying to get you put on the banned book list.”

I step back to admire my work before Richard closes himself.

Richard has a lot of questions for me as we drive to the school. Mostly about the anatomy of faes and the ethics of sleeping with your captive. We debate over whether we’d survive in the fae realm and I update him on all the new vampire movies that have sprung up since 1994. He seems delighted to learn about things that sparkle before they go bump in the night. The drive feels shorter than usual as we pull into the parking lot. A few other members of the faculty are there but most of them will trickle in while the early arrivals kids are eating their breakfast.

Mike’s car is not in the lot and I’m thankful for that as I grab Richard and head into the school. I’m still not a hundred percent sure what I will do with him, but thirty-five eleven year olds are still less of a risk than leaving him with Melon.

When all things are said and done, working the carpool line is not the worst school duty to have. I love seeing the kindergartener hurry into the school with backpacks twice their size and their mom’s lipstick staining their cheek. My students hi-five me when they walk past. I’m able to wave down Sophie’s mom when she drops her off. Sophie’s bangs are lop-sided from where she must have slept on them.

“Good morning Ms. Sophie, might I suggest you stop by the bathroom on the way in?”

I wave at my own hair and her eyes go wide. She runs ahead so I can talk to her mom about her habit of leaving her things behind. Some days it feels like she’s trying to move into the classroom.

I make a mental note to scratch talking to Sophie’s parents off my to-do list. The last of the cars pull out of the lot. Now it’s time for the high schoolers to start driving in, which is decidedly not my business. At least not until 3pm when the Homework Helpers arrive.

My class is a little rowdy when I walk in. Richard is perched face-down on my desk. As far as observations go, he’s not the worst person to have sitting in my classroom.

“Good morning everyone. Ribbit.”

“Ribbit.”

They reply in unison. There's the few usual giggles but mostly they fall silent.

“Ms. Sumner! Ms. Sumner!”

Hope waves both of her hands as she tries to get my attention. I give her a moment before she settles down.

“Yes, Hope.”

“Avery said her class was able to get a class pet. Can we get one?”

I could kill Tony. When the Great Basin Spadefoot Museum had reached out to us about bringing some toads into the classroom as a learning tool, we had both decided against it. Troy didn’t think it made sense to bring a toad into the classroom when our mascot is the frog, and I didn’t want to admit to my class that I actually am quite afraid of small things that jump at you. Cursed books? No big deal. An overexcited grasshopper? You might hear my scream all the way in Area 51.

"Unfortunately, we were not selected for the program this year." I don't make it a habit of lying to my students, but it is a good skill to have in the toolbox. Hope looks put out and raises her hand again, but I turn around to face the board.

Once the kids are busy with their warm-up question for today, I sneak a peek at Richard. When I flip him over, it almost looks like he's sleeping again. His eyes are scrunched shut, and it looks like he's holding his breath.

"What are you doing?" I whisper to him.

Jaxon looks up at me from the front row of desks, but goes back to his work when he realizes the question is not for him.

Richard opens one eye. "I was trying to see if I could disappear. I don't want the kids to see me and get frightened."

I smile back at him.

“They might just think you're a new tablet or something, honestly.”

“A tablet? Why would they think that?”

He looks concerned.

“Ms. Sumner! Are you done talking to yourself? I have a question!”

Hope yells out.

“I don't hear questions that don't have hands, Hope.”

I bring my attention back to the classroom.

Hope raises her hand and keeps talking.

“I texted Avery, and she said that Katie told her all the teachers could get toads if they wanted to.”

“You texted Avery just now?”

“Yes and-”

I open my hand for Hope's phone. She shrinks back before walking up to the desk and handing it to me. The bubbly green case with the giant sparkly frog sticker on the back tells me I won't be winning this argument anytime soon.

“After recess.”

I slid the phone into my desk drawer. Richard jumps at the slam of the drawer as it closes, and Hope notices.

She raises one hand and points at my desk with the other.

“What was that?”

Before I can come up with a reasonable excuse, Richard's 'S' starts to glow.

I hear a 'holy shit' from the back of the class, followed swiftly by a 'Sorry Ms. Sumner' as Richard starts to float.

“Hello, class! Ms. Sumner was going to surprise you, but instead of a class pet, you all got a class helper. You can call me Mr. Richard.”

I am once again flashing back to visions of educator jail, now with 30% more frog mascots. They'll throw me away and lock the key, and I'll be forced to carve my way out with number 2 pencils.

“But what do you do?”

“Do you have any games?”

The kids all talk over each other as Richard floats around the classroom.

Katie, a small girl with glasses that magnify her eyes to cartoonish levels raises her hand.

“Mr. Richard, what does a class helper do?”

Richard looks at me, and I shrug. It was his idea, he can explain it. He clears his throat and opens his pages.

“I am a dictionary. I can help you find any word you need. And I was a teacher once, so I can answer other questions as well.”

“He's also full of 90's references if you have any need for those.” I tease.

“But the nineties were like a hundred years ago.”

Jaxon scoffs.

Richard looks back at me, concerned, and I shake my head and mouth 'thirty'.

“So what do you think? Is he better than a slimy toad?”

I ask the class.

Hope raises her hand, but is already talking.

“Toads aren't actually slimy.”

“Great point, Hope, please sit down.”

The class is full of excitement as Richard floats around.

“I have another special announcement!”

For the kids, the new goggles pale in comparison to a floating book, but I'm still proud of my haul nonetheless. The students look comical with the goggles covering half of their faces, and Katie has to have help fitting hers over her glasses.

“After recess, we will go over lab safety, and this Friday, we'll join Mr. Rogers' class in the science lab to do some cool experiments. There won't be enough goggles for everyone, so you'll have to take turns with the other class. Start thinking about who you want to team up with, okay?”

The kids are wired and keep interrupting each other as we go over their warm-up questions. The excitement lasts up until I bring them to the cafeteria. Tony is on lunch duty, and I glare at the traitor as I hand my students over to him.

I don't want to leave Richard alone in the classroom for too long, so I pray the lounge is empty. I want to grab my lunch and pocket a few extra coffee pods to take home.

Of course, my prayers are unanswered and the coffee machine is blocked by Lucy and Cami, although only one of them seems to be drinking anything.

I don't typically have many interactions with Lucy since she teaches second grade, but I see her around sometimes. Cami, however, I see every Thursday when she rolls her overloaded cart into my classroom.

“Shirley!”

Cami squeals. She is the type of person who is always excited to see you. It would be great for my ego if I didn't hear her shout about taco day with the same enthusiasm.

“Afternoon Camille, Lucy.”

I nod. Lucy is standing in front of the pods so I can't pocket any without reaching around her.

“Help us end a debate, who do you think would win a fight? One man or 100 Mothmen?”

I've read plenty of books on Mothmen but they were less interested in his fighting skills than how good he could be in bed. So I think a hundred Mothmen could definitely take one woman. This is why I don't stop to talk to coworkers, now I'll never be able to get this question out of my mind. Lucy smiles at me like we're in on a joke together but I don't think I've ever spent more than ten minutes around her. Her smile makes my heart stop beating.

“Does the man have a light?” I ask.

Cami claps her hand.

“We hadn't even discussed weapons yet!”

“Well, I’ll let you get to that!”

I abandon my coffee dreams, grab my lunch and book it out of there.

Richard is in one piece when I return but he's not alone like I had expected. He's surrounded by a group of fourth graders and a very excited Tanner.

“What are we doing here?”

Tanner looks back at me with a wide smile that's all silver caps.

“I told my brother about Mr. Richard, but he didn't believe me.”

I spot a smaller version of Tanner next to Richard shaking his head.

“Not true! I just said I needed to see him!”

His brother claims.

I look at Richard and he just smiles back at me. He seems to be in his element around the young boys. I bet he was a good teacher before. I wonder what he was like before the curse, maybe he was also sneaking in and out of the lounge. I want to be mad that Tanner snuck back into the classroom during my planning period. There's no way I'll be getting anything done with them here, but I can not remember I've seen any kid excited about a book that you didn't have to charge, and a dictionary at that.

“You all can talk to Mr. Richard this afternoon if you come to Homework Helpers. Otherwise, I think you should go back to class.”

The fourth graders groan as I write them a hall pass.

Tanner stays behind and sits at his desk with Richard.

I can't catch all of what they discuss but I do figure out that Richard is behind quite a few generations of pocket monsters.

I've been hosting Homework Helpers since I moved here.

The high schoolers come in to help the littles with their classes for extra credit.

Usually I see the same four faces, kids whose parents wouldn't let them miss.

Today my classroom is full.

Most of my class stayed behind, bringing their siblings from other classes.

Tanner is making it his mission to introduce Richard to everyone.

If I thought Richard was good with kids, he shines with the teenagers.

My personal opinion is that teenage girls are the single scariest thing a person can be, but Richard has them laughing with him in seconds.

“Mr. Rich!”

A booming voice calls from the back. Richard floats over and looks down at one of my regulars, a junior who will most likely be the reason we got the new gymnasium.

“You'll be here next week right?”

Richard looks back at me. Maybe I should add 'get a grip' to my to-do list.

“We'll see.”

Richard is quiet on the drive home, but the silence is not uncomfortable. Bringing him back to the basement is out of the question, I'll have to think of a new lie to tell Mike to get us down there.

“I think I taught high schoolers.”

Richard speaks over our new audiobook featuring a magical pair of pants which I turn off. I look over at him but he's facing the front so I can only see his spine.

“Ten and two.”

“Nine and three.”

I remind him immediately.

“What makes you think that?”

“It just feels right. I kept getting flashes of me in front of the classroom. I think math was my favorite.”

I laugh.

“You liked math?”

He huffs and his pages ruffle.

“Numbers always made sense to me. Words can be tricky.”

“Now you have all the words you need.”

At this, he goes silent again.