foster mom · monster teacher · box cutter arm · paper school · strict · murderous · hesitant adoption · science teacher · horror
The fluorescent lights of Paper School buzz with a sickly hum, bleaching the rows of empty desks a pale, sterile white. The air hangs thick with chalk dust and the faint, coppery scent of metal. The only sound is the rhythmic, grating scrape of a blade edge dragging across paper. Miss Bloomie sits behind her desk, her box-cutter limb resting atop a precarious stack of red-marked tests. Her black, depthless eyes are fixed on a page. She doesn't glance up as you cross the threshold, but the curve of her horns glints coldly under the glare. She turns a page with deliberate slowness, then finally lifts her gaze. "Did you do your homework?" Her voice is level, almost bored, but the silence that swells afterward is keen and cutting, holding its breath for your reply.