Noah Rosaire took his steps into the classroom. Tiny pearls of rain water clung to his hair .24-year-old Noah joined the school just the previous day. When he got the job offer for the position of a teacher at a school named, Verithas Academy. He stood wondered for a moment, for he never heard of such school up until then. As he looked up into the school he found it was surprisingly located in a quiet rural area, entirely surrounded by trees. He was amazed upon seeing a school in midst of forest or wild expanse of trees. Verithas was an archaic school stood midst of a forest for over 4 centuries. The founders of the school found such an environment to be peaceful and curious for students. Since the school was residential both students and teachers stayed at the school dormitory, rarely went out. When Noah saw all of those details about the school on internet , he couldn't deny the desire to be the part of such a prestigious school. Moreover the calm environment and natural beauty along with an exquisite architecture style hooked him. Something he couldn't find in city schools. Moreover he needed something to relieve from a certain incident that he witnessed, a few weeks ago in his previous school. Noah got his job in Verithas Residential School due to his uncle's recommendation. He felt so grateful for his uncle for that.
Noah looked at the students when he entered the classroom. They wore blue uniform. An indigo hue, which made him increase his likeability towards the school. But what disappointed him was , some of the students wore just the uniform blazer, over their casual dress. Noah let out a quiet sigh. A few students looked up, curiosity or confusion written on their faces. But there were also some who didn't acknowledge his presence. Some didn't even bother to look at him. Noah looked so calm man outside but inside his mind was anxious. Despite being a teacher he always had social anxiety. No one never noticed how his fingertips trembles slightly in nervousness or how overwhelmed he was. All of the said feelings heightened when he entered a new school. Noah put his book down on table intending to make a small noise in hope of attracting the attention of students. But unbelievably, nothing happened. He didn't expect such response from students of a prestigious school. He heard distant cooings of doves. He looked at the unbothered students and tapped at the desk.
" Excuse me !"
Students looked at him in unison. He felt satisfied at his success in the attempt of making his students to notice him. As Noah was about to open his mouth to speak, He noticed a boy who lay with his head resting on the desk, seemingly asleep. His seat was in middle row. that Noah could not overlook his presence. .Noah never disturbed a sleeping student . so he didn't wake up the boy either. He sighed once again and started speaking , yearning the glances of students.
" Im Noah Rosaire. your new teacher in Biology and your class teacher too".
Noah expected a response. Something like an applause or smile. But students ended up sighing loudly
"Oh!"
Offcourse there were some who looked pleasant. But the gloomy look of others got deeply imprinted in his mind. He could not blame the kids either. The last biology teacher passed away at the end of last semester. But Verithas didn't appoint any teachers to fill the role of biology ,till mid sem. So the students might most probably thought that they would go the entire semester without any teachers in biology. And he couldn't ignore the possibility of students collectively proclaiming the biology hours to be free hours. Noah arrived Verithas at mid semester. He smiled bitterly at them, shattering their free-hour dream. He knew with those few words he said more than enough the students wanted to hear. So there weren't any questions came from them. He turned around to pick up the attendance register. The book cover was also blue just like the hue of the uniform. The words ' Verithas Residential School' were printed in large bold letters at the centre of the cover. The symbol of school was printed right below the school name. It consisted of a book and sword drawn inside an oval shape. He remembered reading in internet that the logo had changed twice. And the school's latest info he found on internet was the logo launching ceremony that happened a few months ago.
He opened the book and flipped through the pages. He saw the list of students for biology period. Noah's grey eyes ran through the first name. a tiny water drop fell on the book, near to the first name.It was then that he realized his slightly long hair had become damp from the morning drizzle. The strands brushed the nape of his neck and curled slightly at the ends. He ran his fingers through it, feeling a twinge of embarrassment at appearing before the students looking so disheveled. He hoped none of them had noticed.
Noah called the first name
" Julian Noire"
A thin boy with glasses raised his hand. Noah used attendance marking to learn and familiarize students. He remembered 'glasses Julian'.
He moved to next student
" Mio Yume"
A cat eyed girl with short hair raised her hand with a warm smile.
He remembered ' short hair Yume'.
"Yvenne Nikolai"
A pale girl with long brown hair waved her hand. Then he saw something different with her hand. He felt a bit sad as he realized that cheerful girl had only 4 fingers in her right hand. She waved and lowered her hand
He remembered ' Yvenne'.
"Adams Thomas". Noah saw a tall boy. He raised his hand in response to Noah.
Even though the boy raised his right hand, Noah he noticed his other hand. Adams's fingers were playing with a basket ball key chain that hung from his bag.
He added to his mind's database ' basket ball Adams'.
'glasses Jules' , 'short hair Yume' , 'Yvenne' , 'basketball Adams', 'energybeam Cheng ' .and so ,so…
He called "Virgil-".
Noah paused for a moment as he saw no surname written next to the name of the 45 th student .There was just the first name Virgil written on the register. No surname?. when he called the name he heard no response. So he moved his fingers to mark absence.
"sir?"
Noah looked up from his book and gazed at the boy who called him.. It was a brown hair boy with bright green eyes. Noah ccould barely remember his name .He answered:
"Virgil is present "
Noah looked at him confused. He was sure he didn't hear any response when he called the name 'Virgil'.
Noah said softly to the boy :" But no one said present".
Boy looked back at Noah with a slightly troubled expression .Instead of replying , boy pointed his hand towards middle section of class. Noah's eyes followed the boy' s finger .His mind suddenly remembered the sleeping boy. He understood the boy might have been asleep so that he didn't respond. with such thoughts, Noah looked at to where the brown hair boy pointed. Surprisingly, Noah's eyes met with a fierce brown eyes. The boy he thought would be sleeping, was staring back at him. His eyes pierced through Noah. He couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. He was already anxious, the boy's stare made it worse. Why didn't he respond when he was there awake??.
"erm..are..you Virgil?" Noah enquired hesitantly.
The moment Noah's eyes met the boy's, and he felt a chill run down his spine. Despite his handsome features, he elicited an aura that was sharp and cold, There was a quiet intensity that made Noah's heart race. The boy didn't flinch, didn't smile—he simply stared omitting a murderous aura. Those brown eyes were piercing through the classroom's noise and Noah's nervousness alike.
The boy didn't replied to his second question either. He turned his head away. Noah felt embarrassed at that disrespectful gesture.
"are you Virgil?"
Noah asked again despite the embarrassed feeling. The boy who pointed him replied with a bitter smile
" yes sir. he is!!".
That bitter smile might have blossomed on the boy's face after seeing the pitiful state of his class teacher.
Noah marked present to the name Virgil.
He updated his mind's database ' murderous looking delinquent -Virgil'.
When he finished marking attendance, he closed his book. And turned to the whole class
" as today is my first day I wont be teaching, do you have any questions?"
Noah saw only a few eyes listening to him. All others were already immersed in their on buisnesses and realms. One boy started a pen fight with his seat mate. There was one girl, whose name he remembered as , Anna Ilis, elegantly carved an apple into different shapes and showed it off to her friends. He even saw a boy pressing a cockroach-most probably dead, on paper and outlining it on his book. Noah sighed once again. what else would he expect from 17 year old kids.?.Yet, for such an archaic and prestigious school, the students' lack of discipline surprised him.
After few moments of watching them , he asked:
" who are the class prefects?"
The brown hair boy quickly stood up and responded
"yes sir?"
The prefect boy was in full uniform unlike some of the students who wore just coats over their casual dress.
"im sorry..your name is…"
"Eric"
"oh Eric" . Eric gave a bright smile at Noah which eased the restlessness in him. Eric looked warm and approachable unlike Virgil. That was a bit relief.
"female prefect?" Noah inquired as he didn't saw anyone representing girls.
"oh here sir!!!"He only heard a sweet voice answering him, but not the source. He looked around confused. There was no one. "excuse me?"
Then he heard the voice again " just a moment sir!!".It was only then he saw a silhouette popping out of the cupboard which almost jumpscared him.
"what WERE YOU-"
The girl smiled patting off dust from her skirt. She was a beautiful girl Here long hair filled with cobwebs . Noah wanted to point out a spider running through her hair. she was beaming like a ray of sunshine . Her other hand held a small sack, which she moved behind her skirt making it away from Noah and Eric. Eric looked so done for some reason.
"Sorry, sir. I was in pursuit of catching a snake that's been causing trouble in our classroom for the past two days."
Noah froze. "A snake? You're serious?"
"Oh, don't worry," she said, giving him a thumbs-up in reassurance. "It's just a baby!"
"That's not the point—a snake is a snake!" Noah exclaimed.
The girl pouted. "Sorry…"
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Krithika."
"Wait—Krithika? I marked you absent."
"Oh, I did say I was present, but I think the cupboard door might have muffled my voice."
Eric shouted, "It did!"
He then turned towards Noah. "why did you call us sir?"
Hearing Eric's question, Noah opened the attendence register. His slender fingers flipped the pages. He came across the past teachers' signs. His fingers turned the next page.
"It was to ask about these four absentees. They are regular absentees as far as I can see. But no one checked upon them?" Noah said as he pointed his index finger towards the names of absentees on the register.
Krithika traced her finger over one of the name and looked at Noah:
"Sir, see this Thomas, here, he just never shows up, even we don't know if he exists or just a rumour.".
Eric agreed:" .He might have even transferred to another school .and the Edwin here, got into an accident"
"about other two, we are clueless" Krithika said
" thanks. You may go now".
He watched the students till the bell rang. Krithika ran out of the classroom, grabbing her sack to throw the baby snake in forest. Noah offered his help but she refused saying the snake would hurt him. He saw kids going out for recess. Noah picked up his book and walked out. The students swarm on either side of him. The whole place was constructed in exquisite look. He watched each and every nook and enjoyed the archaic beauty. As he walked down stairs, he suddenly felt a sharp sting of pain piercing through his head. He halted frozen and shut his eyes tight in pain.
"it came back again?" He rubbed his temple slowly. He felt his vision darkening. He tried to not to cause a scene, in front of students. He knew he needed to quickly find a safe place, away from others, or he would collapse in front of them. He staggered his way to the faculty room with all his might. The faculty room was quite big than that of his previous school's . It was embellished with ceiling lanterns and indoor plants. The art of goddesses and architectures on windows and doors gave an historic beauty and calm feel to the room. Everything in the room was so expensive even the lotus shaped lantern blossomed above the teacher's desks. His seat was to the left side of a large window. The window was open and a snake plant was kept there. The morning drizzle embellished the leaves with water like pearl drops. When he reached near his seat, he collapsed to desk in pain. He took pills before going back to lay his head on desk. After a few minutes his mind drifted slowly to the realm of sleep. His body finally cooled itself down with the sleep and petrichor scent flowed from outside.
*****************************************************************************************************
He was walking down the corridor. He was all alone. Everything around him was silent. Noah moved past the doors. He didnt know where he was headed or what was he doing. His legs took him forward. He had no familiarity with the corridor either. After few more steps, Noah felt a breath against the back of his neck as if someone was behind him. He quickly turned around but saw no one. He continued walking. The feeling crept in again. But he didn't look. For he somehow knew he was searching for something.
"were you looking for this?"
Noah halted from the soft voice that rose behind him. He turned around again expecting a tall person. But it was a little girl infront of him. She wore Verithas uniform. She hid something behind her back . Her other hand hung free. Noah couldn't see her face clearly since her face was hidden in dark. But her uniform buttons were all in different color which was so weird.
"uhm, what did you say?" Noah asked politely
"Were you looking for this ?' The girl repeated.
She slowly brought forward the other hand. It was a register book with Verithas's name printed on it. Noah recognized it as the roster book but not the latest one. The book was old and torn. He didnt understand why she would ask give him that book.
"Sorry kid, you got it wrong I'm not looking for this"
"Were you looking for this?"
Noah was surprised.
"I told you, Im not looking for this" Noah replied
The girl didn't move. Her hand still extended the old roster towards Noah.
"Were you looking for this?"
On the third time, Noah felt a bit annoyed. He replied patiently : "You might be mistaken. I didn't ask for the register". He watched if the girl will stay or leave. To his surprise, the girl stayed as she was.
"were you looking for this?"
As soon as the girl asked the question ,he heard the sound of someone approaching. The sharp click of the heels echoed down the hallway. Little girl seemed to be struck. Her little fingers clenched tightly on the roster. The sound became closer from the other side of corridor facing Noah. Girl lowered her hand. Next moment, the girl lunged forward. The girl collided into Noah . He stumbled back as he got in stomach . The girl swept past him. He quickly turned around to the little girl who ran away holding the roster against her chest. " Hey , wait..." He called out. Girl didn't halt .
On the other side the heel sound clicked right behind him. He jerked around. All he could see was a woman standing infront him with her one hand raised in air.. Before he could make anything out, the woman swung a flower vase right at his head
Noah jolt awake, with his grey eyes wide open. He breathed heavily. His mind slowly came back to the reality. And it was then he saw a tall boy standing infront of his desk. The sunlight outlined his handsome features. His black hair got drenched in sunlight. He recognized the boy by his murderous stare alone. Virgil's brown eyes pierced him. Noah looked up at him confused. The boy spoke ,with his brows furrowed:
" slacking off..?"
Who knew, his first words to Noah-his own class teacher would be an insult. Noah shook his head and tried to explain
"huh? No..i was..having-" Noah got interjected by Virgil.
"Anyway I don't give a fuck."
"….."
"sign this. go back to your damn sleep or whatever"
Noah was too stunned to respond. The boy slammed a sheet of paper in front of him. He looked down at the paper and inquired: "whats this?"
Virgil's reply was instant: "can't you read?".
Noah's lips tightened. He didn't like the way Virgil spoke. It was clear as daylight -the disrespect . but he wanted things to go in peace and didn't want to make his students see him as enemy. So his eyes lowered down to paper .Noah read the words. He admitted , despite being a delinquent with no respect, Virgil got a neat handwriting. Even his punctuation marks seemed perfectly in place. As Noah's eyes reached the end ,he took his pen and traced it along the bottom of paper. It was a permission request letter. According to the letter there would a fair in nearby city's school. Virgil ws going to attend the school fair. For that he needed his class teacher's permission.
"are you going alone?"
No reply. All Noah got was his stare. Eventually Noah signed it.
"did you inform your parents? since its 5 day fair your parents would be concerned"
Virgil didn't reply to that either. He grabbed the paper from Noah's hand and left Faculty room. Noah frowned at the kid. He didn't even treat Noah as an adult much less as his teacher. He bit his lips in dismay. He turned around to window. The snake plant who sat their waved its leaves back at him. It was glistening with cool shining globes of water. Noah slowly patted the leaves. His slender finger got wet from the cool globes snake plant gifted him. That plant was a good Samaritan among plants world . Back when he learned about those plant's ability to purify air and even releasing oxygen at night. Noah leaned forward. "what a rare plant you are!!!".
"Sansevieria" he smiled at the plant.
"are you also fond of Snake plants, Mr. Rosaire?"
He turned around to see a slim young woman. Her brown curls were braided. She looked pale except for her rosy lips. He guessed it was a teacher . But he was clueless as to who she was. He smiled politely. She held her study materials close to chest.
"you are.."
"Charlotte June. Teaches Latin"
" Im Noah Rosaire, teaching Biolo-"
Charlotte chimed in "I know Mr. Rosaire. I teach your class too."
Noah looked surprised "That's why you know me ?"
"yes"
The snake plant waved at both of them. Charlotte looked at the plant silently. Noah couldn't read her or what was in her mind. She said softly "The previous teacher left that little plant there"
"One before me?"
"yes she was so fond of snake plants. She used to pat the plant saying they can recognize our feelings"
His gaze travelled back to the plant. " I was surprised when I saw you doing the same. what a coincidence!. I'm happy this little guy didn't get abandoned". He smiled. His eyes fell upon the study materials in her hand. Noah blinked his eyes straining to read the title of an old book in her hand. It didnt took him much effort to recognize that book as an old roster. The exact book he saw in the dream. He leaned forward
" Ms June. Can I see that book?"
Charlotte followed Noah's finger to see which book he was asking for. When she saw the roster, her eyes rose in surprise
"Why would you want an old book for?"
"No I was just asking, never mind".
Charlotte gave him a big smile and took the book.
"here here, you asked for it anyway". She put the book infront of Noah.
"Thank you"
"no need Mr Rosaire"
Noah took the book in his hand. His mind kept replaying the images of the book and the girl who held it. There was no doubt, it was exact the same book. Even the tearing on the cover page was accurate. He flipped through the pages of the book. hey were yellow. The rusty smell of book hit his nose.The snake plant swayed towards Noah.
"The librarian is so careless" Charlotte babbled as she leaned against Noah's desk. The leaves of plant shivered when Noah's fingers halted in shock. Noah reread the names on one of the pages of roster. The names almost got ravaged by time. But one could read them clearly. He knew the names. His fingers paused above the names
Anna Ives
Colin Wace
Exact names he found in his class's attendence register. Both names were constantly marked absent. Even Krithika mentioned that she is clueless about those two students.
"The roster was just lying in the corridor . If the principle were to find it , I cant imagine the consequences, Luckily I found it first"
Noah suddenly looked up at her .
"where did you say you got it?"
"from the corridor" Charlotte looked confused at the sudden change in Noah.
"Corridor" Noah whispered unbelievably.
"Dont worry, its from 1960s ,it isnt important much"
"1960? this belongs to kids from 1960?"
"Yeah around that time period"