Chapter 8: Torture

At the same time as Cassie was getting disappointed, one of the people she saw as unfit was having perhaps the worst day of her life.

When Ms. West walked out of the bathroom, she had no memory of what just happened. In fact, she didn't even remember Cassie was in the same bathroom as her. Nonetheless, that didn't stop her from thinking about the student. After all, Cassie was the one who first insulted her! If she wasn't so disrespectful, then she wouldn't be forced to leave the classroom like a loser!

Already, Ms. West was thinking about how to punish Cassie. Detentions? That would be a fine start, but with what excuse? Cassie was always a decent student. She was always on time and turned in every single assignment. Despite Ms. West's best attempts to find flaws, Cassie still had an average grade.

Maybe she could somehow frame her? Maybe accuse her of plagiarism somehow? The tragedy was that things like professional ethics as a teacher never even came across Ms. West's mind. She didn't, even for once, ponder what her actions would do to her students. She didn't even think about if she might've been the one at fault. All she knew was she lost face, and she needed vengeance.

She was an arrogant fool. Even worse, an arrogant fool placed in a position of power.

Taking a deep breath, Ms. West made her way to the cafeteria line. She grabbed a lot of food. After all, teachers had discounts, and she was broke. Part of that was because she was a compulsive spender, and part of that was because the teacher's salary was pathetic. Of course, Ms. West blamed everything on the second reason.

With a pile of food on her plate, Ms. West went for the check-out line. When it was her turn, she opened her mouth to say 'hi', but no word came out.

At that moment, standing at the front of the check-out line, Ms. West froze. Her mouth hung wide open, and she tried to say the word, but she couldn't form a single syllable. It was almost as if her own mind was refusing to obey her own command.

It was terrifying. Haunting, really. At that instant, Ms. West realized she had gone mute.

Ms. West enjoyed using her words as a weapon against her underlings. She loved talking so much, so Cassie shut her up altogether.

The teacher didn't even know how she finished checking out. All she knew was that when she found her way to an open seat, her mind was still blank. She lost her voice! She was muted! A hundred different thoughts filled her head. What could she do without her voice? She was a teacher, for god's sake!

There was some commotion on the side, and Ms. West could see a few boys talking to a girl she recognized all too well. Cassie. But Ms. West just didn't care anymore. Claiming vengeance against Cassie seemed so trivial right now.

It took her a few full minutes to realize she still had three classes in the afternoon.

The rest of that day became hell. Every minute became torture. Ms. West couldn't even tell the students to read their books on their own. In fact, she couldn't even notify the staff members and get them to schedule a substitute teacher!

It took all of Ms. West's ingenuity to come up with a dumb idea. She wrote some brief instructions on the board and directed the students that way. Unfortunately, that didn't bring an end to her torment. Ms. West was cruel to all of her classes. Once the students realized she for some reason couldn't say anything, they took turns going to her and asking her questions just so they could see her try to answer in a futile attempt.

And when she couldn't, they laughed. When it became clear that no matter how furious she was, the teacher still couldn't say a word, they laughed even harder.

All of the sharp words and cruel insults she used in the past were turned against her. Her students didn't even bother swearing or insulting her. All they did was ask simple questions and rejoice as Ms. West tried her best to convey a reply by writing on the whiteboard.

To Ms. West, it was hell. That afternoon, the woman ran into the bathroom to cry during almost every class period. She screamed silently, wondering why this was happening to her, of all people. Even now, she didn't even ponder the idea that this feeling, the one she considered agonizing beyond imagination, was the feeling she made her students feel in class every day.

Finally, the day was over, and Ms. West was allowed a moment of relief.

When she got into her car in the parking lot, Ms. West was in tears. Literally. For a few minutes, she leaned against the steering wheel and cried. Yet, even as she was filled with sorrow, her brain refused to allow her to make a sound. Any sound. At one point, Ms. West even considered suicide. After all, if she couldn't talk, she couldn't teach, and she couldn't keep her job. Without a source of income...she might as well end things now.

But she couldn't. The same reason she was constantly grumpy was the same reason she had to live on.

The next day, Ms. West didn't go to her job. When Cassie joined her English class, she found a substitute teacher standing at the front of the room. Most of the kids had no idea what was going on, but they were more than happy to not have to see the ugly face of Ms. West.

Cassie didn't mind that. It wouldn't be long until Ms. West found out that staying home and hiding wouldn't solve the problem. She would pay Ms. West a visit in a couple of days and see if she had learned from her experience. Until then...

However, a discussion at the lunch tables made Cassie move things up a little.

When it was lunchtime again, Cassie quickly found her way to the table she had been sitting at and placed her bag at her seat. In a sense, Cassie was as stubborn as her father. She started off with not wanting to sit with the others, but that didn't mean she would allow herself to be chased away by the others for doing the right thing. This table was public property, and if the other girls hated her, they could leave.

As all the girls got into place and started eating, Cassie noticed many of the girls throwing dirty glances at her. She didn't care, and unlike most people, she had the right to not care.

Veronica, the gossip of the cheerleader group, started talking once again. This time, her interest was in a new teacher.

"So, girls...you remember Ms. West? The bitchy one that's always yelling at us?"

Most of the girls looked at Veronica, waiting for an answer. What happened with Ms. West didn't spread as quickly or as far as Mr. Douglas's incidents. Satisfied with suddenly being the focus of the table, Veronica finally continued with the story.

"People are saying she, for some reason no one knows, can no longer talk. I have a friend who had one of her classes yesterday afternoon. Guess what? She had to write on the whiteboard whenever the students asked her something! She literally couldn't say a word! I was told that she was almost in tears, right there in the classroom!"

"So that's why she's gone today." Another girl in a short-sleeved t-shirt realized. She had been criticized by Ms. West for her choice of clothing many times, and this news made her all too happy. "Great! Serves that bitch right!"

"But...what happened to her?" Amanda raised another question. As nice as she was, she wasn't a fan of the teacher either. "I mean...I had a class with her and I don't like her, but did anyone find out what's wrong with her?"

"It's probably something wrong with her brain?" Cassie took the opportunity to chip in with the conversation. "I mean...maybe she wasn't feeling too well? These things happen...I guess. Maybe she was just having a bad day?" She half-joked, despite knowing fully well what happened.

"Well, if you ask me, I'd say it's karma." Sitting right next to Cassie, Bree suddenly let out a cold smile. She stared at Cassie as she spoke. "She talked too much, so now she can't talk anymore. See…" She chuckled. "that's what happens to people who poke their head into other people's business."

A few girls snickered. Amanda frowned, all too aware of Bree's message. Cassie, on the other hand, wasn't too bothered? Karma? Just as she was about to rebut, another girl raised an interesting idea.

"Come on, guys...don't you think there's something off with our school? I mean...first Mr. Douglas, and now Ms. West? Is it just me, or does it feel like the incompetent idiots in our school or falling one by one?"

That girl was just casually talking, but her words made Cassie freeze in her seat. Indeed, in her quest to bring down those she despised, she might have acted more recklessly than what was ideal. Mr. Douglas's actions could've been attributed to a foolish blunder on his part, but Ms. West...what Cassie did to her was obviously unnatural. People rarely went from completely normal to mute over the course of several minutes. If someone managed to go over what was going on yesterday and connect the dots…

It would be impossible to pin this on her in a court of law, but a connection like that would certainly put her at risk of having her powers exposed. At the very least, it would bring restrictions to her activities.

She really wasn't thinking things through in the heat of the moment. All she wanted to do was punish Ms. West, and punish her she did, but the results could be fatal.

Thankfully, none of the other girls at the table took the idea seriously.

"Wait...are you saying someone is punishing these people on purpose?" Bree snickered at the possibility. "Do you know how stupid you sound, Ava? We're not in the movies! And even if we are in the movies with vigilantes running around, what are they doing going after the teachers? I don't know...they should be going after criminals or something!"

Ava shrugged and backed down in defeat. She had no idea how right she was.