“The universe is a vast, fascinating place, billions and billions of stars. The universe is very complex, probably too complex for humanity to grasp. In 5th grade I’ll teach you the anatomy of space as we know it. Our solar system…” Ms.Phillips kept droning on.
If I had to go to school, why couldn’t I get a different teacher? “…The universe consists of billions of galaxies including ours the…” I finished the sentence for her. Including ours the Milky Way, our galaxy has billions of stars. Including our sun, as you know, is the center of our solar system. Which is now made of 8 planets, including ours, Earth. As we know is the only planet that houses life, including one marvelously boring teacher.
Anyways that should be the lesson; it would be the easiest lesson of the year. I slowly attached the ear buds on my hoodie in my ears. I flipped on my hood, and switched on my iPod. Whoever invented this hoodie is a genius.
“Mr. Simmons, would you take pleasure in answering my question?” Ms. Phillips coolly asked. Even though it was a rhetorical question, I gave an answer.
“Aliens are no longer coming because I have them convinced Earth houses no intelligent life!” I said. She was standing over my desk, and set her coffee mug on my desk.
“Casey, stay here after school an extra hour, we’ve got to talk about your abstraction problem. Plus electronic devices including iPods are prohibited,” she said flatly. Why does everything about her have to be boring. Her skirt was a solid dark gray, and her shirt was a slightly lighter shade of gray, her complexion was no cheerier. She was 50, but the way her hair was pinned into a bun made her look older. This was why there are guys like me to make things more exciting.
“Yo, Mizz. P, I got a doctor appointment, they say I got six months left, and they say I’m dying of boredom,” I sniffled at each pause.
“I’ll change that to 1 hour and 30 minutes,” Ms. Phillips said in her usual tedious voice. I grumbled in moody way, but pretended to listen anyway. I already knew that she could bump my time up an extra 30 minutes, and my parents wouldn’t be against it. Plus I could just pretend to listen to the upcoming lecture.
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Time ticked by Ms. Phillips voice now sounded like a flat-line. Finally the “slaughter-house-is-over-now-go-knock-your-head-off-except-you-Casey Simmons” rang. I got up from my desk and tried to disappear in the crowd of kids who were trampling each other over in attempt to escape.
“Casey you’re staying here, remember?” Ms. Phillips trilled in her monotone voice.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said flatly, not knowing how to make a big deal of the moment. She motioned to her desk, with a huff I robotically sat across from her. She did the same. When the room was emptied of everyone, she began the lecture.
“Now I understand that you have trouble listening, am I right?” She didn’t wait for a reply. “You pay attention to that iPod, I believe. That’s attention you can’t afford to waste. Your vigilance should be directed at your grades, like any other student. Do you understand?” She said sitting up extra straight peering down at me through her un-framed glasses.
“What does vigilance mean?” I said fooling around. Her dull gray eyes glimmered weirdly.
“I’m confiscating your iPod for the month,” Ms. Phillips opened a desk drawer.
“What does confiscating mean?” I asked not wanting to hand over my iPod.
“Hand it over,” she was looking at me while rummaging through her drawer. Her crooked nose looked sharper, and her thin lips were parted in a slight grin revealing her gnarly teeth.
“We don’t like our authority tested,” she coolly explained. “We,” “our,” what’s up with that. Her left hand stopped rummaging, while her right hand was held out towards me. Her nails were uneven and had that weird fungus that yellowed your nails.
She was scaring me; I unhooked my iPod from my jacket and edged toward her. “Thank you Casey Simmons” Ms. Phillps went to grab the iPod but instead she pinned my wrist down. Why couldn’t I scream? Her left hand swung out of the drawer holding a syringe. With a pinch, the needle plunged into my wrist. The last thing I saw was a sly grin carved on Ms. Phillips face along with the many wrinkles.
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My arms were limp by my sides; I was flat on my back. I remembered the classroom, and the syringe. That syringe must’ve been some sort of sedative, because I felt drowsy.
Slowly I opened my eyes slightly, a really bright light hung above me. I lolled my head around, the room was freakishly white, almost like a hospital room, except more pristine. It made me think of alien abductions, and then I finally saw a screen… it said:

SUBJECT: HUMAN
PLANET: EARTH
Oh my god, I was abducted by aliens, I knew there was something wrong about Ms. Phillips. I sat up, there were little wires attached to my body, and the classic suction cups suction to my head. I took a few deep breaths to cool myself down. Now that I actually looked, everything was attached by suction cups, I yanked them all off without thinking.
Machines beeped frantically, I heard footsteps, or they could’ve been tentacles for all I knew. There was a cabinet, I leaped off the metallic surface, and I opened the cabinet and hid in it. I left the door slightly open. The creatures knocked through the door. They had a slightly human appearance. Except that their eyes were a little bigger, and were set so far apart that they were almost at the sides of their heads. Their skin was stretched tight giving them a flat appearance.
“Where is he?” They had the same monotonous voice as Ms. Phillips, except each had a slightly characteristic sound.
“He couldn’t have gone far!”
“You guys aren’t even looking,” it was Ms. Phillips voice.
All three creatures came towards my spot. The cabinet door swung open, three creatures were crouching and smiling at me. Ms. Phillips was in the middle of the trio.
“Come here Casey, be a good human, help us make advances in our science.” She said while she grabbed me.
“I’m not helping, leave me alone!!!” I shouted as six other hands hauled me from my spot, like a fish being hauled from its water.
“You can be famous to a whole different world!” One of them exclaimed.
“I’m a human, not a lab rat!” I bellowed.
“Pretty close,” one of them chimed in their tedious voice.
I wriggled and lashed out in every way I could. I never stopped fighting, but realized it was only slowing them down before they sliced me open.
“We think we know what we’re doing. This time you might not die!”
“This time?” they must do this frequently! I twisted around and dug my teeth into one of the alien’s arms. They loosened their hold on me, and I kicked my way free then landed face first.
I got up in a second, and flew out a door they accidentally left open. My face didn’t hurt, hmm must be the sedative. I kept running for what seemed like forever. I came to a huge window. I came to a humongous window. I could see Earth and its moon, stars dotted the sky. It would’ve been breathtaking if I wasn’t about to die.
An alarm went off; I looked around for somewhere to hide. Then I noticed something…the moon wasn’t a sphere, it was an actual crescent. And I know what the moon looks like in space.
I also realized something else…in the classroom I couldn’t scream. When I fell on my face it didn’t hurt. I was stronger and faster than I really am……I’m dreaming.
The alarm blared louder, but the picture fizzled out.
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I was back in the classroom; the end-of-school bell was ringing. Kids were trampling each other over out the door. Ms. Phillips coffee mug was on my desk. Its scent wafted towards me, I felt a little drowsy.
“Casey you may now leave, I trust you’ll now cooperate for now on?” Ms. Phillips asked. Was it me or was there a smirk in her monotone voice?
“Yes, Ms. Phillips,” I said drowsily.
“Good, we don’t like our authority tested, you may leave. Without question I left. That coffee might be some alien sedative that controls dreams. Coincidence or not Ms. Phillips isn’t who she says she is.