The people of Lancet Falls, Idaho are changing, and it's all because of an otherworldly light that only a few can see, but the changes are affecting everyone. Animals are dying, people are disappearing, and what's with the men in jackets twenty year...
Jordan provided the outlet it needed. In unison, the air around her surged towards her in one fluid motion. At that moment, Jordan Bryant was one with the universe; a force of pure nature. Lightning flowed through her veins seeking a place to run free. Less than an instant had transpired before it flowed through Jordan and into the now steaming wall. She gingerly removed her hand fearing that it may have been melded into the wall from the intensity of the heat. Instead, a black handprint was scarred into the wall; an ironic memento from the only black girl in school.
The room returned to its normal lighting, reminding Jordan of where she was. She looked over her shoulder again praying that no one had seen. A small figure with their back turned to Jordan retreated back down the hallway. They were wearing a tie dye backpack. Why'd it have to be Derek? The only boy who even looks at me like a normal girl.She thought and sprinted down the hallway to the principal's office in a panic.
Despite her mad dash into the reception area, the ladies behind the desk kept their cool and told her to take a seat the principal would be with her shortly. They weren't wrong. Right as Jordan plopped onto a chair, the door that read "Mr. Kinghorn" swung inward, and the words "Don't be shy, come on in!" filled the reception area. She could have been mistaken, but they sounded genuinely inviting, not the artificial sweetness she had grown accustomed to.
In the small amount of time Jordan had been sitting, she had lost all her energy. The hallway incident had drained something vital, and her body was paying for it. Jordan lurched out of the comfy reception chair and walked into the lion's den.
"Shut the door behind you, will ya?' Mr. Kinghorn, the principal, asked.
"Uhhhh sure," Jordan said.
She didn't know what she had expected of a principal's office, but it wasn't this. The walls of the room were riddled with cheesy posters telling students to "Hang in there" or "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Mr. Kinghorn's desk was equal parts children's puzzles and pictures of what Jordan assumed were his wife and two daughters. Perhaps the most surprising of it all were the bookshelves on either side of the room. They weren't stuffy books or ones about being a good teacher or princiPAL; they were books that Jordan had seen before. If she were to unpack the boxes of her dad's things, She would bet that over half of these books were also in his collection.
"Take a seat kiddo, what brings you to my domain?" he asked.
Jordan looked into the principal's eyes behind the spectacles perched on the tip of his nose and knew that he was different. Warmth radiated off of him in waves. It didn't matter if Jordan was covered in piercing from head to toe and had purple skin, he would still be looking at her that same way. She found that she really didn't want to tell him what she had done. The last thing she wanted to do was see a look of disappointment replace that kind smile.
"Come on now, I don't bite," he winked.
Jordan launched into the events that had gotten her ejected from Ms. Essex's classroom with perfect recall. Not a single word was omitted from her account; she hated liars. Throughout her entire story, he looked at her with that same smile and waited patiently for her to finish.
"You're too smart for your own good kid."' he chuckled. Her dad used to say that to her.
Jordan couldn't help but smile, "Sometimes, sir."
"Now I've got to do the principal thing. That's why they pay me the big bucks. I know Mrs. Essex has a foot long stick stuck up her you know what, but that doesn't mean you get to say whatever you want. If you want to earn the respect of others, then you need to give them respect in turn regardless of how they treat you. That's just life kiddo. Now, I know it won't happen again, but I'm still going to have you eat lunch with me for the next week as punishment. Let's call it detention shall we?
Jordan did her best to contain her excitement and said, "Yes, sir."
"Before I kick you out of here, do you want any water?" he asked.
The words "water-brother" fluttered through Jordan's head.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
SaintCole here,
Jordan always reading in class is something that I personally did when I was a youngster that teachers hated to no end. Also, Mrs. Essex is based on a horrendous teacher that I had to deal with as a fifth grader. It was a blast writing my own version of her.
Every time somebody doesn't vote, a butterfly dies. Save the butterflies!
Alright guys, what do you think of Jordan's ability? More harm than good? Do we like Mr. Kinghorn?
