Master Marionetter (ENG)

A normal day in a normal town in small a small country near the ocean. A teacher with long ginger hair was sitting behind his desk, going through all the preschool work for his beloved students who were like his own children to him. The main reason being that he couldn’t have children of his own. Nobody knew why, but he was unable to.

‘’Good morning, Mister Maxwell!’’ One by one his students greeted him as they walked to their seats in the classroom.

‘’Good morning.’’ The teacher, Maxwell Grales, greeted them all back and stood up behind his desk.

‘’How are you all?’’ He asked, smiling.

‘’Doing okay!’’

‘’Doing fine!’’

‘’Not too fancy.’’

There were different answers to his question, as usual.

‘’Not too fancy? Why’s that?’’ Maxwell asked, looking at the students.

‘’Well, mom was in a rush this morning and didn’t have time to brush my hair…’ Said a quiet kid with a hat on her head.

She looked ashamed.

Maxwell huffed with a smile.

‘’Come here.’’ He smiled and took a hairbrush from his desk drawer.

The girl walked to Maxwell and took off her hat. Maxwell sprayed some ‘’magical water’’ on her hair and started brushing. They called it that, but truly it was just water.

Soon the girl’s hair was fluffy and silky soft like it should be.

‘’There you go!’’ Maxwell said.

‘’Thank you!’’ The girl smiled happily and walked back to her place.

They chatted for a moment with the whole class, just going through how everyone was doing. The group size was small, there were ten students, Maxwell, and two assistant teachers. Their group spirit was strong, and they all stood for each other’s if one got bullied. Of course, that was not tolerated at all in the preschool, but it happened occasionally.

Once they were done chatting, Maxwell took a box of scissors from the shelf.

‘’Today we shall be doing some crafting.’’ He said with a smile.

‘’What will we be crafting?’’ Asked one of the boys.

‘’Paper dolls. I remember it being highly requested, am I right?’’ Maxwell smiled and looked at everyone in the room.

‘’Yes!’’ The girls cheered. The boys didn’t look too excited. Or at least not before seeing what Maxwell was holding. It was a cool-looking, black knight’s armor on the paper sheet.

‘’You can customize them all you want,’’ Maxwell said.

‘’Woo!’’ The class cheered, as Maxwell looked at his assistant teachers.

‘’Ora, mind going to get some pins?’’ He asked.

‘’On my way,’’ Ora said with a smile and walked out of the class.

At that moment, the clock hit break and let out a small sound, cuckoo like-sound.

‘’We will start after the break!’’ Maxwell said and the kids got up and walked out of the class.

Maxwell prepared for the watch in the yard. It was him and two other teachers.

On the outside the air was warm, the sun was shining, and everything was good. Maxwell was chatting with the teachers when three girls from Maxwell’s class ran to them.

‘’Mister Maxwell!’’ They called out.

Maxwell turned to look at them and smiled, kneeling to their level.

‘’What is it?’’ He asked.

‘’We made something for you.’’ Said the girl whose hair Maxwell brushed earlier.

‘’For me?’’ Maxwell asked. ‘’What did you make?’’

The girl took a flower crown from behind her back. It was made with blue, pink, and purple flowers. Maxwell looked at it and smiled. He bowed his head so the girl could put it on his head.

Once it was on, the two other teachers giggled as Maxwell smiled.

‘’Do I look good?’’ He asked.

‘’Yes!’’ The girls smiled.

‘’It fits you well!’’

Maxwell giggled.

‘’Well thank you.’’ He smiled.

The girls giggled and ran off towards the swings.

‘’Kids absolutely love you.’’ The other teacher said.

‘’Yea they do.’’ Maxwell chuckled.

‘’I don’t know how you do it.’’ The other giggled.

‘’I am kind to them, and they are kind to me. It’s simple as that. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Of course, we too have our hardships with the kids, but we talk about them.’’ Maxwell said as the break bell rang.

‘’Well, it’s time for paper dolls. See you at the lunch break.’’ Maxwell said.

The two teachers nodded and said their goodbyes and they all left to their classrooms.

Maxwell took off his jacket and put it in the teacher’s hanger when he got a weird tingle in his fingers. He looked at them but saw nothing.

‘I probably haven’t drunk enough…’ He shrugged it off and left for his class.

The students were already sitting in their seats, as the assistants gave everyone the paper sheets with hand-drawn dolls on them, colouring pens, and scissors.

The class was soon filled with sounds of colouring pencils colouring, scissors cutting, and paper rustling. Maxwell turned to the whiteboard and started writing something there before his fingers tingled again. He looked at them… And then heard something from behind him.

He turned to look slowly. The sound had sounded disgusting… And there was a small scent of… Iron in the air… He jumped, feeling tears rising in his eyes. Tears of panic, shock, and horror. Everyone… All the students… Had pressed their eyes into the scissors against the desk. All of them bleeding…

Maxwell covered his mouth and threw up on the floor, crying. Soon there was a scream when Ora walked back into the classroom from the storage where she had gone to get more colouring pencils…

‘’Maxwell what did you do?!’’ She asked, dropping the box in pure fear.

‘’I didn’t do anything!’’ Maxwell said, unable to move his glance away.

Soon more teachers arrived at the room, they were all shocked.

They managed to call the police, which was soon in their way. Maxwell was forcefully pulled away from the class. He stared at the corpses of his dear students until the end…

The paramedics checked all the children. One was found alive, the rest of them were dead… When the news of one survivor reached Maxwell’s ears, he right away rushed to the girl who had survived…

‘’Kira, what happened…?’ Maxwell asked, holding her hand, the girl tensing as the paramedics wrapped bandages on the girl’s eyes.

‘’It was an angel’s call… We all heard it… He told us to do it… We had to do it…’ Kira whispered.

Maxwell stared at her and started crying as the bodies were carried out from the classroom. Next thing Maxwell knew he was in the police station, ready to be interrogated, but was not found guilty of any sort of crime… He walked free from the station and was taken home. He lived in a small apartment building near the preschool. He sat down to his bed right away and cried. He felt tears with no end rolling down his cheeks. He cried for what felt like hours…

Once he calmed down, he tried eating something but wasn’t able to eat even a single bite. He relived the moment in his head… He had gotten a vision of what was happening but had just avoided it. He had gotten those feelings all his life. ‘’What if?’’-feelings. He had gotten one of them just right before… He swallowed hard.

‘Did I… Do that…?’ He asked from himself, wiping his eyes.

He hissed and went to get some rope from his closet and left to the darkening autumn night.

In his mind rolled a smile of one person… His mother. Mother sick with cancer… He hissed and got to a spot in the forest… He tied the rope to a noose and tied it up to the tree. He cried, but felt like there was no other way… He had lost it all. He felt angry and sad when he put the noose around his neck and jumped down from the rock… And hung himself.

He woke up from his bed the next morning. He was panting and looking around.

‘’A nightmare…?’ He mumbled and got up, walking to the living room, and turned on his TV on the news channel. There was news about the events that had occurred… Death of nine students, one survivor with critical condition.

‘’No…’ Maxwell gasped and stared at the TV.

‘’Good morning, Maxwell Grales.’’ Said a dark voice from behind him.

At that moment Maxwell got another ‘’What if?’’ thought and he felt tingling in his fingers.

‘’Who are you?!’’ Maxwell asked, staring at the man.

‘’My name is Yama.’’ He said. ‘’I want you to join my circus. You have a peculiar power in your hands. I want that.’’

‘’What the hell are you talking about?’’ Maxwell asked.

‘’You caused the death of those kids,’’ Yama smirked.

Maxwell stared at Yama.

‘’Look at your hands.’’ The man said simply.

Maxwell looked at them, gasping. There were lines between his vertebras. Three on his fingers, on each folding spot… one going between his palm, another on his wrist… It went up to his arm to his elbow…

‘’What’s happening?’’ Maxwell asked.

‘’Yourself is waking up. Some dangerous people looking for you, Maxwell. I can protect you. But only if you join me.’’ Yama said.

Maxwell stared at his hands and then towards Yama.

‘’…How about my mother?’’ He asked.

‘’She will be safe,’’ Yama said.

Maxwell nodded a bit.

‘’Oh and, stop going to the church. You are one of the sinners now.’’ The man said as the tingling in Maxwell’s fingers ended, the man stretching.

‘’The god can’t save you anymore.’’ He chuckled.

Maxwell nodded a bit.

‘’I figured…’ He said.

‘’Well, chop, chop. Get packing. We have quite a journey ahead of us.’’ Yama said.

Maxwell sighed and nodded, walking to pack what he needed…

He joined the circus under the alias of Marteer. He became famous almost instantly, with many people coming to see his show of storytelling and self-moving puppets… But each time he used his powers, he felt the pain and sorrow of losing his children, but he pushed forwards.

Until the feeling came back…