PROSE: "Invalid" by Erin Burrows

"Invalid"

by Erin Burrows

The teacher walked into the room, feeling any and all emotions get sucked out of her by a vacuum. The room was white, radiating empty souls. All that remained left in her mind was how long she was to be trapped here, administering this test. She dragged herself over to the desk, setting down a heavy bag of supplies. She examined the desks and the empty walls. It was quiet, but ominous, a feeling that was causing her slight discomfort. She looked down and reached into the bag, pulling out her set of instructions. After she finally finished studying them, as she was instructed to do, she pulled out the scantrons for the test and began lying them on the threateningly uniform desks, pacing up and down the rows, putting the materials of the students in alphabetic order in preparation for their arrival. She went back to the bag, grabbing pencils and pens and mints, setting two of each on the desks in a neat and orderly fashion. Anything not askew seemed like it wouldn't fit in the room. She moved back to the front of the room, examining her work. Everything was in perfect order.


Sitting at the largest desk once more, she set about neatly arranging the test books in a pile, as well as the extra pens, pencils, and leftover candy. She placed the bag under the desk and leaned herself back into the chair, prepared to read through the instructions one more time. The chair was surprisingly comfortable, forming an indent of her backside. As she read, her eyes began to feel droopy. After glancing through the window on the door to make sure nobody was watching, and then at the watch on her wrist, she dozed off with the intention of being awoken when the bell rang.

When the bell finally did ring, she jolted awake, looking around quickly to see if anybody saw her. A single student sat in the middle of the room, his hands folded on top of his desk, patiently waiting for her to administer the test.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I must have drifted off," the teacher said, hoping she wouldn't face repercussions for her mistake.
The student unfolded his hands and lifted one, as if blessing and waving at her at the same time. 
"Quite alright. I was just mentally preparing myself." 
The teacher nodded in understanding.
"Well, I guess we might as well get started. I am supposed to call roll," she said, looking around at the empty seats as her hand absentmindedly picked up the attendance sheet. 
"So, uh, Mark? No. Sarah? Adam?"
"I apologize for interrupting, but I'm the only one here. My classmates decided we would send one person to take all of the tests for us, and I drew the smallest straw. My name is William Reggs, so if you could just mark me present, I'll go ahead and start the tests. I suggest you mark the others present as well, to avoid suspicion at their completed tests."
The teacher stood dumbfounded. 
"William, I am afraid I can't let you do that. If your classmates want a grade on it, they can come in and complete it themselves. If not, they can suffer the consequences."
"Ma'am, with all due respect, that's how we've been testing since we were children. So if you don't comply, chances are there will be consequences for you."
She was flabbergast at the commanding child. He had threatened her and challenged her authority. Not only that, he was trying to control her. And she, an accomplished graduate student, would have none of it.
"No," she fought back. "That is against the rules. If you were to follow through on that plan, your tests would be illegal and rendered invalid, and you and all of your friends not only would have to take a much harder retake, but you would also receive referrals, detention, and probably suspension for doing this. Now, if you don't mind, I am going to read you the instructions, give you your test booklet, and let you begin. The same cannot be said for the others." She felt proud of herself for putting a student down in such a way, smiling smugly to herself in triumph. She looked down at the materials on her desk and picked up the instruction book, slowly beginning to read it, making sure she covered every detail clearly.
The single student, William, sat there with his hands refolded, waiting for her to finish. After ten minutes of detailed and repetitive instructions, she was finished and giving him his text booklet.
"You will have an hour to finish,” the teacher concluded. “Begin."
A small pain started in her neck, as if a splinter had stabbed her. She grabbed the spot where it hurt, trying to rub in to make it feel better. But she was feeling heavy, as if all of her tiredness and weight were combining to drag her down into her chair. She kept her hand on her neck as her vision blurred and her brain slowed, slipping into a cold, hypnotic state. Without any more warning, she drifted away from the world into a hazy one of darkness.

The teacher awoke with a start. She felt cold sweat slipping down her face and seeping through her shirt causing her to feel damp and chilled. As she looked around the room, it was empty like a vacuum in the middle of unoccupied space, feeling as if nobody had ever been there except herself. On her desk were uniform stacks of test booklets, filled out scantrons, and a the writing utensils she had given out at the beginning of the day. Her eyes darted around the room, making their way to the window in the door, grasping for the sight of any student or teacher, but none were seen. She sat staring at the tests, unsure of what to do. The attendance paper caught her eye as she looked and saw that every name had been marked, in her handwriting, as present. She sat staring at the page for a while, unsure of what to do. After considering all of her knowledge and evidence, she decided that nothing could be said to anybody. It seemed as if the single student was a dream, a nightmare she could share to no one. The vagueness of the situation cause her to be skeptical of her own recollection of the morning.
Without any more fuss or worry, she stacked the piles on top of each other and wrapped them together in a rubber band. She signed a statement saying that every piece of material required for the test was accounted for, and placing the paper on top of the rubber bound stack, she slipped it all into the bag. Silently, the teacher shouldered the bag and left the room. Turning back to look through the window, she grabbed the handle, as if wanting to go back into the room. Instead, she just stared, still trying to piece together what had happened between the discussion early that morning and this moment, the one where she was left feeling utterly confused and mystified.
She shook her head slowly to nobody but herself and let go of the handle, turning to walk down the hallway she had strode at the beginning of the day, with the confidence of any bright, creative young teacher. Now, she abandoned that version of herself from when she first entered the school and left a defeated woman, empty and questioning her abilities altogether.