The Fat Rat

The long-armed clock slowly ticks and tocks until Jossie felt like it was mocking her endlessly. Directly under the clock stood Mrs. Abigal Finch, with her cubed glasses sitting uncomfortably on her fat nose. Jossie had never liked Mrs. Finch, she knew that sometimes Mrs. Finch would pull boys aside to give them a “private” lesson.

Sitting in the seat ahead of Jossie plopped a fat boy whose rolls of fat poked shyly out under his buttoned-up shirt. The boy was named Matthias, but his nick name in the class was Fat Mat the Rat. The nickname found Matthias after his mother had left the foundation and his father had been hung by other members of the family.

Jossie felt mostly indifferent to the fat boy sitting ahead of her. They had occasionally talked with each other, but for the most part, he just disgusted her. It wasn’t just the roles of fat pouring from under his shirt that made her cringe; however, it was because of his mother.

Mrs. Finch turned rapidly and stated pointily at her sleepy students,

“As for you all know, brother Cain has begun to create his own foundations across the country. This is a sign of…what Alexander Peshka?”

A tall kid with black hair stood quickly and quivered out, “T’is is a sign of betrayal to brother Seth and brother Abel, ma’am.”

Jossie turned away from Mrs. Finch and looked outside the tinted window. She saw the sunlight tumbling between the old buildings and, surprisingly, she saw somebody that wasn’t common around the foundation. He was a handsome older man with patchy grey hair splattered around his blueish lips.

The unknown man walked with supreme confidence that stated louder than any word could that he was the boss. A thick woolen coat sat loosely around his shoulders and an attractive blond walked beside him. A flashy blue coat hugging her shapely form tightly. The two were both smiling and occasionally laughing; however, even Jossie could tell that it was an act betrayed for the benefit of the other person.

Jossie had her attention pulled from the two people in the field back to her large-bottomed teacher, who was heavily reprimanding a small red nose child. Her finger flicked up and down aggressively at the kid whose eyes seemed ready to burst into salty tears.

The kid sat dejected at his flimsy seat and Mrs. Finch pulled away and her eyes stabbed the air when they crossed Mat’s.

“You! I heard you wan’ed something to extend that fucking belly of yours.” Her voice lashed out as her finger sprang up like a viper ready for an attack. Mat’s head rocked back slightly in surprise, he responded cautiously,

“y-y-yes madam? I-I was just…umm.”

Her eyes grew wide, a cruel smile slithered across her face.

“Come here, fatty. Everybody deserves something for their birthdays, don’t they?” The air seemed to grow still and Jossie felt her mouth drop open. Being allowed specialties for individuals was very illegal in the foundation.

Her heart turned in her chest with jealously as she watched Fat Mat waddle between the desk until he stood shyly in-front of the class. His pants sagged slightly, showing his white underwear and the top of his butt crack. Mrs. Finch spun Fat Mat into a 360 degree turn and Jossie saw uncertainty had twisted his round face into an ugly mess.

Mrs. Finch pushed him roughly down into a desk. She placed her hands dangerously on Fat Mats shoulders and in a low rasp stated,

“So, you wan’ed a cake for ya birthday? You know that nobody else gets a cake, ya?”

“I-I just thought, umm I thought-”

“Ah no, you thought that you could have a cake because ya special! Just like ya mot’er thought she was special when she left us and betrayed brother Seth an’ brother Abel!” A giggle erupted from the back of the room before being shushed into silence. Jossie, herself, felt a malicious smile spring up in her face as she realized that this was not going to be pleasant for the fat boy.

Murmurs began to snake around the room as the students grew excited. Somewhere in the corner, a kid leaped out of his seat and screamed out,

“Kill the rat!”

Another kid raised his hand and violently screamed, “I wan’, I wan’, let me snap Fat Mat!”

Jossie felt her heartbeat quicken as other kids stood yelling insults at the fat kid. She jumped from her seat and began to scream out that she wanted to poke out his eyes when Mrs. Finch flapped her hands in a seating motion. The room slowly quieted down as the kids unhappily took their seats again. Fat Mat was sobbing into his shirt, releasing puggy wails that echoed off the undecorated walls.

Mrs. Finch released Fat Mat’s shoulders and stood to her full height before pounding on the wall behind her with three great bangs. The door creaked open and a bent over old lady slipped inside carrying a small black cake in her delicate hands. The old lady was the cook for the foundation and was named Mrs. Cuberry; however, the kids were in the habit of calling her Mrs. Cunt Fairy.

Mrs. Cuberry smiled at the sobbing Fat Mat as she placed the chocolate cake in front of him. Mrs. Cuberry set a small two-pronged fork next to the cake and took a few steps back to admire her work. The cake seemed initially like an ordinary cake; although, Jossie noticed that the chocolate didn’t quite seem right. A rotten smell drifted from where it sat and there was a slight greenish tent to the cake. Mrs. Cuberry was going to say something, but Mrs. Finch pushed roughly towards the door. Mrs. Cuberry gave a hateful look at Mrs. Finch and left through the door, slamming it as she did.

Fat Mat looked up with blurry red eyes. Pushing away from the table and trying to stand, but Mrs. Finch grabbed his ear and pulled down on it hard making Fat Mat scream out in pain. His bottom slammed into the chair and Jossie felt a rush up through her and she heard herself laughing out loud. Other kids around her started to laugh with her as Mrs. Finch aggressively and slowly pushed Fat Mats face down into the cake.

The fat boy’s screams were muffled by the cake and his hands started to flail around randomly. The sides of the cake were forced out and the cake almost seemed to bloat out like a water balloon just before bursting. Jossie’s right hand gently shook as she imagined pushing the fat boys head down and feeling him fight back. Fat Mat’s hand found the fork and it scraped against the plate as he slammed it behind his back and into Mrs. Finch’s leg.

She reared back and into the wall behind her. Fat Mat had a surprised frown on his black smeared face, his eyes rapidly searched the room almost as if begging for help. Time slowed and Jossie saw blood trickled down the handle of the fork and dripped from the round end to splash on the ground.

Mat opened his mouth and gabbled out a cry of help. For a second, Jossie felt something deep in her chest lurch at his pleadings and she started to wonder how she would feel in his situation. Before the feeling could rise any higher in her, a boy in the back of the class stood and started to laugh hysterically.

Time seemed to return to normal as more laughter immediately erupted through the class and tears started to drip down Fat Mat the Rat’s face. The feeling that was trying to push her was blown away by the laughter; Jossie tipped her head back into the cloud of laughter and let the sea of laughter escape her lips.

Jossie couldn’t stop her laughter as her entire body shook. Most of the kids in the class were standing now: some laughed, some through insults at Fat Mat the Rat, and some picked up pencils; pens; and books, throwing them at Fat Mat the Rat.

Mrs. Finch limped forward on her good leg before she grabbed Fat Mat the Rat by his ear and pulled as hard as she could. Jossie stood and threw her book at the fat boy as he was pulled from his seat and tumbled onto the ground.

“Kill the Rat!” Screamed somebody and the class surged forward towards the cowering fat boy. Mrs. Finch stepped back with her hand pushing tightly against where the fork was still hanging and she watched her students kick, punch, and scream at the fat rat with a smile.

Jossie pulled on the other students with her teeth gnashing like an animal.

“Rat! Fat Rat! Fucking Fat Rat!” She screamed as she planted her foot deeply into his soft stomach. The fat rat squealed; the small foot of a young girl stomped down hard on his nose, making a loud crunch.

Jossie’s foot found it’s way under the fat rat’s chin and its head slammed back into the ground. A boy dropped to next to its head and began jabbing at its eyes. Blood flowed from between the fat rat’s eyes as he reached up to cover his eyes from the jabs that assaulted him.

From somewhere, a knife appeared in the hands of one of the students. Jossie kicked and kicked and kicked as flood flowed under her feet, splashing up on her face.

Finally, Jossie stepped back out of breath. Some of the kids were laying on the ground in the blood and others were still kicking the mound of flesh. Her hand wiped the blood that was dripping into her eyes and she noticed Mrs. Finch casually walk forward and gently pull the kids away from the mound of flesh.

Jossie felt exhaustion wash over her; some of the students slowly walked back to their seats. Silence settled gently into the room as the last of the kids stopped kicking and was guided away from the mound of flesh.

Mrs. Finch took a deep breath before loudly announcing, “congratulations class. We are free from a traitor of our family. Class is dismissed! I am so proud of ya’ll!”

A cheer reared up from the students. The students scrambled to rush out of the door and Jossie, running behind a red-haired kid, raised her hands as a large smile spread across her entire face.

While Jossie ran out, her thoughts of the mound of flesh were pushed to the back of her head and by the time she smelled the fresh air, she was unable to even think about what had happened.

Jossie didn’t think about what had happened for eight years after the incident. Tears flows down her cheeks as she thinks about kicking Fat Mat as flames lick up her legs and screams escape from her mouth. Jossie remembered feeling his soft flesh collapse under her foot and the feel of blood drenching her clothes. The fire swarmed up her back and under her arm pits; however, Jossie couldn’t forget the face of Matthias that floated in her mind. The flames filled the room and swallowed all the air and thoughts in the room, leaving nothing only burnt ash and death.