The Swamp

It was test day, so everyone was feeling a little anxious. Mrs. Gertrude’s desk was in the right hand corner. It was neat and tidy with a large calendar on it along with a red apple that some ill prepared student had given her. One might describe Mrs. Gertrude as challenging but fair. She wore a blue dress with small white polka dots on it and red glasses. Her dark hair was tied up in a bun. Not a follicle out of place.

Mrs. Gertrude broke the tension, “Alright class, today is the first test of the semester. If you end up bombing it, it’s not the end of the world because your lowest test grade gets dropped.” With the students still tapping their feet and twirling their pencils, she continued, “I’ll admit, this test is a bit challenging, but it will be graded on a curve, so if you studied you have nothing to worry about.”

The teacher walked towards the door and turned off the lights. And with her hand clutching the knob, said, “And remember, everyone gets test anxiety, just don’t let it get the better of you.” With that, she opened the door and in crawled a huge Alligator. It had to have been at least thirteen feet long, and was fat as fuck, like it just got done eating a boa constrictor.

This wasn’t your average Alligator. As it slowly crawled into the room it growled in a low raspy voice, “Mmmm, fresh meat,”, and, “I will feast on your flesh,”, and, “It’s time for dinner,”, and the like. The menacing voice echoed throughout the entire room as if it were coming from the intercom.

The students were laying on lounge chairs, you know, the chairs you see at the pool. They were reclined all the way back so the students laid parallel, and no more than a foot off the ground. As the Alligator circled and taunted each pupil one by one, they remained still, with their eyes closed. If the student didn’t appear to be rattled by the beast, it moved on to the next, roaring in agitation something like: “I’m hungry! And at least one of you will be my dinner!”

Most handled it pretty well. But there was one red haired- freckled student, Kevin, who had a bit of a rough time. He was shaking and panting and pissing himself and was barely able to stay on the recliner. The Alligator approached saying, “Hah hah hah, what have we here?” Circling the recliner, the Alligator continued taunting, “I’ve never eaten a ginger before. I’ll bet you taste like a ginger snap.” As Kevin was shaking in terror, the Alligator crawled underneath the folding chair. And when Kevin felt the cold, bony plates brushing up against his back, he started screaming out in desperation, “Please Mrs. Gertrude, please get me out of here! Let me drop the class!” But Mrs. Gertrude was just at her desk grading papers as if it were a regular Tuesday. Kevin continued, “I don’t wanna die! This can’t be happening to me!”

Just then, the Alligator latched onto Kevin’s foot and dragged him onto the floor. Kevin kicked and screamed in a futile attempt to save his life. After much struggle, the Alligator pinned Kevin down and started eating his face until all that was left resembled a hollowed out pumpkin bowl filled with tomato soup. The Alligator finally dragged its prize out of the room, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

After the gruesome ordeal, Mrs. Gertrude got up from her desk, shut the door, and turned the lights back on saying, “Alright, well, I hope you all didn’t find that test to be too hard.” As the bell rings and the students pack up and shuffle out the door, Mrs. Gertrude yells over them, “It’ll take me about a week to grade it, so you’ll get your results by then. Have a good weekend!”