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— ...Thus, if we substitute this value into the equation, we’ll get… — Andrew Miller’s voice sounded confident, but inside he felt the same familiar anxiety, realizing that at least half the class wasn’t listening to him at all. Of course, he had prepared himself for this, expecting that the first year of teaching after college would be tough, but it was one thing to expect it, and another to actually live through it.
The silence in the chemistry classroom lasted exactly three seconds before a voice came from the back row:
— Hey, Mr. Miller, what if your life equations don’t add up either? — Ryan Rodriguez drawled with mockery, a tall handsome guy in the local team’s jersey. His bright white smile drew a few muffled giggles from the girls in class.
Andrew froze, feeling the heat rising up his neck.
— Ryan, — he tried to sound firm, — keep your comments to yourself.
— What? — Ryan leaned back lazily in his chair. — I’m just asking. You too, Mr. Miller, must have a hard time sometimes… like with girls, for example. — He paused, then added: — Or do you just spend all your time with textbooks?
Laughter rolled through the classroom like a wave. Andrew clenched his fists. An ugly truth burned in his head — yes, through all of college he never had a real relationship, and now, working as a teacher, he was watching guys like Ryan, who easily got everything he himself only dreamed of.
— You’ve got an assignment, Rodriguez, — he finally said through clenched teeth. — Do it instead of playing the clown.
Ryan lazily spun his pen between his fingers, smirking, while the girls, almost as if on purpose just to tease Andrew, giggled again. Of course, he knew those giggles were aimed more at getting Ryan’s attention. But that didn’t make it any easier. Andrew realized that once again this “show-off” had beaten him.
…
The evening, which he had been waiting for so much lately, didn’t bring him any comfort today. He came back to his rented apartment on the edge of the city, knowing his mood couldn’t be darker. His bag crashed onto the couch as if all his failures were stuffed inside it. Andrew threw his jacket on the chair and went straight to the fridge. As always, it was empty: a couple of eggs, a jar of sauce, and a bottle of cheap water. He sighed heavily and slammed the door shut.
— Great life, Miller… — he muttered and flopped onto the couch, covering his face with his hands.
The laughter of the class still echoed in his head, and especially Ryan’s smug voice. With every second, the memory of today’s scene burned deeper. He felt like a kid who had been mocked in front of everyone again.
‘Why does he have everything? Why is he so easygoing… handsome… confident? And me? I’m just a shadow next to guys like him,’ — rushed through his mind.
He jumped up sharply, not wanting to drown in those thoughts, and that’s when he noticed something strange on the table near the window.
A small dried-up paw with claws.
Andrew frowned.
— What the hell?.. — he muttered, stepping closer.
He was sure it hadn’t been there before. The paw looked disturbingly real. Coarse fur, shriveled skin, claws that once seemed to cling to branches.
A fragment of a story he’d read back in college flashed in his memory: “The Monkey’s Paw.” A fairly popular book, but obviously just fiction.
— Someone’s been in my place…?
Andrew froze, staring at the paw as if it were evidence of a crime. His heart began to pound furiously. He slowly walked through the apartment and checked the front door. The lock was intact, windows shut, no sign of a break-in. But the paw… it was lying in plain sight, as if someone wanted him to find it.
He carefully picked it up.
— What a disgusting thing… — he muttered, yet for some reason didn’t let go.
Inside, something twisted painfully when he remembered the class’s laughter again. Ryan. His words about girls. And how the girls giggled, not even trying to hide their admiration for that smug pretty boy...