The Quiet in the Storm

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The storm blew the doors shut, cold breeze filled the classroom. The snow storm trapped everybody in school, leaving Mr. Mathews with a bunch of terrified kids longing for their parents.

"Gather round children, I have something to show you", he said trying to take their mind off the storm.

He pulled his sleeves up to reveal his dragon shaped scar. "Do you want to know how I got this scar?"

"Woah!", the children exclaimed, "Tell us"

It worked, he drew their attention from the storm outside.

"I wasn't always a teacher, I used to be a sailor"

"Like on a ship?", one of the kid asked.

"Exactly like a ship, I had a crew and our job was to search for creatures of the sea never discovered before. We were searching for one in particular, the Grem"

"what's that Mr. Mathews?"

"The biggest sea monster in the world, or at least I thought it was a monster. We had searched far and wide, visiting villages and listening to their stories"

"did you catch it??"

"Patience, wait till the end. One night, a fisherman told us he saw the monster around his village. We just wanted to see the monster and show the world our proof but some of my crew wanted to capture it and sell it for money. We found it at long last and that's when the mutiny happened"

"What's a mutiny Mr. Mathews"

"Its kind of like they didn't want me to be the leader anymore"

"no!!!!", the kids screamed.

"Quiet now... I wasn't going to let them take it, not on my watch. I held up a torch to let it know we were around. They tried to stop me and in doing so caused me to drop the torch. It started a fire on the ship as the torch came in contact with one of sails. I managed to alert the monster but in doing so set my ship on fire"

The children gasped.

"Our ship started to fall apart, I managed to get some people off but my arm
was caught between two flaming wood. I don't remember much after that. I woke up on an island with nobody in sight, just the tail of my savior disappearing on the horizon"
.

"the monster saved you?"

"Yes kids, the creature saved me, brought me back to shore, all I had to show for it is this scar", he said as he brought their attention back to his arm.

"Woah!!", they all exclaimed.

Just then the bell rang, the storm was over and everybody was free to go home to their families. Mr. Mathews made the children feel safe.

"You're my favorite teacher in the world", one of the children said as he exited the class.



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8 comments
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This is a charming story, @nelson-george. The children are fortunate to have a teacher with a colorful past who loves to tell his stories.

Thank you for sharing your story in The Ink Well, and for reading and commenting on the work of other community members.

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Wow, what an adventure the teacher had! And how lucky that the sea creature rescued him. I wonder what happened to the rest of the people on the boat.

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Beautiful tale that exudes empathy. The students are really lucky to have Mr Matthews as their teacher. I guess every child deserves a Mr Matthews in their lives

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Its always easier to learn when a teacher teaches with stories like this

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Well, seems like sometimes a little lie can be justified. What happens when the children mature and see Mr Mathews as a fake? Just kidding, nice story!

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Good story, @nelson-george! Nothing grabs a child more than a well-told story. The wise teacher knew how to use the power of words to drive fear from the hearts of his adults. Thanks for the tag!

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