Watch Your Step

Backpack III

Not only him but the things he gave stank too. 

By the first week of December, they still kept the gifts he gave. Camille still brought her Barbie doll, before it packs a punch decomposition. It was a Wednesday, and at the beginning of the class, Ms. Ann called me to identify the source of the stench. She wanted to get rid of it, and have me clean it before they started the class. I had my gloves on, my disinfectant spray, a plastic bag, and a mop. I had suspected it was a rotting dead rat, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere. Before the smell became too unbearable, I still couldn't find it. After the smell was unbearable, we all heard a scream.

Worms. Big, fat, worms, were coming out of the eyes of the doll Camille was holding. She gasped and gasped as if she was choking on her own breath. Then she screamed louder and threw the doll. Behind me, I heard someone gagging. It was Christopher because the food he was eating had worms on it too.

The whole room panicked! Some barfed, some ran around, many screamed.

That's when the other students spitefully distance themselves from him. They all blamed Jim for it. Some bullied him and gossiped about him. Others would run and blatantly call him a freak. I took pity on him that I felt my gut clench every time I saw him. After all, he was just a little kid. Thinking back, if I had done something, I could've saved him. But even I tried not to come near him. The smell that's coming from him, wasn't just any smell as though something evil was surrounding it. And where the things he gave came from, something's just not right so it repels whoever smells it.

Coincidentally, I was cleaning near the principal's office when they called out his father to discuss these matters. It turns out his father was working at the school too as the school doctor. I recognized that he's also a science teacher as I saw him around the school — wearing a lab coat and high-grade glasses all the time.

I got no business with it, but I got the gist of their conversation. I couldn't be wrong it was Miss Ann's voice.

"Where does he get these disastrous objects?" she said, her voice shaking. It was the first time I heard Ms. Ann angry. I volunteered as a witness to Miss Ann but she said they could handle it. Didn't seem so as she was complainin' that the sharpener Jim gave her smelled awful too. I proceeded to mop the floor but I no longer heard what possible excuse Jim's father gave them.

After that day though, Jim didn't show his face again. I saw most if not all the toys he gave were left in one corner of the room near the trash can. I was about to pick it up and throw it away when I saw movement. I jumped! Cockroaches, spiders, centipedes — you name it — were festering in the garbage can. I was glad no one was there to see me so scared. I just can't do cockroaches, man! I ran to get the insecticide immediately and sprayed it until the can was empty.

I thought maybe what they all like now turned into what they fear. It didn't let me go. I had a nightmare about that. I was putting a towel under his shirt then those bugs and worms, chief, I tell you it's crawling from the kid's back!

When all the staff and kids had gone home for the holidays, I was left alone at the school to check things. Before that, I wished Ms. Ann a Merry Christmas and after that, I checked every room to see if it was locked. I didn't get paid enough but I got nothing else to do. I still haven't had enough money to go home even though I miss my family so much.

I sat on the steps of a nearby stairs and put my hands on my face. Really, I missed my family, My Mama's cooking, my sisters and my brother even if they're sometimes annoying. "What am I going to do now," I asked aloud because I thought I was alone. Then I heard someone say above me, "Mr. Melon, don't be sad." I got goosebumps and my joints weakened as if they were all rusted. I was held still in that place. I slowly turned around and said, "Hey Jimmy, what are you doing here?" Again, the smell hit me with a punch in my gut. He reached for his back as if scratching it and he pulled something out like pulling a rabbit out of a hat — a stack of cash!

Going down the stairs, he came close, and I smelled him strongly, but I didn't give a sign of any reaction.

This time he faced his back to me so we couldn't see each other's faces. He slowly lifted his shirt while I was still frozen in that place. Slowly, I saw, the most hideous thing I ever saw. There's a zipper sewn onto his skin. Newly sewn because it looked fresh and painful. Forming an inverted "U" like some kind of sick backpack pocket. It was revolting! My mouth watered and so as my eyes. I held my mouth and tried to calm myself down.

"Open it," Jim said, "open it, Martin," he called me by my first name.

My fingers were trembling, but I couldn't feel it, couldn't stop it from reaching that zipper at the bottom-left of his back. I wondered if I was going to open Pandora's box and unleash all the darkness in the world. As I looked away, my hand pinching the zipper started going up, going right, and going down.

"What did you see inside?" The policeman interrupted.

"Hold your horses, chief, because that's what he asked me too, he asked me what do I see?"

It was a hollow hole, a deep and dark opening like that of a well. Except something slithered and the zipper turned into sharp teeth! Dude, it's a "run for your life" moment!

You might ask if I was scared but the truth is I couldn't move. I couldn't produce a single sound! I had to remind myself to breathe once more. I remember it also started glowing, as though it was a portal from another dimension. A bright light flashed on my face from orange to purple — it was a color I'd never seen.

I didn't know what to do! My mind couldn't process what I was seeing. Until he said, "Reach in there and think of what you want." Before I peed myself, I tried to convince myself I must be imagining it. Then I closed my eyes and did as he said.

I imagined my hands getting chopped by those fanged teeth and I thought I had lost my hand when I opened my eyes.

The acrid fume dissipated and Jim's whatever in his back was hidden under his shirt now. In front of me was lots and lots of money

I took it home to the apartment I was staying in. I spent all my time asking myself what to do with it. Entirely because I still haven't moved on from what in the hell happened, I didn't even touch it. I put the money in a bag, and it smelled of that same rotting smell, so I ended up not spending even a buck.

The weather got colder as Christmas came and I was alone in my room huddled in my blankets most of the time. My roommates went home to their families and there I was being tempted to use the money. It stayed in the bag. I didn't want to find out what horrors would jump out at me if I opened it. Was it my conscience telling me to return it or my fear it might turn into something I was afraid of too? I pondered where I could find him and speak to him. It took me a week to decide if I should return it. After that encounter, do I really want to see that kid again? I guess, I did.