Strange - DHMIS au

Chapter 1 - tapping his desk

Mr. Red liked to think he was a good enough teacher. His class turned out decent grades, participated when he needed them to, and usually didn't speak out of turn. This was difficult to achieve with primary school students and he prided himself in it.

One child had always stood out to him, for two reasons. One, he had his hair dyed a vibrant blue, which not a lot of kids his age could get away with, and two, he didn't have a name to speak of. Well, he did, but his Dad had apparently specified that only higher ups could know his name, which didn't include his teacher, and could never use it.

It confused him, but the principal had told him that it was probably something to do with his cultural background or the religion he practiced. Despite knowing this, he still wondered how this kid got through the day having to explain to friends why they couldn't know his name.

The kid was always sweet to his teacher, despite his standoffish first impression he's been told he has. All his new students usually started the year scared stiff of him, but warmed up to him once a few weeks had passed and they had gotten to know him better. A kid earlier that day had called him a 'chill' teacher, which made him chuckling think about how only two months prior that kid wouldn't even look him in the eye.

But this child never looked at him with scared eyes like the other kids did. He always went out of his way to chat with Mr. Red, despite his difficulties with a stutter. He came in one day when they were let play in the grass with a flower crown made out of daisies. He said with a huge grin, "it's for you, because, uh, because you're nice to me!"

Every Monday he showed Red the drawings he had done over the weekend. At the end of every school day he always went out of his way to thank Red and wave goodbye to him. He was by far one of the kindest little boys he had ever taught.

Which is why it caught him by surprise when the normally enthusiastic and curious kid's grades in their weekly tests started to drop, and he stopped playing with his friends at lunch, opting to sit at the fence and watch instead. He seemed more tired too, and even fell asleep once in an English class, which was especially concerning since English was his favourite.

Mr. Red had gone through every possibility in his grasp for why this could be happening. He ruled out the school work getting harder for him, since the kid had honestly gotten through the hardest parts earlier in the year, and he ruled out bullying being an option because the kids in his class always offered to play with him when he sat out, without fail. He couldn't help but be concerned about why this sudden shift in the child was happening.

He watched the boy sit at his desk, tapping his pencil on the table dully. His eyes, half closed stared off into nothing, and he blinked every few seconds trying to stay awake. At this moment he made his decision; he would find out what was going on.

"Hey kid," he ushered the kid over to him when the bell rang for big lunch, and waited for the kids to finish shuffling out the room before continuing. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Oh, uh, yeah." The kid frowned, walking to his teachers desk, rubbing his eyes. "Is something wrong?"

Red sat down. "No, no, nothings wrong, and this isn't anything to worry about." He started to flick through his notebook finding his notes on the matter, he hated talking at length unless he had some sort of plan. That's why teaching wasn't that bad; there was always a lesson plan.

"I just wanted to speak with you about...we'll, your grades haven't been-"

"I'm sorry!" He cried abruptly. "I'll fix 'em, I promise!"

"What? No, relax." Red took a sip of his coffee, admittedly taken aback. "There's nothing to be sorry about. Your grades are still better than a lot of the class, that's not really what I'm... concerned by. You're just not like your usual self recently. I was just curious if you have any idea why this is happening?"

The boy's eyes hit the floor and he kicked his feet indignantly. "I uh, I dunno. I guess I might be different. I'm sorry, I'll make it better, I will."

He sighed. "I- okay. That's fine." He opened his laptop, typing himself a reminder on his calendar. "Alright, I honestly think that the best way to solve this would be to have a meeting with you and your Dad, and us three can sort this all out together."

The kid froze, a look of panic dawning his face. "My, my Dad?" He swallowed.

"Yeah." Red titled the reminder, 'Call kid's Dad.' "Is that alright?" He asked, not really considering the answer.

"...uh,yeah. That's- that's good." He mumbled.

"Perfect." He closed his laptop to give the kid his full attention again. "Now, you better run off to your friends, you've still got most of lunch left."

He paused. "...thanks for talking to me. It was good talking to you." He offered a hopefully reassuring smile. He was never really good at the whole facial expressions thing.

"Okay." The kid sighed, picking up his blue backpack. It was practically falling apart. "Thanks Mr. Red."

"No problem..." he muttered as he heard the door shut. He began to wonder what the kid's Dad was really like. Was he as sweet and kind as his son? Like an older version of him? That was a nice thought, the idea of two of them being out there. Red bet that he was probably a fun filled guy trying to teach his son to be as free spirited as he is.

Come to think of it, Red had only now really come to the realisation that he had never met this boy's father at all. He hadn't been at the recent parent teacher meeting and the kid usually walked to and from school on his own, so he had never gotten the chance to meet the guy.

He opened his laptop again and logged onto the website the faculty used to log all the children. The kid's name was blurred, but his dad's wasn't. 'Roy' was listed under parent/guardian. He couldn't help but feel curious as to the kid's mother. She had never been listed under anything and usually these logs explain the child's situation if it isn't the usual Mum and Dad, but nothing was explained on this kid's log at all. Of course, it's not my business, he reminded himself. He jotted down his Dad's phone number in his notes for later.

He watched the kid outside the window. He sat on the concrete, against the fence, staring out into nothing while another kid sat beside him, chatting, he clearly wasn't listening. Red felt his heart sink a little. Poor kid was probably just having a hard time.

He took one last look at his blurred profile on the log, before shutting down his laptop again.

"...strange."