Equation of the soul

Pi's true equal

Silhouettes of youthful songbirds broke the silence of the crisp morning air. A single beam of rhubarb light lit up the dingy, shadowy corridors of Hemmingway High. Footsteps of maths teacher Edward Rye Wayneforth bounced throughout the school, scaring away the songbirds and returning the dark shadows of the hallways. He always arrived before anyone else, 6:45 sharp every single day. Not once has he broke the mind numbing routine for the 2 years he had been working there. He had nothing better to do, he had no wife, children, girlfriend, his family gave up on him years ago. Edward was a bitter man, with no-one in his life but the job. His bland, unfulfilling job as a high school maths teacher.

Edward walked sluggishly into his empty classroom, sunlight barely reaching the corners of stacks and stacks of unmarked homework and projects. He sighed exhaustedly, reaching for his same crimson pen that he always used to complete the marking for his S4 class. Oh how he hated them. Always talking over him, never completing projects on time, constantly asking dumb, stupid, unnecessary questions.

"ARGH!" He slammed his fists on the dusty oak desk, shaking the pots and papers to and fro. He rested his throbbing head on his arms, exhaling loudly. He felt no real purpose anymore. No-one loved him, paid any attention or gave any affection to him for years now. All he had was work. Work to keep him busy, distracted with long strings of numbers and useless rules. Odd and even, pi, acute, obtuse and reflex. He laughed quietly to himself, shaking his head in disbelief, small, salty droplets falling from his pasty white skin. Has his life really come to this? A bitter, mean maths teacher, lonely with no friends or love. He lost everything, absolutely everything. Why was he only thinking about this now? He may still be alive, but you wouldn't call it living anymore. For as far as the world is aware, the man known as Edward Rye Wayneforth died a very long time ago.

The sharp ring of the bell cut through Edward's thoughts like a shining sword slaying its enemies. The clock reached 9:00, and his first class was his S1s...

Good God  he whispered under his breath. The S1s were a obnoxious bunch, always chatting, bouncing about in their seats like a toddler on a sugar rush. He hated giddiness.

"Alright, get our your textbooks and jotters and we'll start with a few questions on page 132 on pi," Edward sighed graciously as they took their sweet time getting their work out, "questions one to five please, it should only take you a few minutes."

He slumped back in his cushiony chair, sinking into the scratchy fabric. He stared outside the dirty window to face the bright blue sky. A pool for birds and planes, with soft, white buoyancy aids floating around for their safety. They were the successful, powerful, had complete control over their life with loved ones to fall back on. They had the life Edward craved, the life he desperately needed. He needed control.

He threw himself back into harsh reality and pushed up from his desk, startling the children slightly. "That should've been long enough, and if it wasn't then do it for homework, on my desk tomorrow registration sharp!" A few moans bounced across the pastel sky classroom. Edward rolled his eyes strainfully and swiped up his own copy of the textbook violently.

"So you all know we are working on pi and how it can be used to find a circumference of the circle, with pi-r-squared-"

"SIRR?" An annoyingly loud girl asked, "how is pi infinite?"

He was not bothered with her stupid philosophy debates so he replied rather agitated, " That is not relevant right now-"

"YEAH IT IS," Edward was starting to get impatient now, "CAUSE WE'RE TALKIN' ABOUT PI AND STUFF"

" I know we're 'talkin' about pi and stuff', but we are not worried about any pointless philosophy at the moment."

"BUT IF PI IS INFINTE THEN SO IS THE ROUNDING. SO 3.14 ISNT ACTUALLY THE PROPER PI-"

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP."

Silence dawned on the class, gobsmacked eyes dwelled on his furious face, " IF PI IS INFINITE AND THERE'S INFINTE ROUNDING MAYBE PI IS MEANINGLESS. MAYBE EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS. UNLESS YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND DON'T QUESTION CORE MATHS WITH YOUR FEEBLE EMPTY BRAIN."

Not a sound. Every pair of gleaming eyes were fixed on him, dripping, oozing with fear and regret. He sighed a let a wide, cracked smile drown his face, "Now then, turn to page 364 and work from there to the end of the chapter. Anything left is homework."

 They hastily fumbled their books to complete the chapter within the time limit. The grin drained from Edward's face as he returned marking the S4 essays. He thought thoroughly about what the girl said and his response. Was his life really meaningless if he didn't understand numbers?

His hands consumed his face for a moment, his dull, grey eyes peaking through, Please let something, anything good happen today.