Narinda The Witch

• William Chan, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2007

Narinda the Witch
There was once a little boy called Tijmen who was not exactly very naughty, but was somewhat forgetful when it came to homework. His evil teacher, Narinda was hated and feared by all that worked and lived around her. Some say that her teeth glow in the dark. Others say that her knees are bent the wrong way. All we know is that she was the most evil thing on the planet.
One day, waking up late after trying unsuccessfully to finish off his homework that the evil Narinda had set for him the day before, Tijmen, after realising what time it was, quickly put on his clothes, grabbed his school bag and rushed downstairs, slamming the kitchen door behind him. Racing to school on his bike, he paddled as fast as he possibly could, getting closer to the evil Narinda every time he passed another telegraph pole.
Arriving at school 20 minutes late, Tijmen silently crept past the administration building to the rusty old tin shed that was his classroom for the year. Walking through the doorway, which always gave goosebumps, he said his “good mornings” and his “sorry I’m lates” as usual. Sitting down at the only seat left for him, which was furthest away from Narinda’s huge, antique, mysterious desk, he looked around and saw that everyone (except for himself of course) was copying notes down from the board in a synchronised manner without ever looking up.
Silently, getting his pencil case and books out of his bag, Tijmen muttered, “Well this is new…”, and started to copy down what was on the board in his not so neat print – very different from the perfect cursive that everyone else in the class was using. Within second of his no so great speech, Narinda shouted, “Run children, get him!” Instinctively, Tijmen put down his pen and ran for his life – back to civilisation.
Surprisingly, without a word, everyone in the classroom simultaneously put down their pens and marched out the door at a deceptively quick pace. Although he was a great athlete, Tijmen was scared out of his socks and was already puffing even though he was only twenty metres from where he was sitting a few seconds ago. Quickly changing his mind, he ran up the stairs of the administration building, opening the door to the principal’s office. That was probably the biggest mistake that he had ever made in his whole entire life.
The principal, like the students of his normally perfectly normal class was typing away in a synchronised manner, pressing the letters of whatever she was typing one at a time approximately 0.5468 seconds apart. Looking up from her computer, she said in an almost robotic voice, “the children are waiting for you outside.”
There was a loud crash, an uncanny scream, and then, they were upon him.
Facing a blank wall, Tijmen realised that it was really just another nightmare. He was late, and back at school, the evil Narinda was waiting for him.