King Midas' Return

• Sean Marshall, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2014

I gazed intensely at the classroom white board as I quickly copied down the history notes and fixated my concentration on the relevance of our History topic. We’d been learning about a historic king in Greek mythology, named king Midas. Everything his hands touched turned to solid gold. Eventually he fled from his royal family on a courageous quest to find a cure; he found ‘Slithe’ the only material resistant to his touch. Midas weaved gloves from it with help of newfound friends and returned to his family.
I'm truly baffled, not only is the entirely unrealistic but how would Midas sleep if everything he touched turned to gold? Does my teacher think he is teaching imbeciles?
Mr Furstone, my teacher, abruptly rose from the chair by his desk with a strange grin, “As I said before, King Midas’ story is merely Greek mythology,” He marvelled as he slowly paced forward. “What if he’s real?” boomed Richard, from the back of class. The class chuckled, including me. “Settle down,” said Mr Furstone as he held back a laugh. “He’s NOT real”.
With a loud sudden, high-pitched screech and an ear-splitting burst of blinding light a bearded man appeared in the centre of the room. Mr Furstone fell backward in shock. The man edged towards Mr Furstone in a menacing sluggish pace as he held regal posture. The Bearded man wore wrinkles of wisdom and a large beard, frosted with white. A large silky, violet robe covered him. He towered over Mr Furstone with a blank expression. Mr Furstone gulped with wild eyes. “I ‘do not’ exist? I am King Midas you realise…” He said calmly with a croaky voice.
I squinted in awe and confusion; I was not yet sure if this was legitimate, or if Mr Furstone was pulling our legs yet again. My eyes rapidly flicked back and forth between Midas and Mr. Furstone, contemplating whether to bolt out the door. “I stand here right before you, do you believe in my existence now?” bellowed Midas.
“Yes, I -” Mr Funstone’s voice faltered. Midas now smiled deviously,
“I thought you would,” His eyes and splendid crown blazed with furious dark purple and the skies above began abruptly thundering with rain and lighting. The rain splattered unforgivingly at the roof, giving me the thought of the roof tearing apart. “Teach your student wisely next time…” He said with a step forward.
My heart had basically slid in my digestive system at that point. The students looked away, some hesitating to escape. My breath sped up as life and death crucially balanced.
Mr Furstone’s lip trembled and he began cracking up, eventually gasping for breath with laughter, “Ha! I’m pulling your legs, don’t worry.” He then continued chuckling, even ‘Midas’ was clutching his stomach with laughter. Students looked in relief, “I knew it.” said Martin. I exhaled with relief.
Mr.Furtone quickly began explaining further, “This is Jacob, the new head technician; he’s an actor and special effects artist.” He said pointing at ‘Midas’ who was now doing a thumbs up.
Now that’s an average day at my school.