Timmy and the Rats

As little Timmy got on the school bus Monday morning, he gave out a big sigh. Timmy had almost missed the bus today because his dad was not awake to get Timmy up. Timmy, at the age of seven, already knew why his dad was still asleep. His dad had come home with a friend from work on Sunday evening. This time his friend wore high heels, black fishnet stockings, a short red skirt, and a low-cut black blouse. Timmy had heard them all night in his dad’s bedroom. He was terrified at the sounds they made but he had already learned not to interrupt his dad while he was busy entertaining the guest. After a while, the friend exited the room, all sweaty and frazzled, and walked out the door. He could then hear his dad snoring. Timmy, now sitting in the back of the bus, recalled with horror that his dad had forgotten to give him money for lunch! This did not sit well with Butch, the “ruler” of the bus. Butch walked up to Timmy, looked Timmy up and down, and asked, “Where’s my money?”
“I’m sorry, Butch, but I don’t have any money today!” Actually, Timmy had not had any money for lunch for two months. His mom was dead, and his dad kept forgetting to give him some. Timmy was quite hungry during the day, as all he ate on average was a bowl of cereal in the mornings and a hamburger or some macaroni and cheese at night. Butch didn’t care, however.
“I will deal with you in the afternoon,” Butch said; he used the same threat every day. He always promised this, and he never forgot his promises. Timmy had more than one bruise still fresh from the punishments that Butch and his friends inflicted. Butch reinforced this message with a punch to Timmy’s already black eye. This eye was not black because of Butch’s earlier escapades, but from Timmy having asked for help on homework from his dad on Saturday. Timmy had forgotten for a moment not to interrupt his dad while he was drinking, and that resulted in a punch across the face. Even though the bruise was from Saturday, it was still fresh, and the hit caused enough pain to last the entire bus ride. Once Timmy got to school, already depressed from what had occurred in the past few hours, he made his way to his first class. They got their History tests back that day, and Timmy made an “F”, like always. On top of the test, Ms. Meyers had told him to meet her after school if he wanted a better grade. He hated staying after school because of what Ms. Meyers made him do, but anything was better than the beatings he would get from his dad if he found out Timmy was failing.
“Hey guys, look at what the retard got again!” exclaimed one of his peers behind him. Timmy had been called a lot of things, and “retard” was one of the most common names Timmy was called, but Timmy hated it. He was not retarded; he just wasn’t quick at grasping things. He was too tired and sad in class to pay attention usually. The laughter and jeers of his peers soon died down when Ms. Meyers told the class to settle down. She then announced science class was about to begin as she brought out cages full of rats. She said they were going to be observing how the rats would behave together, after she returned from the restroom. Even though Ms. Meyers had told the students to leave the rats alone, every kid, except for Timmy, crowded around the rats. One of them opened up one of the cages and pulled a limp body out of it.
“Hey, this one’s dead!” exclaimed Johnny, one of Timmy’s least favorite classmates. Quickly he said, “Hey stupid, look over here!”
Just as Timmy turned around to face Johnny, he saw a huge rat being flung at him. The dead rat hit Timmy right in the face, and just as it did, the rat’s body exploded. Guts, blood, and hair fell all over Timmy. Some people screamed at first, but then the entire class burst out in laughter at Timmy’s misfortune. At that point Timmy had had enough. His heart, which had long felt cold and empty, gained a new fire within. However, this was the fire of rage, and slowly it built up, consuming his entire heart. The fire filled his heart, and spread throughout his body. The rats became restless as they paced frantically paced about the cage. At that moment, Ms. Meyers walked in. Timmy had the rat’s corpse in his hands, and he crushed it even more as the anger, despair, loathing, rage, and bloodlust built within him. The mice grew furious, hissing, running around, and biting the cages. Ms. Meyers asked what had happened, and Johnny replied by saying that the retard had killed a rat. At that, Timmy let out the most horrific and bloodcurdling scream ever. The rats shrieked.
“I WILL KILL YOU!” exclaimed Timmy at the top of his lungs; with this the rats threw open their cages. Timmy stood in silence and watched as the rats dashed out of the cages in unison. A wave of gray formed, and it swept over all the children. Timmy felt a mixture of bewilderment and happiness as the shrieks of pain, the screams of horror, and sounds of flesh being torn apart came together over the sea of rats. Sprays of red flew in all directions, outlined in the barrage of gray that swept all around Timmy. The earth shook as the rats made their way through the door, carrying off everyone except for Timmy with them. After the commotion subsided, Timmy fell into the puddle of blood and gnawed human remains. His vision, still reddened with anger, faded to black as he heard more screams of fear and agony in the distance.
Officer Gomez responded to a distress call at Reagan Elementary School on Monday evening. The message was not quite clear, so he decided to go and investigate for himself. As he entered the school building, he was shocked by what he saw. A deep red stained the floor and the walls. Small claw marks could be seen throughout. The most disturbing sights were the bodies. Corpses of men, women, and children, many children, were strewn about as far as the eye could see. The extremities had been chewed off, and the faces had been eaten away beyond recognition. These mangled bodies covered almost the entire floor, making it hard for Officer Gomez to proceed. Proceed he had to, however, for he heard a faint sound in the distance. Perhaps someone has survived this atrocity, he thought. As he ventured further into the building, the stench of death and decay became almost unbearable, and the faint sound had turned into a clear laughter. Gomez turned a corner into a classroom, and the source of the sound was revealed. In the middle of the room lay Timmy giggling, grinning, with a distant look on his face, and with a dead rat clutched to his heart.