[drjekyll2003]

okay,i've never seen a full-fledged short story on here,so I thought I'd post one (we are allowed right?). This story is part of a series of comedic mysteries that I write called "School-Time Mysteries" (check out more through the link below). What you need to know for this story is some background on "our heroes." Garrett is the big,buff,strong,smart leader. Joseph is like Garrett's protege and second in command. Jason and John are more-so just tag-alongs who add some comic flavor to the story. I believe that's all you need so here's the actual mystery...enjoy!
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The Mystery of the Delusional Kid

In looking over my records of our heroes’ freshman year, I realize I have made a fatal faux pas. You see, I have left out a mystery. Now plenty of mysteries I have left out of these records mainly because they were petty, or not worth the time to write. But this mystery is a different one. It proved to be an interesting problem, and perhaps one of the most difficult our heroes’ ever faced. Of course, it’s been well forgotten. But alas, now I will dig it out again and share it with you.
It was a dreary Tuesday morning in December toward the end of that year and the beginning of Christmas break. The final exams for that quarter were in full swing and everyone was itching for the break. On this Tuesday morning Mr. Dickens called our heroes to the nurse’s office. When they entered, they immediately noticed the nurse sitting in her chair behind the desk. She had a bewildered look on her face and her hair wasn’t neatly done as usual for women. This appearance didn’t really frighten our heroes, for, after all, the previous day was Monday, it was toward Christmas break, and it was during exams (there were also rumors about someone switching the coffee to de-caf and then back again, but we won’t go into that). With this combination of factors, every adult in the school faculty was looking like this.
“Is anything wrong?” Garrett dared to ask.
“Is anything wrong???” the nurse burst out, “Don’t you see it? The whole room is wreaking with wrong!”
“It’s a long and complicated story,” noted Mr. Dickens.
“I’ll say,” mumbled Joseph.
“Well give it to us!” John enthused, “We’re ready for it!”
“Yeah,” Jason added, “We need a long story to stay out of class!”
“Well you better take a seat,” Mr. Dickens suggested, waving them to a small, blue, wooden bench that stayed directly in front of the nurse’s desk. “And now, Miss Flamele,” this was obviously to the nurse, “Gently tell us your story.” (Mr. Dickens said “gently” to avoid another out-burst.)
“All right,” Ms. Flamele began, “Yesterday afternoon, it was about 2 o’clock, a little girl from 4th grade named Monica Stinsky came in saying she felt nauseated. I had her lay down on the bed over there closest to the wall…”
“Why the one closest to the wall?” Garrett cut in.
“The other bed wasn’t made yet. Someone had thrown up on the sheets of the other earlier and I had to get them cleaned.”
Jason, Joseph, and John all turned rather sickly and pale when they heard this.
“Ooh, I think I’m feeling nauseated,” said Jason, grabbing his stomach.
“Well don’t throw up on me!” ordered John, “Throw up on Joseph.”
“What?” Joseph ejaculated, “Not on me! These are my new pants!”
“Guys,” Mr. Dickens interrupted impatiently, “Let her finish her story.”
“Sorry,” the 3 confessed.
“Please continue,” wished Garrett.
“Okay, where was I? Oh yes, the beds. Well I had the little girl on the bed closest to the wall. And, of course, she was lying down with her feet pointed to the wall right here by this desk. So, with her lying down, I got some medicine out of the medicine cabinet. I filled a small cup with water and gave it to her with some ibuprofen. I sat back down at my desk to record this in the notebooks like I’m supposed to. Then, while I’m sitting there logging this, all of a sudden the dreadful incident began.
“ ‘Mrs. Nurse,’ Monica began, ‘could you come here a minute?’
“ ‘What is it deary?’ said I while walking to her.
“ ‘There’s an invisible man walking on the ceiling,’ she said pointing to the ceiling.
“I stood up straight and looked at her. ‘How do you know this?’
“ ‘I see his footprints,’ said the little girl, ‘Don’t you?’
“I confess, I didn’t see them at the time and didn’t dare say anymore for fear that she was suffering delirium from pneumonia. However, I did pat her on the forehead and tried to comfort her. ‘Now just close your eyes and rest, deary,’ said I, ‘Your mommy should be here to pick you up soon.’
“ ‘My mommy’s in Florida,’ the little girl told me, ‘I’m staying with my Aunt Bleezer. But are you sure you didn’t see the man’s footprints, lady? They were right there.’
“I didn’t bother looking this time, but I still tried to comfort her and end the conversation then and there. ‘There’s no man on the ceiling, hun,’ I comforted, ‘Just rest and wait, poor girl.’
“I tried to call her mom, but sure enough, she was in Florida and her Aunt Bleezer was watching her. So I called her Aunt and she came and got the child. In order to make this long story short, we’ll skip to later when school was out and everyone was leaving. I was making the bed that the one kid threw up on earlier. I was tucking in the sheets at the foot of the bed and happened to look up at the corner that Monica claimed was where the man was walking. I had a smile on my face, for I was thinking of the poor girl. But that smile soon vanished for there on the ceiling I saw footprints. Two footprints, I say! So I ran out screaming into the lobby, and, of course, everyone was looking at me. So I went to tell Mr. Dickens, but he wasn’t in his office, so I went home hoping that I was just seeing things.
“But then I came back again this morning and that was the first thing I checked. Yet nothing was there! I breathed a sigh of relief and went about my duties. At one point I remembered I needed to make the other bed (for I had forgotten to in my panic the previous day). As I was making it, I tell you, those same 2 footprints reappeared. And you know what else? Other footprints began appearing so that whoever, or whatever, it was, was moving out of the corner away from the beds. I stood stock still for a moment and then darted out to tell Mr. Dickens who wanted me to tell you. So that is my story. All I ask is that you get the man out of here if he isn’t already!”
They sat there for some time in silence until Joseph let out a whistle.
“It seems like a tough one,” Joseph commented, “Do you think you could solve it, Garrett?”
“Of course I can,” came the heroic sounding reply. They then all (including the nurse and the principal) sat down Indian-style in awe at Garrett.
“Where are you going to begin?” Jason posed.
“With this question,” responded Garrett turning to the nurse, “Why didn’t you believe the girl when she told you her mom was in Florida?”
“Because I thought she was getting delirious,” the nurse replied.
“Well when you found out that the girl was being watched by her aunt, didn’t you believe her about the footprints?”
“Well, it was such a silly thing…”
“It is a silly thing, but it’s the truth. She obviously wasn’t delirious if she knew her mom was in Florida and her Aunt Bleezer was watching her. How could anyone qu…” Garrett cut off because he and everybody else heard John give a slight scream and then faint to the ground. You see, John had stood up during Garrett’s questioning and looked around the wall and up into that infamous corner.
“Footprints!” John choked as they quickly revived him, “There are footprints on the ceiling!”
“See!” exclaimed the nurse, “I told you I’m not delirious!” She then started laughing hysterically. After shooting her questioning looks for a moment, Mr. Dickens had her sit down and tried to calm her. Meanwhile, our heroes looked and beheld that there were footprints on the ceiling in that corner.
“They look like the bottom of dress shoes,” noted Garrett, “About a size 6.”
“Hey, good eyes,” Jason complimented, “I wouldn’t have been able to tell that even if I had a ruler.”
“I think he just saw the shoe size on the bottom,” Joseph stopped.
“I did,” Garrett affirmed. Nothing more was said after that for suddenly, and strangely, the footprints began disappearing. Garrett then quickly jumped in the bed where Monica laid the afternoon before and laid much in the same way as he could. But by the time he was comfortable, the prints were completely gone.
“That’s strange,” John commented.
“I’ll say,” Jason agreed, “About as strange as Yoda’s hairline.”
“Did the man just disappear?” asked Joseph.
“There is no man,” Garrett said stepping out of the bed. “Ms. Flamele, are you sane enough to answer a question or two?”
“What do you mean by ‘sane enough’?” the nurse shot back, “Are you questioning my sanity????”
“Ms. Flamele,” Mr. Dickens stepped in (thankfully), “Just answer the questions.”
“All right,” began Garrett, “The footprints appeared again just now. They started in that corner and came out to about here. Is that how you saw them?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Well then, Ms. Flamele, I suggest you calm down and relax, for there is no invisible man walking on the ceiling.”
“But the footprints!” she ejaculated.
“What about them?” Garrett pursued, “Yes, they’re there, but they aren’t freshly made. How do you explain a man who is invisible but can make tracks that aren’t and every time they appear, they’re in the same order and never alter and then disappear?”
“We were hoping you could explain that to us,” Joseph noted.
“Well then, I shall!” With this, Garrett jumped upon the first bed and began scratching along the ceiling. He gave a cry of delight and began peeling a thin paper from the ceiling. He carefully and tediously pulled it down completely and laid it on the 2nd bed.
“On this paper are the footprints,” said Garrett.
“How did I not notice that?” the nurse wondered.
“It’s a very thin paper with clear tape that’s sticky on both sides holding it to the ceiling,” answered Garrett. “I didn’t even notice it at first.”
“But where are the footprints?” John asked.
“Well, let’s see,” came Garrett’s response. He picked up the paper and stood on the 1st bed again. Opposite of the wall that housed the mysterious corner was a vent that just turned on. Blowing in the wind of heat, footprints began appearing on the paper…John fainted again.
“What’s causing that?” Joseph wondered (they didn’t notice John was out).
“The heat,” Garrett replied.
“But the footprints, how’d they get there?” Joseph pursued.
“Think of something that writes invisible,” suggested Garrett, much like a teacher showing his pupils a lesson.
“Magic markers!” Jason proclaimed. “I used to love those!”
“Close,” Garrett confirmed, “But think of an ink that writes invisible and appears when under heat.”
“Invisible ink,” they all (minus John, who was still out) muttered.
“Yep.”
“But how long has it been there?” Mr. Dickens mused.
“I would say since yesterday when whoever threw up in this bed was left alone,” Garrett replied, “He was left alone, wasn’t he?”
“Yes,” Ms. Flamele answered, “After he threw up I had to get the sheets out of here and get new ones. It probably took me 5 or 10 minutes.”
“Enough time for him to get this paper out from under his clothes and tape it to the ceiling in front of the vent. That explains why you could see it every now and then because the heat from the vent blows on it,” Garrett explained.
“So he made himself throw up?” Jason asked.
Garrett nodded.
“Ewww…” came the response.
As usual, Garrett was right. The little boy, a 4th grader named Dmitri Claves, did put it there when alone. He got a tally that sent him straight to the office for a spanking. As for Ms. Flamele, she ended up taking anti-insanity pills. Garrett proved his mind skills. Joseph eventually got his new pants dirty that day at lunch when Jason spilt a pop on him. Speaking of Jason, he got reacquainted with the magic and fun of magic markers. Oh yes, and John eventually awoke from his faint.
And so now, this mystery can finally rest for it is no longer lost, but always found.

*school-time mysteries. No rights reserved.

[drjekyll2003]

Argh!The paragraph's got messed up somehow!?...sorry 'bout that...