Gemotions

The envelope was plain, bearing only Mr. Silas Blackwood's name. Inside, a single photograph. It was of him, taken today, standing at his classroom window. He clutched the envelope so tightly his knuckles were bone-white. The sender? Jasper Finch, a student he had failed two years prior.

Silas's breath hitched. He spun around, as if expecting someone to be there. He checked the locks on his office door again, even though he knew he had locked it just moments before. His pulse was thrumming in his ears, a frantic drumbeat.

He could feel the blood draining from his face. The air in the room felt suddenly thin. Jasper had always been volatile, a brooding presence in the classroom. The photo was a warning. He knew, with a certainty that chilled him to the core, that this was just the beginning.