Mr Derek...Mr. Derek...Mr. Derek!!!

"What?...Whaaaat!...Sir!?" Derek replied hastily, raising his head from in between his hands. looking up, The teacher was standing right before his face. Even leaning in a bit. Now that he looked up close, he realized this man looked a bit familiar.

He had dark straight hair, With keen but sad-looking eyes under those glasses. His bright skin looked tanned. Derek wondered if all he did was bathe under the sun whenever it rose.                   

"Would you mind telling the class in your own words of cause, what you think is the reason for the difference in the result by the three classes as gotten by Dan Ariely?"

Derek could still feel his mind pounding in bits. He was in no way in any condition to answer any question. He felt the air thicken as he breathed. "Oh! the pressure, the pressure."

"Correct Mr Derek.' Pressure'. External pressure is the reason for the qualitative difference in the results shown by the classes. Very good."

"Huh! I got it right?" He responded subconsciously to the teacher.

"Yes! you did. And you may have your sit now."

It was at this moment he realized he was standing instead of sitting. And the pressure felt earlier on seemed to have disappeared. He looked at his palms, there were sweaty and a bit shaky.

"Yes sir."  He replied before taking his seat.

"Are you okay?" A worried voice whispered at his side.

Derek looked to see Tiny stretching out her hand to comfort him. He felt relieved a little. She always had a way of doing that.

The bell rang, indicating the end of the period

"That will be all for today's class. Your assignment is to find ways in which pressure can influence human decisions depending on everyday situations. Please be very creative with your methods. I want your papers by the end of the week."

"Yes, Mr. Walter." The class responded.

"And Mr. Derek, I am sending you to the Guidance and Counselling office again. You are getting more and more distracted these days."

"But  sir, I answered your question." Derek retorted

"Yes you did, barely. And it is not the first time your attention has been inside your hands instead of the rest of the class. You will be there early before your lunch break. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Mr Walter," Derek replied.

He knocked at the door and heard a reply inside permitting him to enter. It was not his first time being here. In fact, one might say this part of school was more like a second home for him.           

"Take a seat, I'll be right with you in a minute." A voice answered from inside.                                           

He entered the room and took a seat, waiting for the school counsellor. He looked around the room appreciating the design and neatness that could not be separated from it. The room was very spacey with velvet coloured couches surrounding a centre table. There was a large headdesk and an office sitting for one facing the entrance at the other end of the room. It was flanked by flower pots and two doors on each side. There was nearly no part of the room you would look at that didn't have a flower pot with different varieties growing in it. He always thought maybe Miss Angela would have done better as a  gardener than she did as a counsellor.

After waiting for heavens know how long, one of the doors opened to reveal a woman in a red office blouse. She had blond hair and white, no, nearly pale skin. She wore heels which were quite surprising especially when she was quite tall.                                                                                                       

"Ah!!! Derek, it's you again, just the person I wanted to see. I see Mr Walter sent you my way again. Have you been a naughty boy?" She asked. 

"No ma, not really. Just a bit distracted" He replied.

"Hmmm, just a bit distracted you say. Are you sure?"

"Yes, ma. Well, it's not really my fault. The headaches are back again. And it's worse than ever."

She took a sit on the couch opposite him, put a pen in her mouth, and smiled. She always had an attitude that seemed like she was always playing around but if you underestimated her,  her peeping into your brain would be the least of your worries. Yes, there was no denying it, she was good at what she did.

"Worst than ever, you say. Please do tell," she said, putting one leg over the other and leaning into her seat.                                                                           

"Well, this morning alone I have had them three times. But that's not even it. The last time, I think I killed someone."                                         

"You did What!?" She asked all flustered. Her mouth even let go of the pen in it.

"No...No...No! I don't mean it like that. I mean in my head. At least I think it was. I saw my life but it was not my life. It felt real, very real. I could feel joy, frustration, sadness, and even pain. And someone hurt me, and I hurt so much...I killed them. I think am going insane!"

Derek did not notice that as he talked, she had leaned in and had begun to tap with her right leg nervously. Her eyes looked closely at him and she gapped a little.                                                       

"Derek, there is something I have to tell you. Do not be nervous it's perfectly alright, you are not seeing things. It is normal, it's just..."

The bell rang. Indicating the end of a period.

"Damn I missed Mrs. Sansa's class. I have to go. Am sorry Mrs. Angela I have to run, there was supposed to be a test today and I think I just missed it!" He hurried out of the room.

"Wait!... make sure to see me before school ends today. Okay!" She yelled as he zoomed out.

Derek ran back to class.                                                                                                                                               

The bell rang again and it was lunch break. Anyone that looked at this table would find a few things weird. No! a lot of things were weird. Aesir had his face in his food. No! not eating, he literally had his face in his lunch and the reason for this was the little demon sitting by his side. The story goes like this: Tiny came to the cafeteria with her lunch and scouted for  Derek but could not find him, remembering that he said something about meeting Mrs. Sansa for missing her class she looked for the only person she could stand in the room. And Aesir who had never been late for a meal in his entire life thought it necessary to keep a sit for his best pal close to himself on the same table with all the other nerds but forgot about keeping one for the evil spirit that haunts him. When she tried to take the sit and protested, she showed him her evil side. The scene of Aesir's face in his food, as well as a table filled with anime fans eating their food in shivering silence, was the mystery that met Derek when he entered the cafeteria. wait!...in SILENCE! is that even possible. But he was just too bummed to care right now. He took a sit and just stared at the food in front of him.

"Are you okay man?" Aesir inquired.

"Ya, its all good." Derek sighs a little.

"I mean it's not good; I think I might be going crazy, my head feels like it's not mine and I missed Mrs Sansa's class. And I have not missed a class all year." Derek held his head as he ratted on like the muzzle of a machine gun.

"Hey, calm down...calm down. Just breathe, all will be fine I promise. Besides, it's your birthday today. You should relax a little, just relax." Tiny comforted, as she smouldered him in her bosom.                 

Looking carefully at everyone at the table, It would be observed that eyes of envy, hatred and anger were directed towards Derek. But the culprit of malice was oblivious to all this as a feeling of comfort washed over him. He felt all his worry steam away, like the sun after heavy rainfall.

It was at this moment of bliss it happened...

Derek struggled to open his eyes. His ears were ringing and all sense of direction was flawed. There was dust everywhere he looked but even worse was the hand in front of him. It was leaking blood from one end as the shoulder that was supposed to be attached to it was nowhere to be seen. No! the entire person was nowhere to be seen. He could hear a voice telling him to get up but it was faint. He raised his head up and saw Tiny with streams of blood strolling down her face pulling at his arm. All sense of feeling in his legs had disappeared. She pulled him up to take a sit on a  nearby chair. Slowly his sense of hearing started to come back but it was as useful as the ringing he heard before. He raised his head to look around him and that what he saw was could only be described as a nightmare.

The last thing he remembered was his head in Tiny's chest when he heard a loud boom! from behind. It was like a tank fired forcefully by his ears.

Derek lifted his head to see a very large hole in the wall. It was large enough to drive two big buses through it.

There were Students screaming and crying. For a moment there Derek thought he was seeing things again, that his headaches had returned. He felt a pull at his left leg and saw one of the students that were at the table with him. He had his upper body separated from the waist. Fresh blood flowed from him like a river. He was frightened and fell from the chair he was sitting on. He looked to his side and saw a person twitching. The person had a skirt, so it must have been a girl. He looked on and noticed her face was smashed into the ground.

He stood up in a panic and that was when the full view of the hall entered his eyes. Someone had a fork in his left eye, another person kept on asking if anyone had seen her hand. There was chaos everywhere. The only common thing everywhere he looked was blood and screams.

Derek saw Tiny helping someone up. It took him a while to realize it was Aesir. He hurried forward to help her carry him. By some miracle in all this confusion, he was still alive.

LEVINACK!!!

There had taken only a few steps when a loud shout that drowned all the noise in the room, stole their attention. The trio looked back and saw five people strolling through the hole in the wall.