The Good Housemaster Ch. 5

"You dirty girl!" Mr. Sherman spits out. "Put those on the table now!"

Shrugging, Katie turns her palm downward and lets it drop onto the white tablecloth. "Anything else, sir?"

"Get over there! Professor Wright, secure your student."

It's time to stop this. I don't care if it costs me my career and livelihood.

"Sir..."

Just then Katie coughs. I look back and freeze. The hard set of her jaw is still there, but her eyes have softened. She mouths to me, 'It's okay.'

"What is it, Professor?" The Headmaster grates out. "I'm waiting..."

My eyes flick back and forth. "Nothing, Headmaster Sherman. I'm sorry."

Katie nods and looks seriously at me. The wiry girl spreads her legs a couple feet apart and lifts the rear of her skirt. She seems to be shamelessly exposing herself to the entire school! I hear a grunt from Brown just as several in the audience whisper in apparent shock. This time, Sherman ignores them. I watch in dismay as my student slowly bends over the table and makes sure that her dress is secure above her. She then slowly raises her quite petite derrier as high as she can. My mouth drops as I'm sure Miss Jones is presenting what must be an indecent display right at Headmaster Sherman. Then, to top it all off, Katie looks back over her shoulder and gives the mustachioed man a wink.

That action clearly gets the Head's attention. Bending the cane in his hands, it looks as if it would snap at any moment. "Right!" He gives the rod a wicked vertical swish through the air. "This will be ten of the best! Just so you're sure, Miss Jones!"

The noise in the audience is growing, and a few exclamations can now be heard.

"Oh, No!"

"Not Kate!"

There's the shushing to try to bring everyone back to order. This time, the muttering didn't die completely away. Sherman is quickly getting into position and really doesn't seem to want to drag this out at all. In all the rush, I almost miss a pleading voice below me.

"Sir...?"

I look down and find the first-year staring at me with an intensity that I never saw in her before. "Sir. Please hold my hands..."

"Katie?" I whisper back.

Tap! Tap!

The young woman's eyes get very wide as Mr. Sherman finds his measure on her out-thrust bottom. "Please!" she begs, her hands raised. The young lady shuts her eyes as she senses the cane leaving for the first strike. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mr. Sherman drawing back like a batsman. My heart racing, I reach down to the table and put my hands over hers. Just as Mr. Sherman's cane begins to descend, she turns her hands up and grasps mine in a desperate grip.

THWAAAACK!

Katie's pressure on my fingers remains steady as she holds her position. The impact of the cane sounds inordinately loud in my ears, and yet the young woman remains quiet. She draws a quick breath through pursed lips and says, "One, sir."

Mr. Sherman's eyes bulge at what seems to be an ineffectual stroke. He draws back again.

Shhhhh... CRACK!!

That one sounded as hard as Amelia's final stroke. This time Katie does clench her hands, and her mouth forms a brief O. Still, she finds the will to say, "Two, sir."

Professor Sherman leans over and whispers menacingly. "I will make you break form, child!"

"Never," she hisses, clearly feeling the pain.

"We shall see." He steps back, rolling up his sleeve.

"What are you doing?!" I ask just loud enough to be heard by her alone.

Katie quickly glances up at me. "You have to help me, sir."

"Help you? How?"

Tap! Tap! The young woman doesn't answer as she scrunches up in anticipation of the next blow.

Ffwwuup... THWAAACK!!

What sounds like a pistol crack erupts above us. I can't see the damage being done to poor Katie, but it's taking a toll. The dark-haired student finally gives voice to the pain being inflicted on her. Just a brief note in her mid-alto range. "Ohhhh...!" There's a considerable delay before she finally responds, "Three, sir!"

Mr. Sherman appears to be a bit more pleased with Katie's reaction this time. He takes a moment to chuckle behind the bent lady. "Only seven to go, Miss Jones."

Beginning to sweat, I crouch down to her eye level, and notice there's wetness in their corners. "Katie, I don't know what to do."

"I don't either! I thought holding your hands..." She grits her teeth as the dreaded tapping of her backside starts again. 

What did she mean by 'holding my hands'? Why would touching help her? Unless... I look over to Amelia, but the world is growing gray again. I can't see her. Where is that feeling? There's nothing right now. The cane's moving. I quickly meet her jittery gaze and try; something. Try to connect with her like Preeti...

THWAAACK!!

Now I'm the one squeezing her hands. The pain! I can't bear it! How am I...? Is it Katie's? Whatever this is, I must endure it. The room goes fuzzy for a moment as I fear I'll faint. Beads of perspiration start rolling down my temples. The torment of my student is unbearable!

Katie's dark eyes look at me in astonishment, and she suddenly calms. "I... I feel you."

I'm trying not to yell out. "I feel your pain..."

Katie's hands intertwine with mine, and the expression on her face softens. "You care so much."

THWAAACK!!

A wave of heat passes through the nineteen-year-old and straight into me. I feel weaker again. Is Sherman yelling? I can't let myself get distracted. All that matters is that I stop my student from feeling this. But how long can I keep this up? "We have to end this, Katie..."

"I think I understand," she says, gritting her teeth. "I'm sorry, sir."

Sorry? What is she apologizing for? Then I watch her do something that makes me blanch. Just as Sherman is about to do his patented tapping of the schoolgirl's buttocks, the older man finds his cane shifting in his hand. The Headmaster, as well as the entire school, can now see Katie rotating her backside in a lewd manner. Katie is actually rubbing her bottom against the Headmaster's...erm...wood. Instinctively, he draws the cane away from this obscenity and strikes down quickly on the offending display. It wasn't one of his best.

Katie stops wriggling just as the cane arrives. This time, the wave I feel is quite warm. Warm and; pleasant. The young lady looks back at me almost impishly. "Mmmmmnn... Six..."

This connection is growing between us by the moment. I always knew that Katie had a rebellious streak in her, but right now I see something else clearly. A sharp mind. A clear understanding of fairness, and what she knows is right. But something is buried deep under the surface. What is it?

THWAAACK!!

"Seven..."

I let the warmth rise again, and this time Katie's eyes flutter. Her guard drops. She has no fear of what I will do. Somehow, I'm seeing an image of her friends. Of me. How all the girls act around me. Their flirting. The jokes when I'm not around. How could I have been so blind?

THWAAACK!!

"Eight..."

A brief sense of heat. It's all secondary now. Deeper, I swim into these swirling memories. Right to the furthest depths. She feels different from the others, as I do sometimes. She laughs with the rest, but doesn't understand. She feels...

THWAAACK!!

"Nine..."

I move to the center of the swirling memories. They circle around me. Buffeting at my sense of self. I see the clock. The gift? No. Her gift. It was all her idea. After she requested it from her father, she began to get cold feet. A silly whim from a serious girl. She hides behind her friends. As she always hides. Her true feelings never breaking...

"You will break!"

The screech from the crazed headmaster shatters my concentration. I blurrily begin to glance up as he towers over Katie, and the fevered man draws a vicious stroke straight down at the unaware girl.

CRRRAACK!

The force of the blow drives Katie's hips into the top of the table. There's a brief flash of pain that transfers to me, and then her hands jerk in mine. I lose my hold, and time slows down to a beat.

Her mouth is open. I suddenly realize it's distended in a silent scream. A bit of spittle flies onto the tabletop between us. Her eyes, which had shown warmth a moment before, now stare out blindly in shock. With the moment growing long, I focus on the strangest thing. I always thought Katie had a brilliant smile whenever she occasionally flashed it at me. I can now see that her first two teeth on the bottom are somewhat crooked. Why am I noticing that now? The second ends, and Katie's right hand flails back. I can see she's slipping off the table, and I make a grab for the left. I can't get a good hold. To my horror, she screams and falls out of my sight.

In dawning panic, I jump up and scramble around the table. The headmaster is still standing over her, looking down at what he'd done. I push by him, desperate to help. "Katie!" I go to my knees beside her and find she has collapsed on her side. The young woman appears to be in great anguish as a hand presses at her hip. The school dress now covers her upper thighs, and I can't see the injury. My hands freeze inches from touching her. I really don't want to see what had happened. Please don't be her back.

"What... What have I done?" Sherman mumbles behind me.

I turn my head for a moment at the distraction. The crowd noise is cacophonous. It's bedlam, as most of the students are crying, shouting, or rushing out of the Hall. The headmaster lets the cane drop from his hands.

"Professor?" Katie's voice could barely be heard over the uproar.

I lean over, softly touching her arm. "Yes, Katie? Can you move?"

"My feet...feel numb..."

Cold water trickles down my spine. The headmaster is still standing there, slackjawed behind me. "Sherman! Call for the hospital to send a wagon now!"

The man looks around at the chaos surrounding him. "We have a nurse..."

"Alan..."

"Fine!" I yell at the hateful man. "Have her summon them!"

"Alan?"

I look down, growing more worried. She never called me by my first name. The young lady looks almost; angry. "It's okay, Katie. Just be still..."

Alan!

* * *

"Alan!"

The sound of my wife's voice shouting at me shatters the remains of the vision I'm having. All four of us release hands with a loud gasp as reality reasserts itself. I blink blearily up at a pale, dark-haired woman with a few gray streaks interspersed at her temples. "Kate!"

"Fine thing to find all of you like this behind my back!" she yells, waving her ebony cane at us.

"It's not like that..." I look at the others, who are just beginning to get their bearings. "We..."

"You three..." Kate wags a finger. "The first chance you get, and all you want is a piece of him."

Lauren tries to stand but falls back into the chair. "Unhh... My god..."

The forty-nine-year-old woman glares at me, clearly incensed. "What did you do to them?! I swear if you were doing your 'thing' with my friends..."

I finally get to my feet. "No, Kate. Please calm down. We were trying to remember something. Something from our past.

Dorothy pushes up her glasses. "I can't believe I completely forgot about her."

"About who?" At least Kate wasn't yelling anymore.

"Amelia. Amelia Pritchard."

"Who?"

I shake my head. "Exactly."

Over the next few minutes, we all begin to explain the day so far to my wife. The card. My memories. The missing people we haven't thought of in years. I can tell that Kate is thinking hard as we describe what we saw.

"For some reason, I remember a lot more than all of you. At least bits of it."

Natalie nods. "But now it's like it just happened yesterday for all of us. The school. The classes. Even our conversations. At least what Alan could see and hear, that is."

Katie stares at all of us. "How far did you get?"

I look at her seriously. "Your caning by Sherman."

"Oh."

Lauren scratches her temple. "Something strange happened at that last bit. Everything went a little wonky after Kate was hurt."

"You sensed something?" I ask, trying to remember that moment. "I was too focused on Katie."

"Well; I felt you sense something, if that's what you mean. I... I can't really trust anything anymore."

Dorothy snaps her fingers. "Brown! He disappeared! Amelia did as well!"

Katie looks back and forth between us. "Brown?"

I shrug. "A housemaster at Eddington we all seem to have forgotten about."

The other three furrow their brows, thinking. Natalie finally shrugs her shoulders. "With all of the commotion, they must have slipped out."

"Wait." I stare at the floor thinking. "I don't even remember them after the caning started. Or Miss Watts... Where did they go?" I look up, and we all stare at the red card.

"What if I join?"

We all turn to Katie with a bit of trepidation. Finally, Natalie speaks up. "Do you want to remember; all of that?"

Her answer is to grab a chair from the living room and place it by my side. "What was the last thing you were thinking about?"

"You on the floor," I growl.

Katie purses her lips. "Alright then. Try to go back and let everyone focus on those minutes during my caning. Any sound. A glimpse. Anything."

I raise an eyebrow. With her memory of those years more clear than ours, maybe this will work. Slowly, we all join hands again, and...

Nothing happens.

I sigh at my wife. "Your walls are up again."

"Sorry. It just comes naturally."

I wait a moment until I sense her relax. Then she settles down, and I feel her emotions flow into me. Slowly, I weave the joining of the others. Once again, I settle into the warm sensation that all of them being together gives me. The Future Knights. A brief memory flickers in my mind of a time we were together. It was just over two decades ago. Why am I thinking of that...?

Father?

A voice? My daughter? I begin to try to break away from the memories. We haven't told her about this! I strain at my wife's grasp, but then a soft hand touches my shoulder. A new force enters our circle, and I lose control. Subsiding into our past, the new mind leads us on a path I no longer control.