Blood, Revenge and Death

The chalk screeched as Mara stopped from writing on the board. Slowly, she faced her students.

Having been in the field of teaching for almost five years, she had already realized that not all silence meant that her students were listening to her. For example right now, in the far corner of the classroom she saw a boy whose head was laying against his table. What was his name again? Dylan, it is. She shook her head. Another student was pretending to be in the middle of reading a book, but Mara was not to be fooled. She knew that behind it the student was playing a game on his phone. This time she tried remaining stiff, trying to stop herself from shaking her head.

"Could God create a stone so heavy that even He could not lift," she said, crossing her hand behind her back. She started walking on the front, all the while eyeing her students. "This was the sum up definition of the Omnipotence Paradox, which questions the power of a being who claims to be all powerful."

She smiled, "if the all powerful being cannot, then he is not omnipotent. But the same also implies if he can create this kind of rock because how could he be omnipotent if he cannot lift that kind of rock."

This kind of topic excites her. As someone who had relied on the power of her reason, she had developed a sense of individuality that disregarded all forms of divine intervention. This includes the existence of a God. For her, a concept like that was the ancient civilization's attempt to explain the things that they don't understand.

She believed that in this modern world, humans had no need for any of those all-powerful beings. They are the old pillars that blocked man's progress towards a bright future, and just like every obstacle those things must be eliminated, eradicated to give way to progress and development.

"Then you're saying ma'am, that God doesn't exist?"

She nodded, "that's how it was said in this paradox."

Another student raised a hand, "couldn't that being be a god without creating that stone?"

"Don't all gods claim to be all powerful?" She replied. "Let's phrase it... could God create a law so strong that even he cannot violate?"

All the hands raising were stopped midair, slowly going down on their table.

"Do you know of an all-powerful omnipotent who could do it? Even the gods of the major religions of the world had violated their own law that they had made..."

The student stared at her dumbfounded, some were even uneasy. But Mara thought what she was doing was right. By putting the minds of the students to question, by questioning the status quo, she would enable critical thinking in their mind. Suddenly, the bell rang outside. 

She headed back to her table, Mara sighed as she had realized that it was already her last class for the day. She was about to leave the room when she realized that one of the students was still sleeping in the farthest corner of the room.

Slowly, she walked towards his direction and tapped her fingers on the table. The student groaned before he raised his head, rubbing his eyes as he did so. She hated this type of student in general. These were the types of students who always thought that they have a second chance in life. As someone who wasn't given a chance or a choice for that matter, nothing annoys her more than seeing this kind of people who waste their life. They're the dregs of society that must be incinerated like the trash they were.

"I'm closing the room," she announced.

He smiled at her as he picked his things from the table. She felt irritated. Not just to him, but to those who give him the look. Despite being a teacher, she had always been aware of her surroundings. This student in front of her making his way toward the door, was the one that most of the women in this school find to be attractive. 

*How could they fall so low to be attracted to this kind of dregs?*

Mara shook her head and made her way to the faculty.

The hallways that led to the main faculty was packed with students heading out of the building and also of those who were going in for their night classes. She turned left and was met with a door slightly open.

She smiled at the person who was about to head outside. He gave way to her.

"How's work today?" 

She smiled, "I'm tired as always."

"Well that's how it was for us."

"I guess it is," she said amicably.

"By the way, some of us in the faculty are going out to drink. Would you like to join us?"

She smiled and she hoped that her smile didn't falter. "Oh drink?"

The other person nodded.

"I think I have to pass this time, I still have so many things that I have to finish."

The man nodded, understanding, "yes, just like what I say it is that way for us in the field of education."

She headed to her table and tidied her things. She searched for her class records and some reference books. She would spend the weekend preparing for next week's classes... she looked at the door, the man was still there waiting for her colleagues who were still fixing their things.

*Or I could join them? To relax a bit.*

She looked at her things and put them in her bag. She walked towards them. There are almost fifteen of them in the doorway, some she was acquainted with.

"I think I changed my mind," she announced.

The teachers beamed at her, "finally you are coming with us."

The man announced, "Tonight's drink is for me!"

They all cheered wildly, even she found herself smiling. She followed them, all the while talking about their week that had passed. The problems that they faced. Their student's questioning gaze and the annoyance that they felt about it.

"This is why sometimes I hate classes with smartass people, they think that they're better than me?" one of the teachers said. "As if teaching was all about knowing the right answer? If it's just like that, then I shouldn't have taken a degree and just teach right away!"

They headed towards the gate, the students that they had passed greeted them or vowed politely.

She smiled, she felt that she hadn't been at ease in a while. Almost all of her days were spent fixing lessons and other papers that she needed to pass. In college, she used to go out with some friends, so drinking wasn't a new thing to her. But suddenly she lost the will to go out and socialize with others. 

At first she related it to fatigue, but later she made a conclusion that she just like trying things. But when her curiosity ran out, she would immediately feel demotivated to continue doing.

As they are waiting for the stoplight to blink red. The group of teachers heard shouts coming from the other side of the road. Followed by a loud sound of horn coming from the other vehicles. She turned left and saw a bus zigzagging in the road, almost bumping on trees and lamp posts, screeching as the driver tried his hardest to avoid a collision.

On the other side of the road, a group of pedestrians were standing unknowingly of the tragedy that was about to befall them. One of them looked up and shouted. They started to part away as the bus headed in their direction. Mara looked back on the bus, a woman shouted as a man was crushed under the bus wheels. From this side, she heard a sound similar to what a watermelon would make when it fell from a high place. The bus leaned left, almost tumbling. In the cacophony of screeching wheels and shouting voices, she heard the sickening sound as the bus flatten someone

When the bus regained its balance, she saw the man, red with blood and unmoving. *Where's the head?*

She searched for the head, but all she could see was a wide mark of something flat, splattered pink flesh. It was placed above the man's shoulder. Mara shivered on realization.

The shouting continued. She turned back to where the bus was heading.

A student. Dylan. The idiot in her class was standing beside the road unknowing of the danger coming for him. In his ear, something was plugged.

"How idiotic he could be?" She whispered. "Someone save him."

But the teachers beside him looked around, shouting in futility to the unhearing student. Mara was gripped with rationality, this student she judged as a dreg would not affect the flow of the society. At some sense the society would even benefit from it, because the population of dre-

She didn't know how it happened, but a memory struck her mind. Once upon a time in highschool, she used to be the fastest runner in her class... no, not just in her class but in their whole school. She used to participate in contests until she lost the ability to do so. But Mara remembered it clearly, the sadness that engulfed her when the doctor announced that she couldn't run anymore unless she wanted to destroy her knee forever.

The hopelessness that clung on her that time was enough for her to think of killing herself. Running was her life that time and she had thought that it would be the course of her life. But... but unexpected things happen.

With a start, she threw her bag and ran towards where her student was. Nevermind that this one was a useless one... but this person could have a dream, right? There could be things waiting for him. The wind whipped at her face, the sound around her stopped to exist, only the beating of her heart matters and the sound of the bus as it screeched on the road.

She reached her hand towards where he was, the boy looked up to her. A confusion, asking what she was doing, looking so dumb running towards him. Mara jumped and just as she thought that she had managed to save him from the collision. A force so strong bump at her side.

Newton's second law of motion states that the force acting on an object is equal to the mass of that object times its acceleration. Judging by the force that had bumped her she already knew that it was a powerful one. Holding her student in her arms, the two of them flew upwards before they crashed into the ground. At this moment, she was already numb to everything. In her mind, her life and choices flashed before her. Surprisingly, Mara was thinking of her pet that she had lost in elementary. She regrets that she didn't do enough to find it. *What is his name? That cat? Rino? Rin?* Mara sighed. *Rin, that's it.*

Her mind moves back to the friend that she had lost in a fight, she thought that she should have lowered her pride. The faces of her parents flashed before her, she blamed them for losing her legs to run though she knows that they're blameless. At last her mind moves back to this day, where instead of going home she decided to drink.

*I'm thirsty,* she whispered to no one in particular. She was looking forward to a beer.

Mara looked down, she was still holding her student in her hands. But he was unmoving, eyes closed, as colors slowly receded on his face. She felt anger and sadness. Anger to herself and sadness for failing to save him. 

She flitted back on the thought that she would be a laughingstock in the news. A woman tried to save her student, but the two of them ended up dying.

A voice sounded in her ears, speaking in a language that she couldn't understand. She asked herself where the voice was coming. But she just disregards it, as a hallucination.

She sighed, and Mara tasted the blood pouring out of her mouth. She suddenly have a will to search for the bus 

Breathing came hard, her vision was slowly being enveloped in darkness, starting from the corner and slowly moving towards the center. And as her sight was slowly being conquered her hearing became more vivid. Her line of sight became shaky and hazy and in a moment she was seeing the blue sky with birds flying above her head. But as she looked down, she saw corpses, piles of it like hills. Then she was back again to the scenery of the many faces looking down at her.

Blinking once again, she heard herself screaming but the voice coming out of her mouth was not hers. Despite unknowing to whom the voice belonged, she could understand what it said... blood, revenge and death.