Phantom of the Elementary 3
August 11, 2022
6 AM
J.D. woke from his slumber, minutes before his alarm clock would have buzzed, waking him up for work anyways. "Ah!" He suddenly rose up screaming with a splitting headache, placing his hand on his temples. The last thing he remembered was the explosion of his elementary school getting blown up, with him in it.
"What the HELL is going on here?!" He bellowed.
That caused the wifey to wake up. Most days she might have been somewhat upset about getting woken up by such an annoying sound, but today wasn't most days, today was J.D.'s 46th birthday. "Happy birthday, honey." She said softly just before rolling back over to get a little more shut-eye.
"That's exactly what she said yesterday… and the day before." J.D. remembered, putting his hand on her shoulder and nudging it a couple times, hoping she would wake up because he felt like he was having a nervous breakdown. "Honey, somethings wrong." He declared.
"Ugg." Just let me sleep a few more minutes." His wifey pleaded, not budging from her position.
He got up from out of the bed and rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn't dreaming. "Okay. I'm okay. I've just been having nightmares. I couldn't have gone to jail, and I certainly wasn't in a terrible explosion because if I was I wouldn't be here right now."
He then crept towards the bathroom, looking back to make sure the wifey hadn't moved. It was still a bit dark, but he heard no sense of motion from her.
Suddenly, just before entering the bathroom, the family dog, who had been lying still at the foot of the bed, noticed that J.D. was awake and moving about.
J.D. turned around. He knew exactly what the dog was about to do next, so he tried putting his hand out, whispering the word "NO" as quietly as he could. Despite J.D.'s best effort, the dog was too excited and jumped off of the bed, but J.D. managed to catch the dog in mid-air just before its paws hit the ground. "I don't think so, not this time, mommy needs her sleep." Suddenly-
BUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZ! The alarm clock started blaring.
J.D. quickly rushed over to the side dresser and turned it off before the loud noise could wake up his wifey. He forgot to turn it off when he woke up due to feeling like he had just been in a terrible explosion.
"It's okay. I'm awake." His wifey muttered, throwing off the blanket which was covering her, getting out of bed, and brushing past J.D. to get to the bathroom before him. "I'll make you a small birthday breakfast after I get out." She mentioned just before shutting the door.
"That's exactly what you said to me yesterday, and the day before." J.D. remarked.
J.D. sat down on the bed, still holding the dog, feeling very confused. "Okay, if this isn't deja vu, and it is somehow the exact same day repeating itself over and over, my wife will come out of the bathroom, then head down to the kitchen, and make me eggs and toast for breakfast." The dog nodded his head as if he agreed.
6:10 AM
J.D. followed behind his wifey as she walked down the staircase and into the kitchen.
"What would you like to eat?" His wifey asked.
"What do you mean? Aren't you going to make me eggs and toast?"
"If that's what you want. It's up to you. It's your birthday." She replied.
J.D. thought for a second. He didn't remember this moment happening yesterday. This was the first time he had actually followed her down to the kitchen. The previous two times he had stayed upstairs and got ready for work first. "Sure… I'll take some eggs and toast." He replied, hoping this day actually was some type of crazy deja vu happening.
"Well, if you let that loud alarm wake me up tomorrow morning, that bread ain't the only thing that's gonna be toast." She said, giving him the side eye.
"Okay! Right there! You've said that exact same thing for the past couple days!" J.D. blurted, remembering that exact same quote.
"What are you talking about?"
"That part where you just said, 'If the alarm wakes you, the bread isn't the only thing that will be toast.' you've said that before, except for the first couple times that you woke up. those were because of the dog jumping off the bed and making a loud thump. Today I caught the dog before he could hit the floor. Instead, that's when the alarm went off, waking you up, because the other two days I had remembered to shut it off."
J.D.'s wifey walked up and felt the temperature of his forehead. "Are you feeling okay?" She asked, noticing he was acting strange. "Why don't you go back up to the room and get dressed for work. I'll call you down when your eggs and toast are done. Maybe I'll even cook you some bacon."
"I don't think I want to go to work today. Bad things keep happening there."
"It's only your second day. Was your first day back at school that bad?"
"No. Not the first day. I'm talking about today. This is the third time I've woken up today. It keeps repeating itself." J.D. tried explaining.
"Awww, honey, I hate it when I wake up several times at night. Try some Zzzquil. You'll sleep real good after that."
"No. I'm not saying I woke up a bunch. I'm saying I lived this day two other times already… Well, technically I died on one of them, but that's beside the point."
"What are you talking about? Are you having some sort of mid-life crisis?"
J.D. pulled out a dining room chair and sat down. "I'm not sure what's going on. Yesterday I thought I was having deja vu, but it's happening today also."
"You were probably having a bad dream."
"It couldn't have been a dream. How would things keep happening the exact same way after I wake up?"
"Coincidence? I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe you should have a Diet Pepsi. That usually perks you up."
"It's not a coincidence. It's something else." J.D. proclaimed.
"Okay…so hypothetically, let's say you are living the same day over and over again, what happens next?" She asked.
"Someone blows up the school."
"Who?"
"Some guy who looks like the Joker."
"Okay. I see what you are doing here. Ha Ha. Very funny." She said, thinking he was playing a joke on her. "You must be planning on wearing your Batman cosplay outfit to school and you are trying to gauge my reaction to see how others might react. It would be a bit much. I know it's your birthday and all, but I don't think you need THAT much attention."
"That's exactly what I said! That's why I wore my Batman t-shirt that had him posing in an action stance on the first day, and I chose to wear the shirt with just the Bat-symbol on the second day."
"Oooo… kaaaaay." She replied with a slow draw. "What t-shirt are you going to wear today? Maybe you should wear your Killing Joke t-shirt. You know, since you are sounding a bit crazy."
"I know it sounds crazy, but I swear it's true. Someone blows up the school."
"When?"
J.D. thought for a second. "It happens just before I head back down to the musical class to gather my students. During fourth-grade recess. About 9:40 AM."
"Okay, so if what you are saying is true, you should call the police and report a bomb threat. If someone placed a bomb in the school, they would have until 9:40 to find it. Correct?" She asked.
"I suppose so."
"Okay… so… call the police and tell them that THE JOKER is going to blow up the school today at 9:40 and then tell me what they say. Ha Ha!" She laughed. "Hell, why call the police? You are Batman. You could just find the bomb yourself. Ha Ha!" She sarcastically joked.
"Okay, laugh it up." J.D. retorted. "But, you are right. I could try to find the bomb before it explodes. I've been concentrating too much on the purple lunchbox."
"Now you are talking about a PURPLE LUNCHBOX? I'm starting to think you were right... Maybe you SHOULDN'T be going to work today."
"NO! I HAVE TO GO! I MUST SAVE MY SCHOOL FROM THAT MAD MAN!"
6:43 AM
J.D. came rushing down the steps wearing a dark hoodie. He was hoping the hoodie would keep his face concealed from the school cameras while he searched for the bomb. He didn't want the police to think that he had anything to do with it like they did on the first day.
"Oh shoot! I'm going to be late for work! I usually leave by 6:40!" J.D. exclaimed, giving his wifey a kiss one last time and headed off to work.
Just after pulling out of the driveway, his wifey had realized J.D. forgot his lunch. She tried running out after him, yelling for him to stop, but he was already blaring the radio so loud that he didn't even hear her.
J.D. started driving a little faster because he was hoping to make up some of the time he lost by leaving the house three minutes later than usual.
He was approaching a traffic light, it was green. "Awesome! If I can make this light, I should be able to get to the school nearly on time.
Just as he said that, the light started turning yellow, and he was still about one-hundred feet away. "No No! Don't turn red, you bastard!" He said, gritting his teeth and stepping on the gas in hopes of making the light.
The light turned red just before he made it to the intersection. "Looks like I might be running this one!" He said, hoping there were no police cars around.
Suddenly- WHOOP WHOOP! A police siren wailed just as J.D. made it into the intersection. The light was clearly red. "Shoot!" He said to himself as he pulled over to the side of the road. "I hate that damn light. It literally gets me every time."
The officer pulled in behind J.D. and got out of his car, then walked up to J.D.'s vehicle. "You know you just ran a red light, don't you? PLUS you were doing about twenty miles an hour over the speed limit. You do know there is a school nearby, right?"
"Yes sir. I actually work at the school. I'm a teacher and I'm running late as we speak." J.D. replied.
"If you work at a school, why are you wearing a dark hoodie? Is that proper attire for teachers?"
"Oh, I was going to take this off once I got to school. I'm wearing a Batman t-shirt underneath."
"BATMAN T-SHIRT? Are you a kindergarten teacher?"
"Fifth-grade…actually." J.D. replied. "I'm wearing it because today is my birthday."
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a long purple car quickly sped past the police officer who had pulled J.D. over, nearly sideswiping him. "What the HELL!" The officer blurted.
J.D. recognized that car. It was the same car that he had accidentally run off of the road yesterday, causing the car to hop the curb and get a flat tire. He then realized that the accident didn't happen today because he left a couple minutes earlier than he did yesterday. "Where is that guy going in such a hurry?" J.D. asked the officer.
The officer decided to let J.D. go so that he could try to catch up to the speeding car.
J.D. was happy to hear that. Now he could get to the school and search for that bomb.
A minute later, J.D. saw flashing lights up ahead of him, about a half a mile away. It was the same police car that had just stopped him moments ago. It looked as if the officer had managed to catch up to the purple speeding car, just about a block away from the school.
J.D. slowly drove past the two parked cars, he didn't want to give the officer any more reasons to stop him again. As he drove past, he looked at the man driving the purple car. That's when the revelation suddenly hit him. "THAT'S THE MAN WHO WAS ROAMING THE HALLS AT THE SCHOOL TWO DAYS AGO! HE'S THE ONE WHO KILLED THE SECURITY GUARD!" He exclaimed, remembering the man's long face.
SCREEEEECH! J.D. brought his car to a halt.
He then jumped out of his car and ran up to the police officer who was questioning the long-faced man. "HE HAS A BOMB! HE HAS A BOMB!" J.D. frantically warned.
The police officer drew his gun and pointed at J.D. "WHOA, PAL! YOU DON"T RUN UP ON AN OFFICER LIKE THAT!"
"I'm sorry. I believe this man has a bomb in his car."
"How would you know that?" The officer retorted.
J.D. quickly scanned the vehicle. "Right there! There is a fake bomb in that purple lunchbox!" He declared.
"A fake bomb?" The officer asked. "You think this man has a fake bomb in his purple lunchbox?"
"Yes! When it exploded it had a flag that said BANG on it."
"When it exploded? Why did you say that as if it was past tense?"
"Because it happened already. I saw it happen for the last two days!"
"Okay pal, you are starting to scare me. Are you saying you can see the future? Did you escape from the psycho ward?"
"No! I'm a teacher at the elementary school that he is about to blow up!" J.D. tried explaining. Then, he spastically tried reaching into the car, trying to grab for the purple lunchbox. "Here, I'll show you!"
"STEP AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE SIR!" The officer demanded.
"NO! I HAVE TO SHOW YOU!" J.D. desperately continued forcing his way inside.
BANG! BANG! The officer shot J.D. in the back twice, thinking that J.D. was a threat to the driver.
J.D. slumped over from the shock of the bullets piercing his body, his breathing drawing thin. He looked up at the driver, wishing he had the strength to choke him to death, but his sight began to fade. The last thing J.D. saw before everything went black was the sight of a menacing grin growing larger and larger on the long-faced man.
August 11, 2022
6 AM
J.D. woke from his slumber, minutes before his alarm clock would have buzzed, waking him up for work anyways. "Ah!" He suddenly rose up screaming with a splitting headache AND a sore back, placing one hand on his temple and another near his spine. The last thing he remembered was getting shot in the back by a police officer.
