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. "NOOOOOOOOOO! I did everything right!" He exclaimed, quickly sitting up, head hurting even worse after being involved with yet another explosion. "How did he manage to get the bomb into the school?"

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.

"MY BIRTHDAY WAS FIVE DAYS AGO!" J.D. declared, getting up from out of bed. "I've got to figure out how he managed to get the bomb into the school!"

"Ugg." Just let me sleep a few more minutes." His wifey pleaded, thinking he was talking to her, not budging from her position.

"It's okay. You can go back to sleep. You don't have to make me eggs and toast." He replied, though she had already returned to her snoozing. "Speaking of TOAST, the bread ain't gonna be the only thing that's toast if I don't shut off the alarm clock." He remembered this time around. "And, I'll just pick you up right now, Pepper." He whispered to the family dog who had been lying still at the foot of the bed.

J.D. suddenly felt dizzy and had to sit down on the edge of the bed. The dog started licking him, hoping it would make him feel better. "Thanks Pepper. Daddy is just feeling dizzy from constantly going through the same day over and over again. I don't know what I have to do. I thought I stopped the madman from getting into the school." He whispered. "Perhaps he isn't the one that put the bomb in the school. Perhaps he had an accomplice." He thought for a second. "The Kerrington boy was at the school earlier than he needed to be… and he doesn't even like school." He proclaimed. "Plus, the other day, today, he said he was wandering the halls looking for his father who was supposed to be bringing him his lunch. THE PURPLE LUNCHBOX. Obviously the long-faced man is Joseph's father. I have to get to the school and stop Joseph from planting the bomb, and then stop his father from entering the building." He declared, walking over to the closet and pulling his Batman cosplay outfit down from off of the hanger.

6:06 AM

J.D. came rushing down the steps as if he was the real Batman. He was even humming the Danny Elfman Batman 89 theme song as he darted out the door and got into his Ford Escape. But to him, it was no Ford Escape. Today, it was his Bat-mobile.

His wifey thought she heard the front door slam, so she went to check what was going on. When she looked, she could see J.D. pulling out of the driveway. At first she wondered why he was leaving so early. She thought maybe it was because he had to be at a teachers meeting, but then she 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 it to the school as fast as possible so that he could find Joseph before he could plant the bomb, but then he instantly remembered the cop that was sitting in the empty parking lot, causing J.D. to slow down and coast to the red light. "It's useless trying to beat that damn light. It literally gets me every time!"

J.D. managed to make it to the school without any incident. The parking lot only had four or five cars in it at this point. Most of the faculty and staff wouldn't start shuffling in until about seven. This would give J.D. ample time to find the Kerrington boy without too much notice.

He chose to enter the school near the back of the building because that is where he saw Joseph messing around yesterday. He was hoping to catch him by surprise. "Okay. He was messing around near the gymnasium doors yesterday. Perhaps he knows a way in. I'll go to the gymnasium and wait for him to enter."

As he entered he tried staying in the shadows. He knew most of the building was empty at this time of the day, but he still wanted to be careful.

He crept up from behind the bleachers and gazed to the gymnasium doors. He stood quietly waiting. He didn't want to startle Joseph when he came in because he wanted to be able to follow him and find out where he might have hid the bomb.

Suddenly, J.D. was startled. "Who the hell are you?" A man's voice loudly asked.

J.D. turned around to see that it was the janitor, pushing around his bucket and mop. "Oh my God. You scared the crap out of me." He whispered. "It's me, J.D. I'm a fifth-grade teacher at this school." He replied, taking off his mask.

"Yeah, I know who you are. Why the hell are you whispering?" He asked. "And why the hell are you wearing a Batman costume? Is that proper attire for a teacher?"

"I'm wearing this outfit because today is my birthday… or… at least… it's supposed to be my birthday." J.D. replied, looking back towards the gymnasium doors.

"Why do you keep looking back at the doors?"

"Um…" J.D. had to come up with a quick answer. "I… I'm playing a prank on one of my students. I told him to come into the gymnasium doors at 6:45 AM because that is where detention was going to be held today. He is a bad kid, so when he gets here, I was going to jump out and scare him, hoping it would scare him straight."

"What is the boy's name?" The janitor inquired.

"Joseph Kerrington." J.D. replied.

"Oh! Say no more! That kid is rotten!" The janitor exclaimed. "I hope it works! The whole school is counting on you!"

"Ha! Right! More than you know, pal. More. Than. You. Know."

6:45 AM

J.D. suddenly heard someone making a noise outside of the boys locker room. "That must be where Joseph snuck in yesterday." He thought to himself, slowly moving in that direction.

Suddenly, the boys locker room opened up, causing J.D. to duck behind a bunch of tumbling mats. He spotted Joseph coming out. He was carrying a large box. J.D. continued to follow him from there.

Joseph then led him to the backstage area where the school plays usually take place.

"Ah ha! That is the perfect place to hide a bomb because no school plays are being worked on this early in the school year." J.D. thought to himself. "This boy is a clever one."

J.D. then went around the back way. He knew of another door that led to the backstage area where the props for the plays were built.

He slowly opened the door, hoping it wouldn't cause Joseph to take notice. Luckily, there was a curtain separating the backstage and the prop room, so J.D. managed to enter undetected.

He could hear Joseph clambering about on the other side of the curtain, obviously positioning his bomb. J.D. then peeked behind the curtain. His eyes widened when he saw what was back there. The entire room was being taken up by Joseph's bomb, disguised as a giant volcano.

J.D. remembered the miniature volcano that Joseph brought to the science fair last year. The one that caught the entire science room on fire. "Everyone thought the volcano was dysfunctional, but he must have been trying to burn down the school last year, and when he failed, he decided to go bigger and badder this time around."

J.D. couldn't wait any longer. He had to confront Joseph. He then jumped out from behind the curtain. "AH HA! I've caught you in the act! Step away from the bomb!"

Joseph acted as if he wasn't even startled. "What the hell are you supposed to be, num-nuts?"

"I'm Batman!" J.D. declared. "And I know you have a bomb hidden in this volcano!"

"What? You got your wiring all messed up dude!" Joseph exclaimed. "This ain't no bomb! This is my science fair project! I'm winning this year!" He declared.

"Winning?" J.D. retorted. "The science fair is still a couple weeks away. How are you going to win ANYTHING if the school blows up TODAY?"

"What are you talking about? Why would the school blow up today?"

"Don't play dumb with me SON! I know what you and your father are planning. I know all about the decoy diversion planted in the purple lunchbox. Your father is probably sleeping out in his clown-car with the goofy lunchbox as we speak."

"Purple lunchbox? What boy eats lunch from a purple lunchbox? I think you got me confused with someone else dickwad!"

"STOP LYING! I KNOW YOUR FATHER, ARTHUR, IS HELPING YOU!" J.D. declared.

"Arthur?" Joseph retorted. "My father's name is Cesar!"

"OH, SURE! YOUR FATHER'S NAME IS CESAR, JUST LIKE CESAR ROMERO FROM THE 1966 BATMAN SHOW! GIVE ME A BREAK!"

"WHO THE HELL IS CESAR ROMERO?"

"HA! AS IF YOU DON'T KNOW. HE PLAYED THE JOKER!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. This is just my science fair project. I was hoping to finally impress people with this volcano."

"Give it up! Nobody is believing your fake stories anymore!" J.D. exclaimed, punching a hole in the side of the volcano. "If you don't want to tell me where the bomb is at, then I'll just smash my way to it!" He declared, punching several more times, ripping away layers of papier mache and cardboard. He even began jumping up and down, smashing the enormous volcano down to the ground until there was nothing left.

Joseph was actually frightened.

After the volcano was finally obliterated, J.D. looked around for a moment, realizing there was no bomb in the volcano. "WHERE IS IT!?" J.D. demanded to know, grabbing Joseph by his neck.

Suddenly, both J.D. and Joseph were startled when the lights came on out of nowhere. "J.D.?" A woman's voice called out. "Is that you? What are you doing to my student? And what caused all this mess?" She asked, looking around at the destroyed volcano.

J.D. turned to look. It was Ms. Haley. "He is planting a bomb and I caught him in the act!" He replied, still holding Joseph by his neck.

"What bomb? Please let go of his neck!" Ms. Haley demanded.

"I thought it was hiding in this volcano, but he must have hid it somewhere else!" J.D. replied, slowly releasing Joseph's neck.

"What makes you think he was hiding a bomb in a volcano?"

"Because he and his father are behind this. It's hard to explain, but I've lived this day over and over again. AND, every day, the school blows up. I finally figured out who was doing it."

"You've been living this day over and over again?" Ms. Haley questioned, giving him a weird stare. She then turned to Joseph. "Is he right? Are you and your father, Cesar, trying to blow up the school?"

J.D.'s eyes widened. "Cesar? You mean to tell me that Cesar is actually his father's real name?"

"Yes. He is short and chubby. You couldn't miss him. He is always wearing a black and white suit, kinda like a penguin. He even waddles like one."

"Then, who is Arthur? Everyday he tries to drop off a purple lunchbox, holding a fake bomb in it. He said it was for his son, Jack, and that he was trying to play a prank on him."

"Arthur?" Ms. Haley retorted. "I know one of the parents named Arthur. He does have a son named Jack. Jack is in third-grade. AND, YES, he does have a purple lunchbox."

"I don't get it! I thought for sure Joseph and Arthur were related because Arthur wears that bright purple suit and Joseph wears that bright purple bandana."

"That's what you get for ass-uming, dickwad!" Joseph piped up.

"Crap! If Joseph didn't plant the bomb, then who did?"

"What bomb? Why do you keep thinking there is a bomb?" Ms. Haley pleaded, wanting to know.

"Like I've said, I've been reliving this day over and over again. AND, everyday at 9:40 AM, the school explodes."

"Really? At 9:40 AM, huh?" She asked. "Why 9:40 Am?"

"Because that is when your class goes to recess. I figured Joseph set the timer to go off at that time so that he would be safe from the blast."

"You're sounding crazy to me! I think I am going to call the police now." Ms. Haley declared, dialing 9 1 1.

"I'm going to have to figure this out. I can't continue waking up on the same day over and over again. I'm sick of my birthday!" J.D. exclaimed. "I've got it! You are going to have to kill me! I need to wake up again and start over!" He said, causing Ms. Haley to step back in fear.

"Stay away from us!" She pleaded. "I'm not going to kill you! You sound like a lunatic!"

"NO! It's okay! You can kill me! I will wake up in the morning and I will be able to start over!" He exclaimed, continuing to step closer and closer to Ms. Haley.

"Please, leave us alone! HELP! HELP!" She cried out.

Suddenly, BAM! J.D. was knocked over the head by a mop handle, causing him to fall to the floor. The last thing he saw, before everything went black, was the janitor standing over him.

9:38 AM

When J.D. woke up, he was surrounded by the police. His hands were handcuffed behind his back. "Where am I? What time is it?"

One of the arresting officers spoke up. "You're in the back of an ambulance at the school. We've been tending to your head wound. It's 9:38 AM."

"9:38? The school is about to blow up! We have to get all the children out of the school. We only have a couple minutes left!"

"Relax pal! Ms. Haley told us about the bomb scare. We've been searching the school for your bomb. We couldn't find one. All we found was a poor kid's science fair project smashed to pieces. We also took all the kids out of the school just in case you were telling the truth. I guess we will find out in a minute.

9:40 AM

J.D. plugged his ears because he knew how loud the blast was going to sound. "Any second now." He said aloud.

9:41 AM

No bomb had exploded. "How could this be?" He thought to himself. "Perhaps the person who was planning on setting off the bomb got spooked by the police presence."

"Well pal. It doesn't look like there is a bomb in the school. The only thing we found was a fake bomb in a purple lunchbox. Nothing major. Now we are going to take you to the hospital to get you checked out. You have a pretty good bump on your head from where the janitor smacked ya with his mop."

"The janitor's mop?" J.D. thought back to the moment just before his eyes started to go dark. "The mop wasn't wet. Why would he have a mop, rolling around an empty bucket?" He asked, thinking for a moment. "Maybe the bucket wasn't empty." He declared. "Also he was the first one to find me in the restroom after I discovered the school security guard lying dead in a pool of blood. The security guard must have discovered his plan and then he killed him, planting the purple lunchbox as a diversion. He was going to blame Arthur!"

"Wow! This guy is Cuckoo! I think we need to take him to the psycho-ward, not the hospital." The officer proclaimed, instructing the driver to start heading out.

"No! You have to kill me! I'll wake up in the morning and I'll show you! It was the janitor the whole time!" J.D. exclaimed, squirming about on the gurney.

"Just hold still! Someone better get this man a sedative!"

J.D. swung his head forward. THUD! He smashed the officer's nose with a head-butt, causing blood to splatter in all directions. He managed to get the doors open to the moving ambulance and then jumped out.

Everyone from the school was still standing outside as the events unfolded. They saw J.D. running down the street, wearing his Batman costume. The police tried to give chase. J.D. then tried running across the road, when suddenly-,

SPLAT! J.D. Managed to run out in front of a Semi-truck, killing him instantly.


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. "OUCH!" He exclaimed, quickly sitting up, head and body hurting even worse after being involved with two explosions, getting shot in the back twice, and now getting run over by a semi-truck. "I have to get my ass to the school and stop the janitor! I can't keep reliving this day over and over again!"