Phantom of the Elementary 6
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!"
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.
"Yay! It's my birthday! AGAIN! Which birthday is this now, birthday number five, six maybe, who knows, I lost count? Although, I do feel like I've aged AT LEAST ten!" J.D. declared, getting up from out of bed. "Now that I know who is to blame for the explosion, perhaps I can finally make it to August 12th!"
"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 remember to shut off the alarm clock and keep the dog from jumping off the bed." He said, as if it had become a routine. "So, 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. But… this time I know what I have to do. I know who the bad guy is now." He whispered. "I thought for sure it was the Kerrington boy. Especially after seeing that huge volcano he built. I feel kind of bad about destroying it. Before that I thought it was Arthur because he looked so much like the Joker. Plus he had to have that stupid prank lunchbox. I feel kind of bad about breaking his nose… kind of. But, now I know it was the janitor." He proclaimed. "And… I after I get a hold of him I might go ahead and BREAK every bone in his ENTIRE body for putting me through this day over and over again." J.D. exclaimed, walking over to his closet and pulling his Batman cosplay outfit down from off the hook.
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. didn't try to drive very fast this time around. He even remembered the cop that was sitting in the empty parking lot near the school.
He approached the usual traffic light that always seemed to turn red before he could make it through. Despite the light being green for the moment, he already knew that it would turn red before he could get to it. There was no reason for him to have to slam on the brakes today because he was already coasting 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 janitor without attracting too much notice.
He chose to enter the school near the back of the building because that is where he last saw the janitor yesterday. He was hoping to catch him by surprise. "Okay. He spotted me standing behind the bleachers in the gymnasium yesterday. I will go back to that same spot and wait for him to show up."
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 folded bleachers and then climbed all the way up to the top of them. From there he quietly waited for the janitor to show up. Yesterday the janitor took J.D. by surprise, but today, J.D. would take him by surprise.
Moments later, the janitor entered the gymnasium. He was pushing around his mop and bucket. J.D. wanted to wait until the janitor got closer to the folded bleachers, that way it would be easier for J.D. to pounce down on him from high above.
Finally, that moment arrived. The janitor stood directly below the folded bleachers where J.D. sat in wait. Then, without warning, J.D. dropped down, landing directly on top of the janitor, sending both men to the gym floor. "HOLY CHIT! That was a much further drop than I thought it was going to be!" J.D. blurted, looking back up towards the top of the bleachers.
"ARGH!" The janitor groaned, completely taken by surprise. "What the hell are you doing!?"
J.D. stood up, but he kept his foot on the janitor's chest, trapping him to the ground. "Shut up! You are going to jail!"
"What are you talking about!?"
"Don't play dumb with me! I know exactly what you have in the bucket, and it ain't soap and water!" J.D. declared.
"Wha…? How? How did you find out!?" The janitor asked. "And why are you wearing that Batman outfit?"
"IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!... AGAIN!" J.D. announced proudly. "I know what you have in the bucket, because yesterday… today… you hit me over the head with your mop, but I realized that the mop wasn't wet, therefore, you must have been carrying something much more lethal than soap and water."
Suddenly the janitor jerked out from underneath J.D.'s foot and then managed to get to his feet. "I'm not going to let you hand me over to the police!" He declared, snatching his mop and swinging it wildly in J.D.'s direction.
J.D. spontaneously jumped backwards to evade getting hit by the mop handle. He remembered how bad it felt getting hit by it yesterday when the janitor snuck up on him.
When J.D. jumped backwards he accidentally bumped into the button that allowed the bleachers to open up. Both men took notice.
The janitor tried swinging his mop handle at J.D. once again, but J.D. was completely ready for it, quickly ducking down and dodging the mop handle. Then, J.D. came back up with a super uppercut, knocking the janitor into the air, and causing the janitor to land directly on top of the mop bucket.
The bucket busted apart. Out of it came a large white powdery block, rolling on the ground like a single die. J.D. plugged his ears, thinking it was going to blow. But it didn't.
"C4! Plastic explosive!" J.D. discovered. "Where is the detonator!?" He demanded to know.
"What!? I don't have a detonator!"
"Oh! So you haven't made the bomb yet, huh!?" J.D. retorted, leaning down to pick up the C4. "I guess I will just have to destroy it, RIGHT NOW!" He declared, slamming the large cube-like substance to the ground, stomping on it rather madly, and causing the cube to break apart into small chunks.
"What the hell is your problem, MAN!?" The janitor bellowed. "That was five thousand dollars worth of crack cocaine that you just destroyed!"
J.D. stopped stomping because he wanted to make sure he heard the janitor correctly. "I'm sorry, did you just say, CRACK COCAINE!? Why would you plant a bomb in a block of crack cocaine? Were you hoping to get the school high?"
"Why do you keep talking about bombs? I'm a cocaine dealer, DUMBASS! I've been dealing it out to several of the teachers. I have no idea what you mean when you talk about a bomb!"
"You don't have a bomb?" J.D. asked, feeling very confused.
That's when a revelation entered J.D.'s brain. "That's why the security guard was murdered. He must have stumbled upon your drug operation. I thought it had something to do with the bomb that blows up the school. The security must have found Arthur roaming the halls, took the purple lunchbox from him, and headed back down to drop it off at the office, but before making it to the office he decided to stop and use the faculty restroom first. That's when he discovered your drugs and then you killed him so he couldn't say anything. Wow! This is heavy doc!"
Suddenly J.D. started feeling dizzy. He thought for sure he had solved the crime, but at that moment he knew he was wrong about the janitor planting the bomb. Just then, his nose started to bleed. All of these days repeating one after another was finally taking its toll on him. Not the best time for that to happen since he had just destroyed five thousand dollars worth of the janitor's crack cocaine.
The janitor took notice of J.D.'s dazed behavior and quickly reacted by lunging at J.D., tackling him to the ground, causing J.D. to fall backwards, landing between the support structure of the opened bleachers.
J.D. couldn't move because the janitor had his hands wrapped around J.D.'s throat, squeezing as tight as he could. Plus the dizziness and bloody nose wasn't helping any.
The janitor then hit the button which retracted the bleachers. J.D. could only watch as the bleachers kept closing in more and more..
He took notice of the clock which was hanging high on the wall. It was 6:55 AM. That was about the same time the janitor managed to sneak up on J.D. yesterday and crack him over the head with the mop handle.
Suddenly the door to the boys locker room, which was across from the bleachers, opened up. Ms. Haley and Joseph Kerrington came walking out. Unfortunately for J.D. they were walking the opposite direction of him and the janitor, exiting outside through the back gymnasium doors.
J.D. watched as the bleachers closed in on him- a slow retractable death. "Only a few more seconds now." J.D. thought to himself. "Then I'll wake up in the morning and have to start all over again."
Just then, the back doors to the gymnasium opened again. This time it was only Ms. Haley coming back in. J.D. tried to get a noise to come out of his mouth, but the janitor's cold hands wouldn't allow it.
J.D. then took notice of something shiny in Ms. Haley's hand as she walked back towards the prop room. The same room Joseph's science project was getting built. He finally realized that the shiny object was a large silver briefcase. "That's funny. She didn't have that briefcase in her hand on the first day when I saw her in the teacher's lounge. She also didn't have it in the hall when I was running late to class on one of the other repeating days. That's when the revelation hit him. But, it was too late to do anything about it.
SQUASH! The bleachers had completed its retraction.
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, getting run over by a semi-truck, and now having his head squashed by the bleachers. "What was in that silver briefcase that Ms. Haley brought back to the prop room? It had to be the bomb... and I know her motive. It all makes sense now!"
