Chapter 21 Cruel Life Plans
Creak!
Celia walked into the bathroom slowly and carefully. She thought back to the event that had just transpired, as well as it seemed to have affected her teacher. A pang spread from her heart to the outer reaches of her chest as she recalled Ms. Tish's face. With how pink it had been, with how mortified and saddened her eyes looked…what was wrong exactly?
Well, the more she thought about it, the more she realized what was a likely possibility. Considering that Ms. Tish had once been married to a human, as well as the fact that she seemed to have extensive knowledge about Koopa-human hybrids…the possibility made Celia's stomach squirm a little. She hoped for the sake of her teacher's emotional well being that it wasn't true.
But with all the evidence piling up, there was no other possibility. A sad feeling overtook her; sympathy, she supposed was the best word to use. She almost turned around, for if her hunch was correct, she reasoned that nothing would be able to comfort Ms. Tish. Heck, the mere presence of Celia herself might make the whole situation worse for her.
Even with those thoughts in mind though, Celia didn't turn back. She gently closed the door and took a few steps into the bathroom, determined to help her new teacher in anyway possible.
"Ms. Tish?" She used a quiet voice, not wanting to disturb anybody else who might be occupying the bathroom. She stepped further in, going past the sink and around the stalls. She kept her ears peeled; any noise detected here would be a valuable aid in her search. She kept listening for the slightest sound when one fell upon her ears. It was a sad one, one that would make anybody's sympathy receptors go on and off at max volume.
Sniffling.
"Ms. Tish? Are you okay?" Celia continued walking, paying attention to whether or not the stall doors were locked. When she came across the big stall that had the baby changing station inside, that was where the sniffling was strongest. One push against it also told Celia that it was being occupied. So, that was where she stopped.
"Ms. Tish?" Celia asked again. The sniffling was replaced by the sound of her teacher blowing her nose.
"I'm alright, Celia. Just a little…well, nothing is really wrong, really."
Celia raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you crying?"
There was a pause before Ms. Tish cleared her throat. "I'm not crying."
Celia's eyebrow rose even higher. Oh, so I suppose all the sounds I've been hearing were just my imagination. She didn't say that though. In fact, she didn't say anything for the better part of three minutes. In all honesty, she didn't even know what the right thing to say was. Ms. Tish was crying; that meant that she was in the middle of a serious problem and needed some moral support. However, the fact that she was lying about the fact that she was crying meant she didn't want to talk about the issue plaguing her mind, that she wasn't interested in sharing with the girl who in all honesty she didn't really even know.
That last realization made Celia feel a little awkward. It was true, Ms. Tish didn't know her. They had only interacted with each other within the timeframe of a month. Outside of the time where they had introduced themselves to each other on the first day of classes, they never really gotten to learn about what made the other tick (heck, even that example didn't reveal too much information). Celia was a stranger in this scenario. Would a strange really be all that great at comforting Ms. Tish during what was clearly a difficult situation.
The answer was probably not. If anything, Celia reasoned that she would just make things worse, especially when taking her hunch into account. Why would Ms. Tish want to interact with a hybrid when it reminded her of…an unpleasant reality?
With this in mind, Celia started making her way to the door. Let her work out her emotions by herself. Give her the space she clearly desired and help her by staying out of things. It was the best choice. At least, that's what she reasoned. That is, until she put her hand on the doorknob. When she did, a memory flashed across her mind. This memory made her rethink her whole approach.
That memory in question was the incident about a month ago, when she had almost gotten beaten to a pulp by the very…*ahem* disagreeable human. Ms. Tish had stepped in and saved her from getting any permanent damage or scars from the bully. Sure, one could argue that she was only doing her job in that scenario. But…
Well, Celia had very rarely gotten help from teachers over the course of her school life. In fact, her mom had once told her that some of her previous teachers hated her guts, that they viewed her as a monster just because she was a hybrid. The fact that Ms. Tish saved her from harm when all of Celia's other teachers had failed her…well, it earned Ms. Tish quite a generous number of points in Celia's book. She figured she might as well return the favor.
Taking a deep breath, Celia took her hand off the doorknob and made her way back over to the stall. Ms. Tish had fallen right back into sniffling, causing another pang to occur in Celia's heart. She cleared her throat.
"It's going to be okay, Ms. Tish," Celia said. Her volume was low, her voice was quiet, but Ms. Tish still responded.
"I know, Celia. I know it is." There was a pause as Celia imagined that her teacher was once again wiping her eyes. "I was just…caught off guard. That's all."
Celia bit her lip. "It looked to me like Basil had hit a nerve of some sort."
"Well….I guess you could say he did," Ms. Tish replied. "I don't hold that against him though. He's still young. He's learning, and he wanted to share some of the things he knew with you and your boyfriend. I don't believe that he had any malicious intent." When she finished saying that, Celia heard her sniffle again.
Celia felt hurt just hearing that. She thought back to her hunch. If it was true…oh man, was there anything that could be done to help Ms. Tish if it was? She didn't know. Heck, she didn't even really want to ask if it was true, because she didn't want to cause her teacher more distress. But she needed the information. She needed to know.
"Ms. Tish…" Celia made sure to choose her next words very carefully and meticulously. "You didn't…" She took in a breath, feeling like she was wading into the deep end of a swimming pool. "I don't mean to pry but…the baby you tried to have with your ex husband…" Now Celia's was starting to sweat on top of everything else. "It didn't survive, did it?"
Silence, as Celia expected there to be. Ms. Tish didn't sniffle, which seemed to be a good sign. However, she didn't respond either, which caused Celia to really regret asking the question.
"I…I'm sorry. I don't mean to intrude. I know I'm just your student, but I just…I just…" Before she could finish or even form her sentence, Ms. Tish opened the door. Words came at a loss to Celia as she looked into her red eyes, as she saw that her mascara had run significantly. "I…I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, ma'am." She hung her head, feeling like she didn't want to speak ever again.
"It's alright," Ms. Tish said. She dried her eyes once again. She walked over to the mirror, reapplying the mascara without saying a word. Celia kept her eyes locked on her expression, trying to place what emotion it showed. She didn't look angry, which was a good sign. However, she did look a little sad. Kind of…melancholy, Celia supposed was the correct word. Melancholy and morose.
After she had reapplied the make up, Ms. Tish stood in front of the mirror, not moving at all as she kept her eyes on Celia. Eventually, she spoke up. "No."
Celia's heart felt uncharacteristically heavy now. "They…they didn't?"
Ms. Tish turned around. "Me and my ex tried to have a baby. I laid a total of three eggs." Ms. Tish screwed the mascara cap back on and put it away in her hammerspace. "All three eggs died before the incubation period was up."
"Oh…" Celia's heart sank. Three miscarriages….oh dear word.
"We adopted Basil after we lost the second egg," Ms. Tish said. "And me and my husband got divorced after the we lost the third one." Her face looked grim. "Only particularly strong marriages can survive experiences like that. Ours…it unfortunately wasn't strong enough."
Celia felt a lump form in her throat. "I…I'm sorry." She held her hands behind her back. She actually felt a little guilty, making her teacher recall information that clearly caused her a lot of pain.
"It wasn't your fault, Celia." Ms. Tish took two steps closer to her. "It was very unlikely to happen in the first place. I researched the births of koopa-human hybrids and found that there are very few recorded to survive." The melancholy expression she wore grew stronger as she kept her eyes on Celia. "You seem to be the only one who has survived for as long as you have."
For some reason, that statement made Celia feel even worse. It made her feel somewhat responsible for all of this pain. Even though she highly doubted that was Ms. Tish's intention.
"I'm sorry," Celia whispered again.
"It's not your fault," Ms. Tish said. "Sometimes, you want to try to do one thing, but life…?" She shrugged. "Sometimes, life has other plans."
Yeah, well, life's plans seem to be so much worse. For some reason, Celia thought back to the times when she believed she was Bowser's daughter. That was certainly an example of reality having completely different plans; sure, she wouldn't trade away Singe for any other dad in the world, but at the time, hearing that Bowser wasn't her dad hurt more than anything else.
"Y…yeah." That was the only thing that came up in her mind to say.
Ms. Tish nodded, still looking as forlorn as ever. After about a minute, she put on a smile. "But let's not worry about that too much. Tonight is supposed to be a fun occasion." She gestured toward the door. "Come on, let's get back to our table. I'm sure both Roy and Basil would really like to have some dessert."
This brought Celia's mood up, but only a little bit. She kept her eyes on her teacher's back as she followed her out of the bathroom back to the table.
Life…why was it so cruel?
