Once Upon A Time at School

“A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smoldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog. ..“ – went on Miss Sunita, my English teacher. She was narrating the story of The Hound of Baskerville.

My classroom had windows facing the balcony and I was sitting next to the window. In the middle of the narration, I heard a noise outside the window. I looked out but did not see anyone. I got engrossed in the teacher’s narration again. After a while, I heard it again and this time when I looked, I just froze. Right there in the balcony not more than 10 feet away from me was the very hound of Baskerville, standing and staring back at me. I was just too scared to move or speak or even blink. It took me a good two minutes to take in what was in front of me. I nudged my bench mate and gestured him to look outside. He let out a small shriek of terror which alerted everyone including my teacher. In no time the entire class was aware of the presence of this hellish creature in our close proximity. Acting quickly, the teacher closed and bolted the door to the entry softly.

Now the atmosphere in the room was very tensed. Not a single sound to be heard. Slowly people started moving towards the other end of the classroom, occupying the farthest corner of the room, all huddled up. All this while the hound was just standing there looking at everybody through the window, its fiery eyes moving from one corner to another, with a kind of coolness in its eyes, which made us even more petrified.

After what seemed like hours, I stood up and went near the window. On looking down beyond the balcony, I could see a lot of people had gathered there. I could see school staff, parents of my classmates and I could even see some people in khakis, may be the police or people from animal control. I don’t know exactly why they were just waiting there and not doing anything. May be even they were scared of the hound too and didn't know what to do. For sure, it wasn’t natural to find a hound in a school.

While I stood there trying to reason with my little brain and trying to make some sense of the situation, I heard my mother’s voice and instead of comforting me she was scolding me. Something about how I have overslept and I will miss the school bus. It then hit me I was just dreaming! I should have known it, it was so illogical and unreasonable, but that’s not how dreams go, right? ;)