Toys, books, and lunches soared across the room and crashed into the ABC-themed carpet. Mrs. White had to duck a couple of times to save herself from the nursery rhyme collections and mangy-headed dolls that took flight every which way.
It was torture, working in this facility. Toddlers and kindergartners were much more ferocious than one might imagine. And perhaps she was just hallucinating due to the dizziness the reek of rotten diapers had caused her, but she could swear there was a scrawny little boy in the corner, white foam and feral grunts oozing from his mouth. Mrs. White took cover in her own corner, her body stuttering and mind somewhere else entirely. These children had taken it from her.
They screeched something terrible and they giggled something demonic, zooming back and forth, skidding on the carpet. They bounced off the walls quite literally, and Mrs. White wondered how many edibles their parents could have possibly left unguarded. She slapped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, but she could still hear the dreadful sounds and see the frightful scene. Directly through her eyelids she gazed in fright, through her hands she heard what she wished was just a nightmare — then she would awake and prepare herself for another day with her sweet, mild-mannered daycare group. Just like it used to be. Things seemed to be different now.
The children began playing money in the middle with a lump of roadkill one of them had shoved into their backpacks that morning. Last time they'd fought for a spell before two or three of them ripped the flesh from the animal violently, swallowing it whole without issue.
Mrs. White smashed her head into the wall. A toy bulldozer whacked her in hip.
When the late assistant's hands gently removed hers off her head and rubbed her shoulders, Mrs. White peeled open one eye. Her students sat on their designated spots on the carpet, whispering among each other, humming something heavenly, laughing something darling. The room smelled of floral baby powder, and the thick haze of dread had diminished to make way for a light, whimsical aura.
The little boy who had been in the corner pointed to Mrs. White when he noticed she had come to. He smiled with his big teeth and wiped residue of a foaming substance from his chin.
