Chapter 29: Clean Up Crew

After Mary left, Theo once again found himself all alone.

His eyes naturally wandered to the mess on the floor. Four bodies, two of them junkies and the other two delinquents.

He felt conflicted.

They were still unconscious and it didn’t look like they would be waking up anytime soon. Should he just leave them here like this or should he do something about them? Normally, he wouldn’t even pay attention to a matter like this, but the thought of leaving them in front of the clubroom left a bad aftertaste in his mouth. What if they were still here even after school ended? Although it was still relatively early in the morning, he did knock them out pretty hard.

In cases like this, Theo’s sense of time was rather skewed. Back on Mistelhan, he often fell into mini-comas that lasted upwards of two weeks. On the battlefield, it wasn’t uncommon for soldiers to pass out for days at a time. Of course, many of those incidents, including his own, were accompanied by life-threatening injuries, most of them magic related.

In summary, he lost track of what the norm was for normal people. What would he do if they really were still here come after school? Theo did not want Shirley to see such an ugly sight.

So, in the end, what should he do?

Go to a teacher? Honestly speaking, doing such a thing sounded like a hassle. Plus, he recalled back to the junkie’s words: a significant portion of the staff was corrupt. If he really went to the faculty room to report on this matter, then such a thing would force him to reveal his face. Those corrupted teachers might rat on him or something. Even if he simply told them that he found the thugs here, they’d still probably look for trouble.

He shook his head. Theo immediately scratched out that option.

Maybe I can move them myself? Stuff them into a locker or something…

Just as Theo inwardly thought to himself, his ears suddenly perked up. He heard the sound of squeaking wheels. He turned around just in time to see an old man walking towards him.

The man had balding white air. His face was wrinkled, raisin-like spots dotted his cheeks like a dalmatian. His most noticeable feature was the blue jumpsuit that he wore. He slowly hobbled towards Theo, a noticeable limp in his step. He wheeled around a yellow mop bucket.

The old man looked up.

“What’s this?” He spoke in a weathered voice. “What’s going on here?”

Theo was surprised by the sudden visitor. For a moment, he hesitated. The old man’s eyes were clearly locked onto the bodies on the floor. Strangely enough, he did not seem all that surprised. Instead, his voice betrayed a certain sense of helplessness.

“Um, who are you?” Theo unconsciously asked although he regretted it almost instantly. Going by his outfit, it was readily apparent that the man before him was some sort of janitor.

The old man pointed to the laminated name tag pinned to his left breast. A single word; Jermain. “Can’t you see I’m a janitor.” The man explained. “Although don’t go callin’ me a janitor now. I prefer the term, ‘Sanitation Engineer’. Rolls right of the tongue, don’t it?”

The man smiled a toothy smile. “Name’s Jermain. Most kids just call me Mr. J though.” Without giving Theo the chance to speak, he widened his eyes and exaggeratedly scanned the surroundings. After a few seconds, he let out a melodious whistle. “usually, nobody comes ‘round to this parts of the school, but I take some time off my day to go.” He explained noncommittally. “You might not know this young man, but there’re some clubs ‘round here, as crazy as that sounds. Someone’s gotta keep ‘em clean for the kids.”

He turned towards Theo. “Don’t you agree?”

Theo nodded his head. As a member of a club that just so happened to reside within the abandoned section of the school, he couldn’t help but appreciate the effort that this Jermain had put in.

Seeing him nod, the old man chuckled to himself. “And what about you?” he asked. “Yer a student. Class’s already begun. You aren’t skippin’ class now, are ya?”

“Erm, well, it’s kind of a long story.” Theo awkwardly scratched his head. Underneath the probing gaze of this old man, he felt as if all of his secrets were laid bare for the world to see. Theo shook his head and hastily changed the subject, “Enough about that, you’re an, um, a sanitation engineer, right? I wonder if this sort of ‘trash’ is included in your job description.” He gestured toward the ground.

For a moment, the old man looked hesitant, before he eventually shook his head and let out a sigh. With a small groan, he slowly squatted to the ground. He gingerly poked one of the guys with the end of his mob.

“So, what’s up with these fellas?” He asked. “Judging by everything, they all look like they been smacked on the head or something. See this right here?” He further pointed towards a particular red mark on the body’s jaw bone. “Looks like a stick or maybe a pole, judgin’ by the size and shape of the mark.”

The old man looked back over to Theo. After a moment, his gaze shifted towards the broomstick on the floor.

Theo let out an awkward chuckle. “You can tell?”

Jermain faintly smiled. “I used to do a bit a martial arting back when I was a lad. I can’t say I know a whole lot, but I do know a thing or two about fightin’. It’s a pity I can’t throw a punch as good as back in my early twenty’s though… well, enough ‘bout that. So, you mind explaining what happened ‘round here?”

Theo hesitated, but in the end, he honestly explained his situation.

After he finished, the old man solemnly nodded his head. He breathed out another sigh. “Well, can’t say I really blame you. If I had a bit more jump in my step, then I’d a probably done the same thing. Still, I don’t think you can trust most of the teacher’s around here.” He shook his head. “Many of em eat out of the same bowl as those street rats. Even the ones that don’t are all weak-willed, easily bribed or threatened.”

“If that’s the case, then what should I do?” The questioned.

“Well, let me think fer a moment… ah, although there ain’t a lot a people you can trust, you can sure as hell trust me. Though, I doubt I can ‘clean’ this whole place up by my lonesome… well, I do know someone else, that you can trust.”

The old man smiled. His smile looked innocent and jovial, it had a way of disarming someone. Maybe that was why Theo felt inclined to trust him, even with the possibility that this ‘kind’ old man may have been a part of the corrupted faculty that he had been worrying about. Plus, there was also another trait that Theo noticed.

He felt a certain sense of familiarity from this old man. The man’s demeanor, the way he walked, even down to the way he held his mop, there was a certain sense of rigidness to it. He was seemingly full of openings, but blink, and you’d find that those openings don’t really exist. Weathered and battered, but glowing with experience; the old man was a soldier. Or at least, he had seen his own fair share of battlefields.

Theo nodded.

The old man nodded back and pulled out an old looking flip phone.

He dialed a number, and after a few seconds of static, a voice resonated through the speakers. “Ah, squad le—”

“Yes, good mornin’, little Miss.” Before the voice could finish, the old man suddenly interrupted. He inadvertently glanced back at Theo’s figure. Theo, on the other hand, was distracted. His eyes were locked onto the fallen bodies. Although he had not seen the old man’s strangeness, he did still hear it.

Theo’s ears perked up.

After a few seconds of silence, the other person at the end of the line continued, “yes, Mr. Jermain, was it? What did you want?”

“Ah, I got a bit of a thing that I’ll be needin’ your help in.” he explained. “Don’t suppose you can stop by the abandoned parts of the school?” He sheepishly scratched the back of his balding head.

A short pause. “Alright. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

A few minutes later, Theo suddenly heard the sound of clacking high heels. Turning his head, he caught sight of a familiar face.

“Oh, if it isn’t the little perv—” She coughed, interrupting herself. “—the little kid from the other day.” A lady with a curvy body and brilliant sunset blonde hair. She wore a white lab coat over a form-fitting black boat-neck dress.

“Good morning, Miss Howlett.” Theo lightly greeted.

In response, she inwardly scoffed. Look at this kid, acting like a polite and upright student. Who knows what sort of thoughts are running through this lecherous little demon’s head. She had not forgotten what had happened earlier that week. In fact, it was still fresh in her memory.

She briefly glanced down at the bodies on the floor. A full week hasn’t even passed, and this guy’s already gone ahead and beat up more people.

Eliza shook her head. She stared at Jermain for a few seconds, before she turned back over to Theo. “I hope you’re not here asking me to help you hide a couple of corpses.”

Theo rolled his eyes, before he gave her a brief rundown on the situation. He was a bit surprised to see Eliza here, but if it was her, then he had some modicum of trust. After all, the lady had watched mutely as he beat up another student. Even now, he still hadn’t received any backlash from that incident.

After he finished explaining, Eliza’s expression had turned deathly serious. After a few seconds of tense silence, she eventually nodded. A soft sigh leaked out from her parted lips.

“So you can help?” The asked.

She couldn’t help but glare at his unassuming face.

“I get it now.” She chuckled to herself. “You beat up a few more students, but you don’t want to deal with all that responsibility, so you’re planning on dumping all the hassle onto my hands.”

He helplessly shook his head. “That isn’t it, really. I just thought that this sort of thing was better left for the adults to handle. It does involve things like drugs and stuff.”

“And? Where are those drugs now?”

“Erm… well, I threw them out the window.” Theo awkwardly laughed.

Eliza rolled her eyes. “What’s the use in claiming these kids are drug pushers when you don’t even have the evidence to back it up? For all I know, you could have just used that as an excuse to beat whoever you wanted up without suffering from any repercussions.”

“I… that really isn’t it!” He was left without an alternative. This mature looking lady was seriously opposing him to no end.

After a few seconds, Eliza shook her head. It wasn’t as if she didn’t believe in him. She just wanted to tease him a bit, that’s all. Seeing this kid’s distressed expressions had a weird way of improving her mood.

“Fine, just leave this to me.” She eventually said. “I can probably contact the police or something similar. I’ll make sure that these guys get the punishment that they deserve, and the ones that need help will get the help that they need. As for you,” she waved her hand towards him. “You’re still just a student. Head back to class, or go somewhere else were I won’t catch you. Leave the adult stuff to the adults.”

Hearing her words, Theo eventually breathed out a sigh. After that rather stressful conversation, a part of him wished that he had just left the scene of the crime without doing anything. With Eliza’s following words, Theo felt a small weight lift off his shoulders.

He said goodbye to the two people in front of him, before he quickly walked away. One last thought lingered in his mind.

A beautiful doctor and an old janitor… just what sort of relationship do those two share?

****

After Theo left, Eliza turned to Jermain.

Eliza’s face stiffened. Despite the fact that she was taller than the man in front of her, she felt as if she was the one looking up and not vice versa.

Jermain amicably smiled. “Well, since you went ahead and made a promise with that young man, then there’s nothing else we can do but fulfill that promise.” He spoke in a brighter, less weathered voice from before. “Let’s handle this to the best of our abilities, shall we?”

Eliza nodded her head.

Despite the things that he had said a few seconds earlier, the old man had already started walking away. He leisurely waved a hand towards her. “You handle it yourself. I still have some cleaning that I need to do.” With those parting words, he wheeled the mop bucket away from the scene of the crime.

Eliza watched his weathered silhouette disappear into the morning shadows of a classroom, before the door closed shut behind him.

After Jermain left, she breathed out a sigh of relief. She stared at the cracked glass of the classroom door for a few seconds, before she turned back towards the bodies on the floor. A moment’s pause, before she pulled out a smartphone.

The start of her long day was just beginning.