“Get a job doing something you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life!” That’s what Miss Lehman used to tell her students back when you were in her class, and in her case it certainly rang true. Miss Lehman loved the arts, whether it was painting, sculpting, acting, or dancing, the smile she wore as she urged her students to find imaginative ways to express themselves was genuine. Unfortunately, much like the art program at Valley View High, she is a mere shadow of her former self. The art budget has been decimated under the Principal Roy administration, shrinking smaller and smaller with each passing year to help buoy the school’s bottom line. At first, it was manageable. With each passing year, however, Miss Lehman’s joy faded along with the art program. Still, she has fought tooth and nail for basic supplies. This past year, she sanded down her own paintings to reuse the canvases in class. Yet, as Principal Roy looked ahead to the next school year, it was heavily rumored that what little funding was left for art would be on the chopping block once more.
Visibly shaken, Miss Lehman looks up from the ground, glances quickly at the other people in the room, then stares intently at you. Her eyes look like they want to tell you something.
“Oh my darling, isn’t this awful? They have me locked in here with the devil itself! Who knows when this murderer will strike again?! Please help me awake from this nightmare, please! I.. I don’t know what happened. I was standing here by the door, waiting for the police to arrive. Everyone was minding their business, mostly, except for Vice Principal Alden, the poor soul. He was talking aloud about school work of all things, and about how he was excited to tell Principal Roy that he had finally figured out how to access their shared cloud folder on the school’s network. I thought for sure he had gone mad, and I was beginning to develop a hardy suspicion that he had murdered Principal Roy. Suddenly, the room was shrouded in pitch blackness! The power had gone out, and I instinctively let out a small scream. I heard movement, followed by a loud crack! Fearing for my life I managed to take out my phone and turn on the flashlight. There, on the floor, was Vice Principal Alden, dead! Some fiend had struck him in the head with the lamp, and he lay there bleeding, just like Principal Roy. What sort of devil could produce such a nightmarish scene!?”