A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

please tell me why you were hiding in the bushes, you weren't trying to jump out on me again were you?, you know what happened last time you tried that don't you!!'.

Harvey gradually got to his feet, brushing his trousers and coat down and replied,

'Well, I was thinking of jumping out on you two but not from where you found me, so I sneaked ahead of you towards the woods on the path we always use then in the distance I saw something, I don't know what it was but it looked like some sort of weird shaped animal, it turned and looked at me before scurrying off into the bush which Bucksy dragged me from, so I went after it to see what it was, I managed to crawl through the gap at the bottom and saw whatever it was running off into the distance, it was so fast that I didn't get to see it properly'.

Daniel looking on with a puzzled look on his face replied to Harvey who was catching his breath back after his long winded explanation,

'Right, so you saw some sort of rabbit then??', Daniel carried on,

'But why didn't you come out after that?.

Harvey carried on with his 'story' much to Daniel's amusement,

'Well I would of got out sooner but I realised I was stuck in the bush and couldn't actually move, I did hear voices coming but it didn’t' sound like you two so I stayed very still for ages, until I felt something heavy land on my head, it must of crashed through the bushes, then the next thing I know is I'm being dragged out by my trouser leg by some horrible hairy beast, I thought I was a goner but then I turn round and see it's your dog. Talk about needing new underwear!!!'.

Daniel was now laughing uncontrollably as he walked over to Harvey, put an arm around his shoulder and said,

'Come on mate, let’s go, but don't worry I’ll protect you 'King' Daniel is here!!.

And with that the boys walked through the woods, Daniel jumping in front of Harvey every time he heard a noise ahead and laughing as he done it and Bucksy barking at the pair of them, eventually they came to the end of the woods and to the pathway that led them to the back gates of Longmeads High School, the boys both groaned as they saw the familiar figure of the caretaker Mr Twitcher standing with the gate open muttering to himself.

'Who will it be today??, Who is the lucky one?'.

The boys filed past him and ambled off up the field and into the school grounds not looking forward to another boring day of ‘learning rubbish’ as Daniel so nicely put it.

As they made their way to the classroom Daniel turned to Harvey and with a miserable look on his face huffed and said,

'I can't wait until we leave this place mate, I hate it here, I want something exciting to happen for us, that way we can just stay at home’, Harvey looking straight ahead as he replied,

'It would be nice for something to happen mate, like the school being taken over by aliens or coming in to find all the teachers hadn't bothered to show up for class....',

But before he could finish what he was saying a shadow was cast over the boys which made them look up and were greeted by the familiar booming figure of Daniel’s form teacher, Mr Whitworthy, who was dressed in his usual clothes of the most awful dark blue suit ever seen and horrible brown shoes which were always polished to perfection, Mr Whitworthy, standing tall at the door to the classroom boomed at the two boys who were standing there waiting for some kind of punishment, replied to Harvey's fictional thought,

'Well Jones my boy, there is no chance that I won’t ever turn up to school, I practically live here so don't even think about messing me around... Do you hear me?? Now Jones, run along to your form room please. And do try to stay out of trouble'.

'Y.y..yes sir!' Harvey stuttered with a reply as they both walked past the teacher and Harvey scuttled off into the next corridor where his Form Room was with Miss Jacobs and Daniel slowly made his way into the classroom and sat at his usual desk at the back of the class, he threw his school bag down and yawned as he rested his head in his hands prompting Mr Whitworthy to look up from the desk he was sitting at and noticing Daniel was completely not with it he snorted out the sort of cutting remark that made everyone else in the class turn round and look in Daniels direction,

'Well Mr Carter, it seems like someone didn’t get much sleep last night judging from your demeanour, I’m sorry if my wanting to teach you something which may serve you well in the future gets in the way of your daily rest but unfortunately I do have to do my job which DOES involve you listening, so sit up straight and pay attention!!'

Daniel fixed his gaze on his teacher and huffed as he sat back in his chair as if someone important had entered the room then replied in his sarcastic way that he had adopted since he started school,

'Well I best sit up then sir, don’t want you to have to stop your ever so interesting lesson just to have to deal with me again!!'.

Mr Whitworthy grew slightly more annoyed then decided to change tact and replied in a calm voice,

'That’s your last warning Carter, then it’s off to the Headmaster's office if you carry on disrupting my lesson',

So Daniel slumped back in his chair again and prepared for another day of boring lessons while Mr Whitworthy started his day.

So today was pretty much like any other day really, the sun was beating down, the birds began their morning chorus and now Daniel was looking out of the classroom window thinking about how nice it would be to go out and be in the sunshine, daydreaming about all the things he could be getting up to instead of being stuck in this boring lesson all morning listening to the droning voice of Mr Whitworthy who was pacing up and down at the front of the classroom waffling on about how ‘The might of the Roman Empire shaped the world in which we live in today’, all Daniel heard was ‘BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH’ as his attention was now taken up by something moving out in the school fields, Daniel craned his neck closer to the window as in the distance, right by the path that leads to the back gate he thought he saw some kind of shadow darting in and out of the bushes which then seemed to stop moving as it neared the end of the row of trees and shrubs which surrounded the school.

It was a shadow that looked like the figure of a person which Daniel soon realised that it was looking right at him now,

He craned his neck and body forward so much that he fell off his chair with a ‘CRASH’ which alerted Mr Whitworthy, causing him to whip his head round in Daniels direction.

'Owww, that blooming hurt!!' remarked Daniel as he slowly lifted himself off of the floor and back into his seat, dusting himself down as Mr Whitworthy strode down the classroom and stood directly in front of Daniel's desk, his oversized glasses perching on the end of his nose, Daniel hadn’t noticed his teacher standing there as he turned round.

'Woah' Daniel remarked as he clapped eyes on his teacher who was standing there arms crossed, ready to dish out a punishment to him,

'Sir you scared me!!!!' He continued as he smirked at the sight of his teachers rather large glasses close to falling off his nose, they always made him laugh too as he had seen them fly off many a time during his time at school, Mr Whitworthy leant forward even closer towards Daniel’s face, ready to speak but all Daniel could think of was the rather odd coffee like smell coming from his teacher's mouth, then his teacher opened his mouth to reveal his yellow stained teeth which made Daniel feel queasy, then his teacher, thinking long and hard about what should be said to him spoke,

'Well Mr Carter it seems like once again you have decided that my class is too distracting for whatever it is you feel you should be doing…', all the while Daniel was watching his glasses slip further down his nose,

He continued with his usual waffling which was nearly always aimed at Daniel,

'Well I'm sure that as of this minute I know that you would of been listening extremely closely to what I have just been talking about and will easily be able to tell me about the great things that the Roman Army gave to the world…'.

Daniel decided that his reply should be one to get him sent out of the class for the day, so he looked his teacher straight in the eyes and without a single shred of guilt on his face said,

'Well I guess the Roman Army didn’t give us toothpaste sir otherwise you would have used it this morning…',

The class erupted with laughter as Mr Whitworthy stood bolt upright, pushed his glasses back onto his nose and scowled at Daniel as he angrily replied,

'Right Mr Carter that's the last time….. I've never been so insulted in all my life, you are truly a despicable young man'.

The whole class fell silent as Mr Whitworthy carried on his rant at Daniel, who was now looking round the classroom at his classmates who were all whispering to each other, Mr Whitworthy continued,

'I think that you best leave this classroom right this minute as there seems to be no hope for you, Go on off to the Headmaster's office right this minute and I’ll let him deal with you.

So Daniel sighed as he put his school books back in his school bag and rose out of his seat, the walk to the door looked a long way away with thirty pairs of eyes trained on him as he marched towards the

front of the classroom like an inmate on his final walk, and reaching the handle ready to turn it when Mr Whitworthy turned, looked in Daniels direction and left him with something to think about, said,

'You will amount to nothing Daniel Carter, you mark my words, you are truly the worst pupil I've ever had the misfortune to teach since I started teaching and you will get no respect from anyone, That's the truth of the matter, Just remember this quote from Julius Caesar,

‘Experience is a teacher of all things’,' Mr Whitworthy said as he stood up straight,

'Julian who?' replied Daniel with a cheeky smirk on his face,

'JULIUS CAESAR' Mr Whitworthy shouted back angrily 'Do you not listen to anything I've taught you boy?, and seeing as I HAVE been doing this for a very long time then you will do well to remember that quote in the future, Now please leave my classroom and don't bother returning'. And Mr Whitworthy turned his attention back to his pupils and carried on as if nothing had happened, Daniel opened the door and left the classroom wondering if he had gone too far this time, looking back through the glass panel in the door as he stood there for a moment reflecting on what he had said. His gaze was met by the hand of Mr Whitworthy ushering him to move away from the door,

So Daniel picked up his bag off the floor, turned and started the walk down the corridor with the words of his teacher still ringing in his ears,

'I'll prove him wrong someday, then we will see who's right' said Daniel as he angrily pounded the wall on the way down the school corridor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

Leaving It All Behind

 

 

 

The halls of