I Failed My First Ethical Dilemma

I have a confession to make.

It’s not my fault.

It was either me or him.

So I decided to run.

And let whatever awaiting fate take him.

The teacher had sent us to get the milk bins from the cafeteria downstairs. Our only job was to get the bins and bring them back to class.

That sounds like a fairly simple task, right?

Well it would have been simple if it wasn't for this loud monstrous noise that echoed from the top flight of stairs.

As a second grader, that was probably one of the scariest noises I have ever heard.

If anything, I could describe it as a dog retching while being swallowed whole by a monster. I picture this monster hunched over, dripping with black slime and skinny to the point where you can see its ribs and knees poking out. It also had TALONS. I feel like it's also important to add that the dog was a Russell Terrier.

So yeah, that’s what it sounded like.

It was an immense growl that sent me bolting to the bottom flight of stairs and dashing towards the cafeteria.

My classmate, on the other hand, was not too fit. The last thing I remember seeing was him holding onto the rail and going down each step extremely slow. I couldn’t wait for him! I would die!

He was just as scared. He even shouted: “Wait!”

But it was too late. He was too slow. I was already leaping over five steps to reach the bottom of the stairs.

I ran into one of the lunch ladies and was breathing so heavily that she had to hold me by the arms to calm me down. I explained the situation to her and she contacted the principal.

But where was my partner! Was he dead? Did he meet his fate right after the Russell Terrier?

He wasn’t dead. I saw him upstairs after the lunch lady escorted me back to class. She almost made me go by myself but I practically latched onto her. Was she really going to let me die?

My classmate was standing next to the principal and this random sixth grade boy. All three of them talked for a bit until the second grade boy was sent back to class.

It was my turn to talk. The principal informed me that the sixth grader was caught lurking in the stairwell when he had no permission to be out of class. She then told him to make a somewhat monstrous noise and asked me if that was the sound I had heard.

He sounded nothing like the monster on the stairs! The noise he made was not at all gruesome compared to what I heard. I also didn’t look up to see if there was anyone at the top of the stairs when I sacrificed my classmate so I couldn’t confirm if it was him.

But, out of fear, I nodded my head yes. I felt like there was something way more serious going on within that school… something too serious for the staff to understand. At that moment, I made it my mission to find out what made that noise.

Seven Years Later

I never found out what that noise was. I graduated elementary school and went on to high school. I was now in the ninth grade. Even though seven years had passed, I still found myself feeling bad that I left that boy panting on the stairs.

I don’t know why I cared so much. The idea of there actually being a monster had long passed. It was definitely just my eight year old brain being too imaginative.

But then I saw him.

It was the boy. The slow one.

He was just walking down the hall like everything was normal! Like we didn't almost die!

I wanted to crack some jokes with him like “Hey, you might not remember me but I’m gonna randomly say this out of nowhere for awkward comedic effect. Remember that time when we got attacked by this unknown entity when we went to go get the milk bins in grade two and I left you by yourself panicking on the stairs? Yeah, I’m so sorry about that.” but I decided against it. I didn't want to be weird instead of funny.

So we both just went on with the rest of our high school careers. We never talked. For some reason, he was in the grade below me so we didn’t share any of the same classes or friends.

He is the only person who knows that I left him to deal with the demon at the top of the stairs and I still feel so bad about it.

So that is my confession. When I was eight years old, I left another eight year old to get taken by a monster and have received no closure. Did I make my ex-classmate feel bad? Was it actually the sixth grader at the top of the stairs? Was there a monster terrorizing the children at Coronation Elementary School?

I don't know.