Previously: “Footsteps.”
It’s the end of August and summer is rapidly drawing to a close, so let’s dive into a seasonally appropriate story in honor of back-to-school time, shall we? Titled “World’s Best School Psychologist,” this tale by Redditor u/CreepyCarbs won the r/NoSleep award for Best Single-Part Story of 2013. It has since spread far and wide, getting posted to the Creepypasta Wikia in 2014 and becoming the subject of a number of YouTube-based creepypasta narrators — and no wonder; it’s quite an effective little piece of short fiction. I think its punch comes from the fact that we view the action of the tale through an incredibly narrow window — a very specific point of view.
If you’d rather listen to the story, Cry’s narration is good; otherwise, read on.
[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]
When I was twelve, I came to the conclusion that everyone in the world, including my own family, was against me. I was never a problem child, but my parents sure treated me like one.
For example, I used to need to be home by 5:00pm every day. This clearly restricted my amount of “play time” outdoors. I wasn’t allowed to have friends over to play at the house, nor was I allowed to go over anyone else’s. I had to finish homework directly after I came home from school, no matter how long it took. My parents refused to buy me video games and forced me to read books and then write a book report on them to prove I actually read it!
Now, even though those rules listed above were quite frustrating to me as a child, they aren’t what upset me most. What really hurt me was the lack of compassion on behalf of my parents. My mother was a bitter woman who always made me feel guilty of accidents or mistakes I’ve made. My father only knew one emotion: frustration. The only time he spoke to me was when he screamed at me for receiving poor test scores or beat me for misbehaving.
But enough about them, let’s talk about my school’s psychologist. For his own privacy, we will call him Dr. Tanner. Like most junior high schools, a psychologist is always available on campus during school hours to assist any students in need of counseling whether it is emotional, academic, social, behavioral, etc.
To be honest, I have never seen any students talking with Dr. Tanner. Every day, I would walk past his office on my way the cafeteria and peek through his door’s little window. He would always be alone in there, working on some paperwork.
I guessed that most kids were too afraid to speak about their problems to an adult who was practically a stranger. For this reason, it took me three weeks to muster enough courage to go into his office. March 2nd, 1993, was the day I decided to voice my troubles to Dr. Tanner. During lunch break, I stood in front of his office door and knocked.
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Follow The Ghost In My Machine on Twitter @GhostMachine13 and on Facebook @TheGhostInMyMachine. And don’t forget to check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available now from Chronicle Books!
[Photo via Taken/Pixabay]
