A Particular Classroom

“We’re going to be doing a little moral dilemma now!”

A groan could be heard throughout the small classroom as the teacher announced her new assignment, her hand whipping across the board as the assignment was spelled out in a faded grey tone. Some notebooks were slammed shut, others were tossed carelessly underneath one of the light brown desks, but the need for paper and pencils was now gone, so the students in the small classroom all cleared off their desks accordingly.

The short and happy teacher, with the name of Miss Gorgon, turned so fast that her blond hair slapped her tanned face. Energetic green eyes surveyed the classroom before her clothed finger reached out and pointed at one of the students hidden away within the corner of the bright room.

“Adrielle, do you know what the Train Problem is?” She questioned in a loud voice.

“Ain’t it the problem with the whole ‘kill one or the other’ subject?” The girl from the back said, flipping some of her black curly hair over her shoulder as she quieted her gum chewing.

“Of course!” Miss Gorgon said, a smile tugging at her lips. “It’s the famous question with no right or wrong answers!”

“But the wrong answer would be killing both of them, wouldn’t it?” Curious little Ozul asked, raising his hand slightly.

“It is entirely dependent on the circumstances!”

Once again, she turned back towards the board before the squeaking of the marker could be heard, some of the people in the back of the classroom snickering among themselves with the swish of her dark clothing. Pulling away from the board, the teacher showed her classroom the words she had just written onto it. 

“As you can see by this somewhat bad drawing I drew just mere seconds ago, there is a train heading down a railroad speedingly towards a dangerous cliff where everyone in the train will be brutally killed in the fall. However, the train conductor can switch tracks, but he will end up running over a small group of people and killing them all. How about… Keres! Can you answer what you would do?”

“I don’t know,” Keres said, his bored brown eyes glancing at the board. “I just do my job. I’m not going to be an ethics teacher or anything, I already have my career chosen, I’m going to be what you are.”

“Well, if you want to be in the same position that I am right now, you still need to learn how to make stressful decisions in a short period of time with a lot of pressure. It’s a basic in life,” The blonde said, “But it’s interesting to see different peoples reactions and how they affect us, isn’t it? But back to Adrielle, what would you do if you were in that position?”

“I guess, I dunno…” She paused for a moment, her dull blue eyes glancing up at the brightly lit ceiling. “Go over the cliff.”

“Would you like to explain why?”

“It’s not my job to kill people, it’s others, like assassins or something.” 

Adrielle glanced over coldly at one of the other classmates who had been looking at her, a young boy named Kol who was in their class due to his skills and brain. He lowered slightly in his chair, his teeth chewing lightly on his bottom lip as he lowered his gaze. The boy had been glancing over at her the entire time, probably due to the slight crush he had developed over the year. Her name was still etched in his notebook from last week, the paper sticking out of his trapper below his deck such as a bad omen would haunt someone.

“That is an interesting way to look at it,” Miss Gorgon said, her bright lips pressing together as she thought. “But either way, you are responsible for the deaths in this case, so you have to choose how many would happen.”

Ozel nodded, tapping his fingers against the desk as he thought through what he would do if he was in this circumstance. It was a difficult decision, he wouldn’t want to be the poor sucker stuck in this one. It sounded just awful, having to choose life or death for different people in a split second decision. That’s why he was sticking to the simple job of being an archive person, who just kept the papers in order. No stress about life or death decisions, just organized papers, where be belonged.

“Miss Gorgon,” Ozel said, waving around his tanned arm in the air. “What would you do in this situation?”

“Most likely, I wouldn’t even be on the train,” She said after a brief moment, “I would get fired if you all were on the train with you guys, since field trips aren’t allowed after all.”

Some students giggled and snickered while others just rolled their eyes at her joke. She was one of those teachers who tried to connect to the students with a humorous approach. That was why there were some cat posters with funny captions on them posted around the room, along with a funny looking face on the door. However, she wasn’t desperate enough that she would let them skip out of work, that was something she didn’t allow pass. 

“Now, let’s look at this from a different view point, one of a famous name that we all know about.”

Once again, her hand returned to the board, the name ‘Alexa’ spelling out. The whispers among the room hushed now, the problem their teacher presenting becoming very interesting.

“Kol, let’s turn to you this time,” Miss Gorgon said, “Why is Alexa a big figure of failure among our people of this town?”

“O-Oh, me!” Kol stuttered, sitting up. “Well, she was born and raised here, but she went against the law about killing years ago. She was executed as a result.”

“Pronto!” She said, nodding, “Alexa is the reason we take more caution with students and their mental health, to ensure no one will go rogue and crazy with her beliefs again. She was a big embarrassment to us for generations, and we’re still facing that to this day.”

“But why did you bring up Alexa?” Ozul questioned, “She doesn’t have anything to do with this problem, does she?”

“Well, the moral dilemma has to deal with looking at this from different views. Different people have different beliefs, and we all view the same question differently. Think about how she would respond to this situation.”

“She’d probably screw everything up and make us all die,” A loud voice boomed from the back of the classroom, a few students smirking at the comment.

Miss Gorgon put out her hand to quiet down the class, a buzzing from her desk slowly rising in volume. The students always loved hearing that sound, because it usually meant Miss Gorgon was needed for a big job and they wouldn’t have to work for awhile. It was a nice break from their usual schedule.

“Oh, I guess the fellow made his decision, he probably chose the cliff,” She said, her fingers brushing across the communication device on her desk.

“Miss Gorgon, we’re going to need your help for cleanup,” A man's voice rang from the device, “A train went over a cliff with over fifty people on it, all of them are being picked up and delivered.”

“I’ll be there,” The teacher said, before waving it off.

She leaned down behind her desk and picked up a large scythe, resting the large object on her shoulder. She turned towards her immortal students and reminded them of their assignments.

“Review over your notes while I’m gone!” Miss Gorgon said before she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

And once again, the students groans sounded throughout the small classroom while recollecting their notebooks and pencils, notebooks slamming open and pencils clicking out lead as the grim reapers in training resumed their learning.