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This story takes place approximately one year after the episode "Worldkiller".

Mrs. Miller was happy to be back at work. It'd taken the government only a year to get back on its feet after the recent chaotic events that had brought all of the world to it's knees, but now things were almost back to normal.

People who had lived in anarchy for over three years welcomed the law and order the government provided with open arms. Officials that had been forced into hiding were again running the national government and those who had been killed by the bosses had been replaced. The postal system had been re-established, utilities were back on-line, and most importantly, to the schoolteacher at least, the schools were back open.

However, the psychological scars left behind would be harder to heal than the world had been... and, at first, it seemed that the world was be impossible to heal.

Yet, she was determined to do the impossible. The children were the future and it just wouldn't do to have a future run by people still haunted by past trauma.

...now that the world had a future again.

So, her first assignment to her class was to confront their trauma head on. She asked them to write about what happened to them during those proverbial years of hell when the population of the world had literally doubled overnight. By reading these papers, the thought, she would be able to determine which of her students would be most traumatized and which to divert the most attention and compassion to.

She thought it would be a brilliant plan, and to her credit, it really was. However, as she picked up the first paper and began to read it, tears began to well in her eyes as she read how the past had looked to a child.

by Bobby William Jameson
Age 8

When I was little, my Daddy died and I was sad. My Mommy was sad too and cried a lot. She told me that he'd gone to heaven to be with God. I didn't know why God took my Daddy away from me and I was mad at him for doing it.

But then this weird orange light came and went all over the place and when it was gone, there was a lot more people in the world than there was. At first, everyone was scared and didn't know what to do. Mommy wouldn't let me go outside and play and made me stay in her room in our house and wouldn't let me leave.

And then someone came through the front door. My Mommy hid me in the closet and went to go see who it was. She told me to stay there, but I wanted to see who it was too so I snuck out of the room and watched.

I saw my Daddy in the living room and my Mommy was hugging him. I didn't know what was going on and at first, I thought that my Daddy was a ghost and that he'd come to take Mommy away too, so I ran to him and started hitting him on the leg and screamed "Don't take my Mommy!" But he picked me up and hugged me too and said he was glad to see me.

He told Mommy that she and me was dead and Mommy told him that he was the one who was supposed to be dead. I didn't understand and I don't think either of them did either. But they both said that we were a family again and we'd never leave each other again.

We lived together for a while but then all of the lights in the house went out. The news lady on the battery powered TV said that the government was collapsing and that a bunch of people called "bosses" were taking over and stealing things and money. Daddy left the house that day and when he came back, he had a gun and said that he'd protect us from looters. I didn't know what looters were, but I could tell that Mommy and Daddy didn't like them very much. They still wouldn't let me go outside and I missed all of my friends.

Daddy had to fight some people who would break into our house but he never shot any of them. I was glad that Daddy came back from heaven to save us from the bosses and looters and bad people.

When I turned five years old, Daddy went out and brought me back a teddy bear. It was muddy and smelled funny, but I told him it was the bestest birthday present I ever got. He smiled. I think he knew I fibbed.

One time, Daddy said that it wasn't safe to stay in our house anymore and he took me and mommy away in the middle of the night to go live with these nuns in a house. The nuns were weird and they kind of scared me because they looked alike except one wore white and the other wore black. One of them was nice and I liked her. Then other one was mean and always held a gun and yelled at us a lot. The sister in black said that the sister in white was really just trying to keep us safe and that we had to have faith in God that he would see us through. I think the sister in white just liked to hold the gun.

We stayed there for a long time with a bunch of other people. I was hungry a lot, but the nuns always seemed to give me, Mommy, and Daddy food.

There was this one time I went down to the basement because it was one of the only places in the house were there weren't a lot of people and I could stay down there and pretend that there wern't any bad people, but when I got there, I saw a bunch of people there and they were all looking at a circle that was burned into the wall. It made the room stink. When I saw this lady holding a gun, I got scared and ran upstairs and the lady started chasing me. I thought that the lady in the basement was one of the bad people, so I called for the sister - the mean one in white - and she pointed her gun at them and told them to stop chasing me.

The people from the basement acted like they didn't know about all of the people in the world and the bad people. Two of the people from the basement looks alike... kind of like the sisters. One was nice and the other wasn't. I heard that the mean one was the one who made the world so crowded. When he asked if I hated him too, I wanted to say yes, but I was scared of him.

The meaner man had this thing with him and made this red tunnel in the corner of the room. It was really neat but then the thing that made the tunnel caught on fire and they had to put it out. I think they broke it.

The sisters told them about everything and the people went outside and said that they would fix everything. When they came back, they worked on that thing they brought with them. This guy, named Rembrandt, said that they would slide everyone with a signature. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but Mommy and Daddy got very sad when they heard that. All they did was hug each other and cry a lot. They hugged me too and Daddy told me to take care of Mommy no matter what happened. I was getting scared again.

The people left again and while they were gone, Mommy and Daddy and me spent a lot of time together. Then, the light came and when I could see again, Daddy was gone and Mommy was crying. The house didn't have as many people in it and a lot of the other kids I used to play with was gone. When I asked Mom where everyone went, all she would tell me was, "They went away."

We stayed at the sister's house for a few more days and then we went home. Our house was dusty and it looked like no one had lived there for years. Most of our stuff that we'd left behind was gone too. I guess the bosses got them.

We cleaned the house up and we've lived there ever since. Mommy tells all our friends and the sister that visits us sometimes that she's all right and that she's moved on with her life. But sometimes, late at night when I'm supposed to be asleep and she's still awake, I find her in the dark crying. When I ask her if she's all right, she just hugs me and keeps crying.

I think she still misses Daddy. I still miss him too. But I'm glad that God gave him back to us for a little while longer. Now I'm not so mad at him anymore.

Mrs. Miller put the paper back on her desk. The letters were stained with tears. A few of them were little Bobby's and a few of them were hers.

The little boy's story had touched her in a way she didn't think it would because through all of the hardship and pain, he had found the silver lining... he had gotten to know the father he hadn't have known otherwise. She knew that Bobby was going to be okay, but she made a point to give to him the love and support that he needed to become a healthy young man.

She made it a point to give all of her students that love and support, whether she thought they needed it or not.

She glanced down at the rest of the papers. She really didn't want to read another since the very first had brought her to tears.

But she didn't have a choice...

She was a teacher and right now, her students needed her.

Slowly, she picked up the next paper and scanned the page filled with scribbled block letters and misspelled words.

Many more tears would fall that afternoon.

THE END

Dedicated with love and respect to the real Mrs. Miller who, through her love and support, made a difference in the life of one of her most cynical and stubborn students. Thank you for everything.