I am about to die in the schoolhouse.  I am certain I am a goner, me AND my dog. I got a few feeble croaks out after I first smelled the smoke and understood what that bastard was doing to me, that Jacob, that sick sick man. 

Then I remembered the things I did to him when we were young. The time I put a pin under his desk top, right where he would put his fingertips to open it. I remember his screaming out! and the teacher yelling at him. I remember smearing my snot on his backpack when I knew he was watching and his screaming out! and the teacher yelling at him. I remember whispering to him that his mother was fucking the headmaster behind the magnolia tree just outside the art room window, and he looked, and he angrily lifted the art table a few inches then dropped it, making a screeching sound. The teacher turned at the sound, saw only his anger, yelled at him, and sent him to the headmaster, the very same. 

That last day I followed him to the bathroom and quietly laughed and taunted him while he softly blubbered in the next stall. The teacher believed me when I told her he was in there saying he was going to shoot us all. He was whisked off to a psych hospital and that was the last I ever saw of him. 

Until today.
***
This story was inspired by several posts on Steem: 
- An astounding story by @byn, the first I have read of hers https://steempeak.com/freewrite/@byn/the-school-house-jacob-and-samuel#@owasco/re-byn-the-school-house-jacob-and-samuel-20190420t202029618z my story is not a continuation of hers.
- this contest, which I have entered https://steempeak.com/politics/@bananafish/flash-contest-on-inclusion#@owasco/re-calluna-re-owasco-re-bananafish-flash-contest-on-inclusion-20190418t152458175z
- and by this challenge, from whence all my favorite stories seem to spring  https://steempeak.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/weekend-freewrite-4-20-2019-single-prompt-option

***
Writing is such a trip. For this freewrite, three disparate influences came together to sweep me away. Thank you for reading.