Eyes on the Ceiling

Buster was easily bored by Mr. Ratburn's lectures. His mind spun stories as his eyes wandered, first out the window then around the room. With nothing there to interest him, he looked upwards...and saw the box for the first time.

The box was black and about the size of two stacks of playing cards stacked together. A small yellow light poked down one side, blinking periodically to a rhythm Buster's eyes couldn't follow. Besides, his heart was pounding too much to focus on the box. He needed to know what it was, but Mr. Ratburn busted him for not paying attention before he could study it further.

But the reprimand was necessary. Now the entire class looked up to see the mysterious black box with the weird yellow light, and the theories began.

Arthur thought the box had something to do with the classroom's new projector system, but Brain debunked that idea because he'd studied it carefully when it was first put into the classroom and there was nothing else on the ceiling.

Francine felt it was a microphone to make sure Mr. Ratburn wasn't being too hard on them, but everyone laughed at that theory. Mr. Haney enjoyed sitting in on the class once every few weeks and he seemed fine with their excessive course load, always admiring the long list of homework assignments listed on the chalkboard.

Buster and Ladonna felt it was some sort of camera watching the class. Muffy and Fern protested that idea because they felt it was against privacy rights, but Brain told them the school could install cameras inside classrooms, a way of making them safer.

Because the camera idea couldn't be debunked by even Brain, the young students felt that had to be the right answer. And that made them all too nervous to speak. Their nervousness grew overnight and into class the next day, an unexplained force keeping them all silent and on their best behavior.

"Nigel, your class has been very quiet for the last few weeks. Is that right?" Mr. Haney chuckled. Nigel shrugged, "My class is always well-behaved. But they have been less talkative between lessons if that's what you mean."

Principal Haney nodded; he wanted Mr. Ratburn's kids to be well-behaved, but that didn't mean they had to be completely silent at all times. Mr. Ratburn agreed but didn't know what was going on, and he had no way of discovering the truth.

Or so he thought.

During class the next day, the children were still during a reading exercise. As they sat, the lights suddenly went off. Brain, who was sitting closest to the room's light switch, moved to see if the lights were flipped off or out of power. But the lights flickered to life before he could even get fully out of his chair, and the class erupted into nervous murmurs.

"Settle down, class. The school recently made the lights automatic. See, that box monitors movement in the room and turns off the lights if it doesn't sense anyone after twenty minutes," Mr. Ratburn smiled.

The class sighed with relief before breaking into laughter that Mr. Ratburn didn't quite understand. How could they be so foolish? They knew to be well-behaved, but they weren't worried about being filmed anymore...

At least most of them. Buster was still convinced aliens or something greater had an eye on him. He just had no solid proof.

~End

Theme 009: Conspiracy Theory

This theme is from a list of one-shot themes I'm completing with TheUltimateCombo and others. For more information, see our profiles. If you would like to participate, PM TheUltimateCombo to learn more.