Amazing Stories: Twinkle Dust

"You sleep under the door mat, don't you!"

I gritted my teeth and said nothing, because I had a plan!

There were twenty-three kids in my class and I had twenty-three matchboxes. I put all the matchboxes on my desk. I lined them all up. Neatly. Every box was opened a little bit.

And I had one red match box.

"What're they for?"

I didn't answer. The class gathered round to look. Perfect.

"You won't call me shorty any more!" I said. I threw some twinkle dust over all the kids.

Whoosh! They were all inside the match boxes. I shut the boxes quickly. Snap, snap, snap. All prisoners. All trapped inside their boxes.

The teacher came in.

"Where's the class?"

They've gone," I said. I didn't tell her where.

The teacher went to look for her class. I gathered the boxes and put them into my school bag. No point in staying around.

I went to the Principal's office. I didn't even knock. I just walked in and looked at him.

"What do you want, boy?"

He never called me by my name. He didn't like me.

I threw some twinkle dust at him and held the red box out.

Whoosh! He was gone. Now I had him, too.

I walked out the front gates and down the street.

I heard my classmates calling to me from inside their boxes. They had funny, high voices, like chirping birds.

"Help! Help!"

The Principal's voice was like a tiny mouse squeaking.

Now I had to decide something. What would I do with them? I couldn't hurt them. That would be cruel. They mustn't be killed either. That would be murder. I had to do something only slightly mean. A slightly mean punishment. I had to get my own back for all the insults my class mates had flung at me all those years. I had to do something to pay back the Principal for all those silly lines, and extra homework assignments he had given me.