Miss Marvelous: The Pit Fall

Today in science class, Mr. Cashol was teaching us how to calculate our resting heart rate.

“And to do that, you’ll be using these”.

Mr. Cashol pulled out a large bin from underneath the lab counter he was standing at, full of little electronic machines with blood pressure cuffs attached to them by a cord.

“So, to finish today’s lesson, complete the last bit of work on the handout, then get a partner and use the blood pressure cuffs to find your heartbeat. Once you’ve done that, calculate your resting heart rate. I will be at my desk if anyone needs any help”.

After he had said that everyone had begun to finish the work on the handout. Within a few minutes, most of the class finished the work and were already heading up to the front lab counter to grab a blood pressure device.

Once I finished my work, I got myself a blood pressure with an upper arm cuff and made my way back to my seat. Unfortunately, there was an odd number of students in my class, leaving me with no choice but to go solo.

Getting comfy in my chair, I slipped my right arm through the blood pressure cuff, until the cuff was around my right bicep. From there, I made sure the cuff was snug and secure, before I turned on the monitor. I pressed the ‘start’ button and instantly the deflated spaces inside the cuff began to fill up with air quickly, tightening up on my arm.

When the cuff reached its max for air, the machine paused for a few moments to read my blood pressure, before it released all the air out of the cuff and beeped a few times. I looked at the screen for my results, but what came up was not what I was expecting. It was a zero.

A zero? That can’t be right......my heart’s beating. Did I not use the machine right?

In the midst of my thoughts, I noticed that Mr. Cashol was strolling around his classroom, checking up on the students. When he looked in my direction, he could tell that I was struggling and walked up to my desk.

“Do you need any help, Vanessa?” he asked, gently.

I looked up at the teacher and nodded my head.

“Yeah, the monitor is telling me that I’m dead inside”.

Mr. Cashol smirked at my joke as he checked the monitor’s screen.

It says it’s zero....that must mean...

Mr. Cashol’s brown eyes trailed up my right arm until he was looking at the cuff and realized what the problem was.

“Well, no wonder why it’s zero; you didn’t put the blood pressure cuff on properly” he chuckled, before me pulled up a chair beside me. He sat down and began to readjust the cuff around my right bicep. Cashol unvelcroed the cuff and positioned it so that the cord ran down my bicep and forearm, instead of being on my tricep.

Once he made sure that the blood pressure cuff was secure on my arm, Mr. Cashol pressed a button on the monitor to take her blood pressure again and watched as it did so. This time after the device released the squeezing pressure from the cuff, the screen lit up with a positive result; sixty beats per minute. Just the normal teen resting heart rate.

After I wrote down the number, I let Mr. Cashol loosened the soft fabric cuff and slide it off my arm, before he put his chair back and picked up the blood pressure device.

“Thanks for helping me” I said, looking up at the science teacher with a warm smile.

“You’re very welcome” he replied, before Cashol turned his back to Vanessa with the device in his hands. He set the monitor back in the bin at the front of his classroom and then sat back down in his comfy spinney teacher chair, getting back to his computer screen, where he was about to read an email that he had recently got.

Staring at the bright screen again, Mr. Cashol started to read the email.

Dear Scott Cashol, I have another sample I need-.

Rrrriiiiinnnnnnggggg!!!

The sound of the school bell, his students packing up their bags and pushing in their chairs interrupted his reading.

“Don’t forget, next Tuesday is the test. Catch up on your sleep and study this weekend. I will see you all next week” said Mr. Cashol, before he dismissed his second period class. As his students flooded out of his classroom, Mr. Cashol stood up to get the next lesson for his next class ready when a familiar feeling hit him full force; the feeling that he was going to black out.

Recently he’s been getting the feeling randomly and thankfully hasn’t passed out yet. Cashol slapped his hand on his desk beside to steady himself.

What is happening to me?!? Why do I keep getting this feeling??he thought, as he tried to steady his teetering body. After a few wary moments, Mr. Cashol’s hand slipped from his desk and he fell backwards, losing consciousness as he plummeted down to the classroom floor. The teacher let out a sharp groan as he hit the tiles, before completely blacking out.

When he regained consciousness, Cashol found himself lying on his bare back on the cold tile floor. He sat up and stared down at the rest of his body in disbelief, for he was seeing something beyond his imagination. Starting from his hips, was a beautiful scaly light blue mermaid tail that faded into an ocean blue at the end of the large tailfin.

Keeping the upper part of his body propped up with his left elbow and forearm, he ran his right hand down the tail, questioning how in the world did he just suddenly become a merman.

It feels scaly, like fish scales. And it’s....wet?

Mr. Cashol felt his new tail again to confirm and it was definitely wet, as if he had just come out of a pool or a lake. While in awe of his merman tail, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

“Mr. Cashol, I forgot to tell-“.

All of a sudden, the female voice stopped herself and Cashol instantly knew she noticed that he appeared to not be in the room.

“Mr. Cashol?” called the female voice, sounding even closer than it did before.

Then came an eerie silence. The teacher felt his heart race in his chest, pumping faster and faster as he dared to peak out from behind the desk. He peaked his whole head out and instantly regretted it, because standing only a few feet away from him with a look of confusion on her face, was Vanessa herself.

She had come back to tell him that she had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday in the morning and won’t be back that day to write the test, Vanessa raised an eyebrow at her science teacher.

“Mr. Cashol? What are you doing on the floor and where is your-“.

Vanessa stopped herself when she walked over to Mr. Cashol and saw that he had a fishtail instead of his legs. Her eyes widened at the sight as she stared at Mr. Cashol.

“Oh my gosh, Cashol. What the hell happened to you??“.

Her teacher swallowed hard.

“Vanessa, I know this is a huge favor to ask of you, but I need you to hide me; my next period class is going to be here in a few minutes, and I can’t be seen like this” he begged.

Vanessa let out a sigh, before she set her bag on top of the lab counter, next to her teacher’s desk and turned back to him.

“Alright, I’ll help you Cashol”.