Roberto opened his eyes but saw no one. Did he knock the backpack onto the floor in his sleep?
He needed to pee, and leaving his hat and backpack on the seats, Roberto went into a men's room, to relieve himself. He was standing in front of the urinal when his flattened cap flew into the room like a frisbee and landed on the floor. Before the cadet could finish urinating, he felt a strong force slam him up against the urinal so violently that he wet his uniform trousers.
Roberto turned to confront his attacker, but no one was there. When he reached down to pick up his hat, The sound of a loud slap filled the room, and Roberto felt a sharp sting on his buttock as though someone had struck him with the paddle he used to inflict pain on new cadets, part of a hazing ritual tolerated by the faculty at the academy. Roberto was a terror to the underclassmen.
What was it? A Poltergeist? He never believed in such things, but something supernatural was happening to him.
The cadet ran towards the bathroom door, but an unseen wall blocked him. He was trapped in the bathroom. For hours, he was tormented. What if this goes on forever? What if this is my life now? Tortured by some unseen specter for unknown reasons.
He felt himself shoved against the bathroom wall again by this eerie force. The cadet senior began to cry with fear.
"Please leave me alone!"
There was no answer.
"I can't take this," he sobbed.
Roberto DeJesus removed his black tie and found an exposed pipe thick enough to support his weight. Taking a trash can, turning it upside down to stand on, he slung his tie over the pipe. There was enough room on the tie for a slipknot noose, and as he began to make the knot, he began to cry again. He did not want to die, but to him, suicide was the only option.
The air grew colder. Roberto looked up to see a small white boy standing in the middle of the restroom. He was translucent, pasty-faced with round glasses and a plump body. Barely visible was the uniform of a British school.
"My name is James," the phantom said with an English accent. "I am a boggart. I haunt bullies."
"But I am not a bully."
"Hazing younger students who are weaker than you is bullying, and that is what you do. You were about to end your life after the little bit of hazing I did to you. Now you know how a weak person feels while being mistreated so."
Before Roberto could respond, James the Boggart moved closer and raised his two arms. Both arms were caked in blood, and across both wrists were deep gashes reviling severed ligaments, tendons, and arteries. Terrified, Roberto tried to turn away from the ghastly sight, but his head would not move.
The boggart's voice became menacing.
"Look at it! This is what the cruelty from guys like you drove me to when I was fourteen. They persecuted me because I was chubby, wore glasses, and did not play sports."
Some courage came back to Roberto.
"But aren’t you being a bully to me, now? "
"I’m a phantom. Bullies are people. Remember, you were just about to kill yourself because of what I was doing. Maybe you should go ahead and do it."
James the Boggart began to fade from sight, and as he did, the temperature in the men's room warmed up. Roberto cautiously removed his noose, got down from the upside-down trash can and walked toward the door, half expecting to be stopped and thrown against the wall. That did not happen, and he moved into the lobby unhindered.
People were coming into the airport. At the British Airways ticket counter, a female agent picked up a microphone and announced boarding information for a flight to London. Roberto DeJesus prayed that the boggart would be on that flight. His flight would leave an hour later enough time for him to change out of his urine-soaked pants.
*****
Cadets were back in the dorm when DeJesus called a "heads up" that required all in his company to stand at attention in front of their rooms. Anxiety filled the cadets as DeJesus appeared from his quarters with his hazing paddle in one hand and a hatchet in the other.
"Gentlemen," DeJesus began, his voice chilling everyone's spine. "I want to start by wishing you all a Happy New Year. " The young cadets then watched in amazement as Roberto DeJesus split the paddle in two and then split each half.
He looked at the startled faces and smiled.
"It is cold, and I need firewood," he said with a grin. "As of this moment, all hazing in this dorm is over. Now, who has a joke for me? Whoever makes me laugh the hardest will be free of latrine duty for a month."
