In life, Auntie Kiki had always dreamt of becoming a high school teacher. Sadly, due to circumstances out of her control, her time as one was truly short lived. Nowadays, she was a spirit guide on a mission to help the living lead their best lives. Her assignment today was to convince a teenage boy not to quit school.
As Auntie Kiki sat at her desk looking over his file, she wondered how she was going to convince "Charles Michael Cable" to stay in school. Based upon what she had already read, she would’ve wanted to quit too. It wasn’t just that he was failing every subject. It was that his teachers didn’t seem to want to give him a fair shot. Also, his classmates seemed like real jerks. Putting all factors together, anyone would want to leave school. How was she going to help this kid out?
She tried to remember the times that she struggled in school. The times that she felt like she would never be able to read at her grade level. The times when her teachers and classmates made her feel less than. Something kept her from giving up. If she could only remember what got her through the roughest points and, eventually, allowed her to become a teacher. Could it simply have just been the desire to prove everyone wrong?
Auntie Kiki looked up at the clock. Charles would be going to bed soon. It would be time for her to enter his dreams and give him a pep talk.
Perhaps she would tell him about how when she was in third grade, she dreaded it being her turn in reading class to read a passage from a book. She would tell him that her classmates would laugh at the trouble she had reading and that her teacher would yell at her and not them. She would tell him that this experience made her afraid of reading and public speaking for years until a compassionate high school teacher helped her overcome her fears.
Auntie Kiki could also always just ask Charles what’s going on and listen. If he didn’t want to talk, that’s when she could tell her story. Looking at his file, it was clear that he was long overdue for attention.
Closing her eyes, Auntie Kiki focused on Charles. When she reopened her eyes, she was standing next to a tall, blonde boy of sixteen.
“Who are you?” He asked, startled.
“I’m Auntie Kiki.” She gestured towards two chairs. “Why don’t we sit down and have a chat, Charles?”
