The class stared at the teacher as though she had just admitted to murder, which is exactly what she had just done.

Continuing adult education is less homogenous than standard schooling. Eight students had signed up for this class, “Designing Effective Websites,” and five were present today: the disheveled mother, the ambitious kid, the hippy, the interested grandfather, and the hulking biker named Calvin.

“You serious?” growled Calvin.

“Entirely,” said the teacher. She clicked the slideshow to her next slide, How Success Impacts Design. “Once I’d cut his hamstring, he couldn't run. I let blood loss weaken him. Then he couldn't fight when I opened his jugular.”

Everything was still. Calvin felt like the sole living thing in a still life, looking from face to still face, each pretending the stillness meant nothing.

“Good web design does not exist in a vacuum,” she resumed. Calvin rose, his chair falling backward, and walked out. His notes spilled onto the floor as he passed. The teacher continued.

Twenty-five minutes later, the police took her for questioning, and Calvin collected his notes. None of the other students met his eyes as they shuffled out to their cars, and he silently hated them all.