Chapter 10

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What was that? Something metal had fallen to the floor.

I was in the unfinished storage area of the basement with the exercise equipment, fetching a roll of toilet paper. The girls were in the other room waiting for me to come back and play 'charades'.

I reached behind and felt around the shelves, before my fingers closed around a small cold object.

It was a key.

I looked around and saw the bulkhead door to the outside.

"I wonder..." I muttered. Curious, I put the key in the lock and it snapped open.

Shit! I thought, panicking. I was free! All I had to do was open the door and leave, and then I would be released from this coven of crazy witches...

I looked back towards the main area where I heard someone laughing.

Quick, I thought. Time to go. Time to get out of here, pack up my entire life, and move someplace far, far away where no one knows me or can associate me in any way to this group of girls who all, somehow, were able to get pregnant all at once...

... and then the girls would go back to their normal lives, find boys their own age to be their husbands, and then - sure, their children would grow up always wondering who their biological father was...

It was the right thing to do, wasn't it?

I hesitated.

What the fuck was wrong with me? I thought furiously to myself. I am twice their age! This whole idea is ill conceived and perverted. Children should not be born in this environment where 8 women all share a single man. It was absolutely insane, and they were sure to grow up like serial murderers, slum lords, or politicians or something.

Right?

"Everyone!" I heard Janice shout from the next room. "I have news! It's finally a plus! I'm going to be a mommy!"

Everyone cheered.

I sat down, floored. That was now 5 girls pregnant. Just three two go (since Heather and I had never made love), and still a whole month left of the summer before school starts again.

"I'm a failure as a teacher, a failure as a role model, and a failure as a man," I said out loud to myself.

"I don't see how you can say that," said Heather.

I looked up.

"I see you found the emergency key," she continued. "Are you leaving us?"

"I..."

"I won't stop you. But consider this You've made all of us blissfully happy. You say you're a terrible role model, but how can that be? You've been kind and concerned and always considerate of our welfare. And you quit your job - a job you love - because it was best for us, not to mention sacrificing your entire summer, stuck in a basement with eight boring teenagers."

"But ... I shouldn't have done what I did! I should have been stronger. I shouldn't have given up so easily. And what about the children? All of them born to single mothers - it's just not right."

"It happens every day. There are millions of single mothers raising millions of perfectly happy children every day. Do you think these children will be better off having a father they know and who loves them, or will they be better always wondering?"

"Well..."

"And let me ask you this If you leave, will you miss us?"

"I..."

"Will you miss me?"

I looked up at Heather, and could see that her eyes were moist.

"I'll leave you to decide," Heather finished, leaving the room.

I sat on the floor for another five minutes or so before finally deciding.

And then I closed the lock, returned the key to its hiding place, and went back to rejoin the girls to help celebrate Janice's good news.