by Cithara Patra
Louise grimaced as she dragged her red pen across the paper, circling the obvious misspellings and drawing lines through redundant sentences. This was the third student in her class that used AI to write their paper. Not an ounce of research went into writing it. She doubted they read a word in the book, let alone wrote a sentence by themselves.
“Tell me why you’re paying so much money if you’re not bothering to put in the work.” She circled a giant zero on top of the page and tossed it aside. It hurt to see these students wasting away. Deep down, most of them were good. They had the ability to do anything they wanted if they applied themselves. Sadly, most of them were more concerned about becoming influencers and earning money online. They wanted an easy way through life.
“Life isn’t supposed to be easy.” Louise grabbed another paper, her heart racing as she read the first sentence. Thank goodness one of them managed to write something on their own. As went further down, everything they wrote made sense and they threw in their own ideas. Good. There were still some students in her class that tried to learn something.
“A busy night, huh?” A voice piped up from behind. Her office grew warmer and that strange putrid smell filled the air as it got closer. “You’re not done grading.”
“I’ve got three more classes to get through after this one.” She struggled not to breathe the warm awful air in. He always brought it whenever he entered the room. He came when she least expected it, yet she was prepared. “I’m afraid I don’t have too much for you. Only three at this moment.”
“Three cheaters.” He clicked his tongue. “I’m glad you’re the one doing all the hard work.”
“Honestly, it’s not that bad.” She put her grade on the previous paper and went for the next one. “I wish they would apply themselves a little bit. At least put some effort into cheating if that’s what they want to do. It’s a shame to see them waste their lives.”
“A shame for them but not us.” He chuckled as his shadow loomed over her desk. Tightening her fists, she pitied the three students who got the 0s by using AI. She never wanted harm to come to them. She tried her best to keep them safe. “You’re doing a fine job. Keep up the good work.”
“I only wish they’d do the same.” Louise closed her eyes as the sweat trickled down her face. “They all think they can get everything handed down to them. They think life will be easy once they’re out of college. They don’t care about anything.”
“Don’t worry.” His clawed hand dropped down on her shoulder, gently squeezing it. She bit down on her bottom lip as he gazed at the three papers she tossed aside. “They’ll learn about life…and what comes afterwards…the hard way.”
Cithara Patra currently lives in NC and works in the state health department. They’ve written work for other lit journals such as Flora Fiction, Brown Bag, The Quasar Review, and Instant Noodles. In their spare time, they enjoy traveling, solving puzzles, and checking out brand new restaurants.