Who made you stop believing in good people?

The Guardian and the Predator

The girl I always protected was being blackmailed by our janitor. So, I coordinated a sting with hidden mics, camera footage, and backup from a few brave students.

And together, we brought down a man who’d been praying on girls for years without getting caught. Back in high school, there was this janitor who everyone loved, and his name was Alex.

He was the kind of guy who knew every kid’s name, gave fist bumps in the hallway, and fixed more broken hearts than lockers.

One time, there was this skinny girl who used to come into school once a week, sit alone in the canteen without any food, and not talk to anyone.

Everyone ignored her. But Alex, he saw her.

I noticed he’d meet up with her after school, always in the janitor’s closet. At first, I thought it was just random.

Maybe she needed help with something, but it kept happening. Week after week, same time, same place.

Curiosity aid at me. So, one day, when the corridors were empty, I took a peep through the window.

My heart was pounding. I didn’t know what I expected to see.

Something shady, maybe something awful. But what I saw made my eyes literally pop out of my head.

He was handing her boxes of sandwiches, enough to last dozens of meals. I had to stop myself from running in there and giving Alex a big hug.

When she turned toward the door, I panicked and ran. This was in the ninth grade.

I fully believed since that day they were best friends.

But then by 11th grade, everything changed. Everyone had found out about Alex’s closet meetups with the girl.

At first, people started spreading rumors that he was a creep. And the strange part was that the girl he helped claimed he was creepy, too.

But the strangest part, Alex admitted to being a creep and said these rumors were true. This spread like wildfire.

So much so that the principal got involved and he was going to call her mother to see what the deal was, but he couldn’t because her mother was a known psychopath who mistreated her at home, meaning if he did call home, the girl’s life would be put on the line for allowing herself to be taken advantage of.

And so Alex agreed to take the brunt of these rumors just so the girl’s mother wouldn’t get involved.

This wasn’t known information, but I knew all this because the girl actually became my friend. We can call her Sally.

After that, I don’t know how the janitor managed to keep his job, but he did. And the rumor had its consequences.

Soon, the entire school was bullying Alex. They’d constantly break his equipment, which he had to pay to replace, and one guy even peed into his mop bucket when he wasn’t looking.

I wanted to tell everyone the truth, to defend him. But there was one thing stopping me.

You see, Sally’s home life was actually a lot worse than I thought. It was complete with discipline, substance use, neglect, her mom bringing new guys home every weekend, the works.

I did think about calling CPS, but Sally told me not to bother because they had already done multiple house visits, but didn’t do anything about it.

And this was exactly why I refused to defend Alex. You see, in the midst of all this, Alex did a complete 180.

One day, he asked Sally to meet him in the janitor’s closet. We thought he wanted to discuss the situation or something, maybe offer an alternative.

But no, instead, he blackmailed her. He told her that if she didn’t start repaying him for what he’d done for her, he’d tell her mom that she had told him to give her sandwiches and extra food.

He also threatened that she forced him into treating her injuries. And because Sally’s mom was off the rocker, this was a serious threat.

At that moment, Sally knew she had no way out. So, she agreed.

That day, in the janitor’s closet, he stole her innocence. He told her he had every intention of doing it again whenever the urge came up.

That he’d been waiting for this moment ever since that day in 9th grade when she was sitting all by herself.

I saw her lip quiver when she told me this, and I let her break down into my arms.

But as I softly stroked her hair and caressed her face, a storm was brewing inside me. I had every intention of ruining that man’s life, mentally, emotionally, physically, financially.

And I would stop at nothing to get my revenge and make Alex pay. By morning, I had approximately zero good ideas.

This wasn’t like the movies where some teenager magically outsmarted the bad guy. This was real life with real consequences.

The next day at school, I couldn’t focus on anything.

My chemistry teacher asked me a question and I just stared blankly until she moved on to someone else. During lunch, I watched Richard mopping the hallway like nothing had happened, like he hadn’t just revealed himself to be a monster.

I wanted to walk up and punch him in the face, but that wouldn’t solve anything.

“You look like trash,” Sally said, sitting next to me in the cafeteria. She tried to smile, but I could tell she hadn’t slept either.

“Thanks. You really know how to make a guy feel special,” I replied, pushing my untouched lunch toward her.

We sat in silence for a while before Sally spoke again. “He wants to meet today after 7th period,” my stomach dropped.

“You can’t go. If I don’t, he’ll tell my mom everything,” she whispered.

“I can’t risk that.”

That’s when the first part of a plan started forming. “Not a good plan.”

“Definitely not a smart plan, but it was something. What if we record him? Get evidence?”

Sally shook her head immediately. “My phone’s broken, remember? Mom threw it against the wall last month.”

“Right, I’d forgotten about that. Use mine, I said, pulling out my Nokia brick.

It wasn’t fancy, but it had a voice recorder function. Hide it in your pocket.

If he says anything inappropriate or threatens you again, we’ll have proof.”