Mathilda: The Professional

Mathilda is hanging upside down in her closet doing sit-ups. There is a knock at the door, it is her friend Noel. Noel asks her if she is up yet, and if she is going to breakfast. Mathilda says, “one minute”, finishes her sit-ups, jumps down, then answers the door. Mathilda invites Noel in and comments on how she is early. Noel says she couldn’t sleep. (Noel is a quiet girl, but today she is unusually so.) They engage in small talk while Mathilda gets ready. (She puts on her choker, and then puts on round sunglasses in the mirror.) Then the two of them leave for the cafeteria.

The two of them wait in line and get their food (Mathilda gets lots of milk), then go sit down at an empty table where no one else joins them. They engage in still more small talk and Mathilda finally notices how quiet Noel is. She tries to get out of her what it wrong, but just when Noel is about to tell her, a certain male teacher catches Noel’s eye and gives her a stern look. Noel stops abruptly and her eyes start to fill up with tears. Mathilda turns to see what she is looking at and she sees the teacher. Mathilda turns back to face Noel and ask her what the deal is, but she has already taken off crying. Mathilda gets a bad feeling and goes to look for her friend.

Eventually Mathilda meets up with Noel at Noel’s room and Noel tells her what happened with the teacher the night before. Noel tells Mathilda that even if she tells anybody, they won’t believe her, and everyone will hate her, They decide that they will try to deal with it together.

A few days later Mathilda goes to Noel’s room to get her for breakfast because Noel didn’t show up at Mathilda’s room like she usually does. There is no answer when Mathilda knocks on the door. Mathilda picks the lock and lets herself in. She sees Noel lying in the bed and there is an empty bottle of sleeping pills on the night table with a note. She tries to wake Noel up, but it is too late, she is dead. Mathilda calls 911 and all of the authorities come. Mathilda tries to tell the police and the heads of the school what happened with the teacher, but no one believes her.

“Just another depressed teen-ager.” After Mathilda realizes that she will get nowhere going through proper channels , she realizes, “It’s time to go see Uncle Tony!”

She goes to Tony and after a brief argument, she convinces him to help her. Within the next few days he gets her a pistol with a silencer and bolt cutters and gives her money for the hotel she will be staying in when this is over. She goes to the teacher’s apartment, puts gum on the peephole, feels for where the chain is, then gets him to open the door. He doesn’t have the chain on and opens the door all the way. He is startled to see her with the bolt cutters and she is startled because she didn’t have to cut the chain…but she improvises. She swings the bolt cutters and hits him in the head, knocking him to the ground. She puts the cutters back in the holster on her leg and takes out the gun and points it at him. He looks up and sees it and gets nervous and starts to try to talk his way out of it. She pays no attention to him as she is screwing the silencer on. When she is done and pays attention to him he makes a last attempt by offering her money, good grades, etc. “I’m not here to negotiate,” she says and pulls the trigger shooting him in the stomach. He looks down horrified, then looks back up at her. Their eyes meet and she says, “No women, no kids,” and pulls the trigger a second time. This one gets him in the chest, and he falls back dead.

Mathilda walks back to her room at school and gathers a few important belongings, then leaves for good. As she is leaving the campus, she says goodbye to the tree she planted about five years ago.