David looked at his watch. It was quarter to eleven, nearly time to let the youngsters out for morning break - he was half-tempted to let them out now. He found their presence annoying, like no other class he'd taught before. All his years as a Geometry teacher, earning him meagre pay, had never presented him with such a group. A mixed bunch, mostly eleven years of age, with a few twelves tossed in. He looked at them as they sat at their desks, eyes down, writing whatever it was that they were told to, each one not commiting themselves fully. Each one managing to get him annoyed without doing anything, but he knew their minds - he had had their minds once, but not when he was at such a tender age - his mind had waited until his fifteenth year before puberty hit him mentally. Only then did he start to fantasise, and he was about as interesting up there in no way compared to each of these ignorant, sweaty (some even physically prepubescent), boys. Now he sat there, an old man (into his forties was about as old as he wanted to get, and the big five-oh was creeping up on him) who'd managed to get it up in his lifetime less than the number of times he visited the bathroom in one night. Although physical prowess was against him, he found solace in a project outside his work as a teacher. It was highly illegal work, often involving excursions to the black market area during summer breaks. Even so, he had no regrets, and it paid well - AND he never got caught. A nagging worry, however, was always at the back of his mind whenever he sold dodgy software or copy-watches on the school grounds to the intimidated young'uns. Still. they were faithful to their word of confidence, less out of respect than of fear.

The bell rang and the kids left, some boys putting their arms around their female friends as they left the room. David was scornful of that kind of activity, a paranoia fixed in his mind that their under-aged romances were deliberate to spite him. He sighed as the last boy left the room, then concentrated his attentions toward his discovery. He had found it three days ago, unearthed by builders who were providing an extension to the school's library (which would no doubt get abandoned immediately). It had been discarded as a chunk of dirt, but David had noticed that, underneath the grime and dirt, it was cube-shaped. He had taken it in to his office where he had washed it. There were patches of dirt that wouldn't come off, but he had never been faithful to his now-dead mother's belief that all material possessions should be pristine. After examining it, he found no reason for its being, other than as some kind of ornament. It had an attractive gold design that varied on each of its faces. He couldn't quite place it - it seemed somewhat oriental, although his knowledge of worlwide art and design was only slightly more active than his knowledge of the opposite sex. Now he pulled it out of his drawer and inspected it once again. Only this time, it felt as if it had some form of life inside it. A presence that drew his fingers toward it almost magnetically. He had no control, it seemed, over his hands, but he did not try to pull away from it. His interest in it overtook his want to explain its possibility of...well, magic, he supposed in the back of his mind. There was a large circle in the centre of one of the faces. His thumb ran across its outline, then pressed it. To his surprise, it clicked and whirred, activating some form of music box inside. The tune was far from heavenly, but it was not unpleasant either. He tried to locate where the sound was coming from when his fingers activated something else and sections of the box rose and twisted, then sank again, giving the box the features of a rubix cube. Then there was a blinding flash and the sound of chains rattling filled his ears. When the light dimmed David saw a figure standing before him, who appeared to have entered through a gaping hole in the wall that had suddenly appeared in the back of the room. The figure was wearing a stunning leather outfit and some form of dress. It was definately masculine, as it spoke from a face of a man's (although it appeared to have been mercilessly disfigured by pins) with a low, almost slowewd down, voice.

"David." It said, and a bell clanged in the distance. It smiled - but by Christ, it wasn't happy. It raised his hand and jerked its head. Four rips in the leather where flesh wounds were apparant, flashed, then produced four meathook-tipped chains which clung to David's forehead, chin and cheeks. His scream echoed around the usually non-acoustic room.

"Enjoy it while you can." Pinhead said, then drew his head back, bellowing with unpassionate laughter. The four chains whirred around, the meathooks still driven into David's flesh. As his facial features spun with the chains, his last thought before pain blacked him out was: 'Messy'

The children playing in the yard of the school heard only the laughter and criyng of their fellow students. As Pinhead exited the Math block he stared through blackened eyes at the children. He raised his hand and one of his chains burst out of the palm. It started to head toward the playground, but something in his mind pulled it back. The young flesh was so full of energy and happiness. The latter made him shudder with distaste. He returned to the classroom and stepped over the bloody carcass of a geometry teacher. He left the box where it had fallen and stepped through the hole, leaving the gateway to earth open forever, disguised by magic. Time would defy the young creatures, and he would return when their flesh was worth sating his appetite