He sat in front of the class, looking out at the sea of the bored students that filled the room. Their vacant expressions threatened to lull him into his own stupor, but he fought against it as he stood up and straightened out his brown tweed suit.

“I’d like to try an experiment today,â€? he said, pulling out a standard number two pencil. A few of the students sat a little straighter, but most maintained their glassy-eyed vacuity. “I would like you all to concentrate on this pencil. I want you to make it disappear.â€?

This got their attention. As though waking from a deep sleep, they sat up in their desks, all eyes focused on him.

“Some say we have untapped power in our minds, and I would like to test that.â€? He didn’t really think that anybody would take him seriously, that they would sleep through this lesson like the others. But now thirty pairs of eyes stared at him. Focused on him, as he held the pencil in the air. The class was eerily quiet, the absence of noise like a vacuum.

Then he was gone.