Bully in the Dark

The murky light filtered through the closet door as the boy tried his best not to pant. He had not been in there long, but it might as well have been an eternity. It felt like one anyway. It was the second time today he had hidden in something, but this time it was from a monster.

First, he had curled up on the toilet in the boys stall in order to make himself as small as possible. It was only the 2nd week of school and already he had to hide. Being the new kid in school was never easy, being the new kid who was new to town, even more so. He was proud of who he was and wore his head covering with pride, but the ignorant always target anyone who is different or new, and he was new.

His breath came in ragged gasps. The thing in the basement had chased him up the stairs into a pantry closet. He could hear it there, huffing and hissing, snuffling to catch his sent. It burbled nonsensical words which sent shivers down his spine. New house, new school, new life, but bullies existed everywhere. They even existed in the dark basement waiting to get you.

He hadn't managed to hide from the bullies at all. They had found him in the stall and began to push him around. The two younger kids looked nervous, but it was the larger boy who held them in command. He wanted to see the new kid suffer a bit. He'd cursed and sputtered as the bullies put his head under the sink and soaked his hair covering.

It had been waiting there in the dark for him to come down. It had been biding its time and had leapt out at him, hoping to gobble him up as it had the previous boy. He had been quicker than it and had rushed up the stairs, but it had chased him with lightning feet and hunger.

He had sat there. Breathing in and out. Trying to calm himself as he wrung out his head covering. He felt less scared now than sad, sad for the boys and for himself. He would do something tomorrow. He wouldn't run. He had to try to be brave. He had to stick up for himself.

The anger lit in his belly like a fire and his breath quickened in the pantry. He was tired of being bullied, it didn't matter that the thing was a monster. It was just a bully, and fear was a bully's greatest weapon. No more. Not anymore. He snarled with a fury that he did not know was in his small body and charged the monster, grabbing a pan from the counter. The monster fell before him, robbed of its meal of fear. Tomorrow, facing the bullies would be easier, he beat a monster. He was brave enough to stand up to anyone now. After all, they weren't monsters just sad people.