Demus Oneshots

Dirt and Worms and Stuff

WARNING: Bullying, sensory overload, crying, tics, stutter

 Remus looked up from crouching in the wood chippings with his brother. A kid about his age had been pushed over by a bunch of Year 5s. Remus shoved Roman.

"Wha-"

"Go be a hero." Remus said, pointing at the kid. Roman squinted and shook his head.

"No."

"Why not?"

Roman shrugged. "It's the Dagger kid. He's kooky. I'm not helping a kooky kid."

Remus stood up and dusted off his hands. "Wow, some hero you are." He ran over to the Dagger kid. When he got closer he could see the kid didn't need any help getting up, he was just kneeling on the ground and dragging his fingers down the left side of his face.

"Hey, you okay?" Remus asked. The kid looked up at Remus with wide eyes. Tears were streaming down his face and snot was running down over his lip. Half of his face was covered in flaky or bumpy skin. Where he'd dragged his fingers down his face was raw and blood was beading under the skin around it. "Hey, are you okay?" Remus asked again, crouching down by the boy.

The boy tried to scramble away, his breathing erratic. Remus grabbed his arm. "Hey, I'm not going to-" The boy wrenched his arm out of Remus' grip and scooted back.

"G-G-G-G-Give it b-back." He said.

"What?"

"G-G-G-Give it b-b-b-back!" The kid yelled, more tears spilling over his eyes.

"Give what back?" Remus asked. The kid blinked.

"You-You-You're n-not with the-them?" He asked quietly. Remus shook his head.

"Do you mean the Year 5s?" He asked. The boy nodded. "What did the take from you?"

"My f-f-f-f-f-fi-f-f-f-" The boy gave up talking and mimed spinning something. "S-Spinny toy." He said quietly. Remus stood up and looked at the Year 5 kids.

"You want me to get it back?" He asked, holding a hand out to the kid. He didn't take Remus' hand but nodded. Remus nodded. "Okay." He went over to the Year 5s, trying to look brave.

"Hey." He said, his voice coming out quieter than he'd've liked. The Year 5 boys turned to look at him.

"What?" One of them asked.

"Uh, give it back." Remus said. The boys looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Give what back?" Another asked. A third held up a yellow fidget spinner with little metal balls embedded in it.

"This?" He asked. Remus nodded. They all laughed again. "Why don't you come take it from me?"

Remus cracked his knuckles behind his back. "Okay." He said before punching the boy who held the fidget spinner in the stomach. It wasn't a strong punch but it caught the boy by surprise and he dropped the fidget spinner. Remus snatched the toy off the ground and ran back to the kid.

Remus threw the fidget spinner at the Dagger kid. "Run!" He said. "To the shelter!"

Once they'd both made it to the shelter, Remus sat on one of the make-shift tables and rested his feet on the bench.

"You-You-You-You shouldn't d-d-d-do tha-that." The Dagger kid said, spinning the fidget spinner around in his hand.

"Eh, who cares?" The Dagger kid looked down at the fidget spinner in his hand and scratched his jaw. "Who are you?" Remus asked. "What's your name again?"