Dance Of A Parasite

2

Saturday

Today is calm--as calm as it can be. Today, there is no humiliation or fear running down my back that I will be hurt.

One of them is my roommate. I call him Rhino. The first time I saw him three years ago, he had a laptop case with a drawing of a rhino on it. I asked him about it and, apparently, that drawing was by him. Back then, he was one of the good ones. I'm not sure what happened to him to make him so ... awful now.

Rhino is in the football team. Sometimes, when I walk past, he scowls at me and tries throwing the balls at my head. Luckily, throwing isn't something he's good at. I guess he's better with bottles, though.

The group consists of four boys in total. Despite their differences, they're all the same. Faces decorated with sadism and pride. They are surrounded with pain, that of which they do not feel themselves but inflict upon others. Chewing on the bones of their victims like dogs, left with no sympathy.

Crow is the leader of their twisted group. He's the one with the deep voice and the one who calls me 'princess'. He's the second oldest of them all and he's one year older than me. Each time I see him around, my heart almost pops out of my chest--it feels like walking past a serial killer knowing he's a serial killer. Although he's the leader, he hasn't done many bad things to me. The worst of them all is Scorpion. On the other hand, Crow's worst thing would be putting out his cigarette on the same unhealed burn every time, which isn't too bad.

Owl, the oldest, is the nicest of them. Each time they're done with me, he tosses a band-aid or two my way. It isn't much but it's better than being left unnoticed like a speck of dust. He was tall and one year and seven months older than me. When we lock eyes, he doesn't glare or scowl or sneer. He simply stares until I look away. The day of the bottle incident, he told me a week later that he would have helped if I asked him to. The thing was, I knew when he said it that he wasn't going to help no matter how many times I begged. Being the nicest doesn't mean he's a saint. My bar of benevolence was fairly low, after all.

Then there is Scorpion. To put it simply, he terrifies me. Being near him turns off my fight or flight and I respond with a freeze. It isn't his face. He doesn't look scary. It's what he does.

With him being labeled as the worst, it's fair to assume he's a malevolent person. He was the one who initiated the 'bottle incident' and he's constantly making comments about my body or my face. More than half of my bruises were caused by him and every limp was his fault.

If I turn invisible, he'll find a way to hurt me. Anything I do triggers his fists. Sometimes, the others force him to stop but I know it isn't because they feel bad. They don't want me to die because, if I do, the fun goes away with me. I don't understand what's fun about punching a bag that's already been torn.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Sunday

Rhino has a game today and the group is watching him.

My body aches; I can only be glad that they didn't force me to tag along.

On my way to the dorm, a boy catches my eye. In his hands he clutches a suitcase, covered with colourful stickers and markings. He is speaking with the headmaster, a tall, put-together middle-aged woman with grey hairs. I call her Snake.

As I walk past, I hear a glimpse of their conversation.

" ... no room for me?" he asks her.

For a split second, we meet eyes as I speed by. His caramel brown eyes shine beneath the beaming white lights of the dorm corridor as he stares curiously before looking away.