When We Were Younger | Book 1

The incident

Sophie (Flashback):
It's been about one month now, one month at this shitty school. The only good thing about this school is that I'm not completely alone.
Thank god, at least we still have each other.
Together you are stronger than alone, right?

In the meantime I have also met Bill and Tom's friends, they are quite nice! I guess this little town still had good people as well.
Unfortunately, they don't go to our school and most of them are also a few years older, which I don't mind at all.
Most of them also get bullied. Apparently, things aren't much better at the other schools.

I sit with Bill on a bench at the very end of the school, a bit remote.
Usually, when we sit here everyone leaves us alone. As if we are invisible.
Tom had some test to catch up on. This is one of the few moments when the three of us are not together.

"What are you thinking about?" Bill pulls me out of my thoughts and looks up from his "lyrics book", as he calls it.
In that notebook he writes down all his ideas for new songs. Which is often accompanied by a lot of scribbling. But in the end he comes up with some pretty nice lyrics!

He sometimes lets me read some that he might use for new songs.
"Nothing, how is writing going?" I ask quickly to start talking about something else and lean a little closer to Bill to read along.

Bill nods with conviction 'yes!' with a wide smile on his face. He looks back at his notebook and continues to write.
The lyrics he writes often scare me, all these feelings, they are quite intense.
I once asked Bill if these were real feelings or if they were made up.

Some are real, he said, most from the past and some are recent.
They have been through quite a lot.
Here at school, through all the bullying and at home, with the divorce of their parents.
But I must say, that this is where their most beautiful songs came from!

"What you think about this?"
Bill pushes the notebook closer to me and I carefully read the short text he wrote.
"Looks good!" I say and look at him with a little smile on my face.

Bill looks at me with a big smile and takes his notebook back. He closes it and puts it away in his bag.
Tom comes from behind us and sits down on the bench opposite to us. A big sigh leaves his mouth.

"And, how did it go?" Bill asks, looking at his brother questioningly. Tom shrugs his shoulders. "Good enough to pass!" Bill nods. I catch myself staring at Tom and when he looks right into my eyes, I quickly look away.

Two hours later
We walk out of the school together and as always we walk in the opposite direction as everyone else.
Most go via the main road to the bus stop. We go around the back of the school. Along the small lanes.

There is a small spot where we like to relax for a while. We have never seen anyone else there, so far we have always been there alone.
The road is longer, but that also has it's advantages, we catch a bus later than all the others. Without all those comments, without others throwing something at us.
We walk into the small park and see a group of boys.

We look at each other in surprise but continue walking.
When we see who they are, we immediately turn around to walk the other way.

I startle when one of them suddenly appears in front of me and I quickly take a few steps back.
I notice that Bill and Tom do the same.
The other boys walk closer to us.
Their 'leader' as we call him, looks at us mockingly.

I hear someone say his name 'Daniel'.
What are they doing here? How did they find out that we always take this road? In a few seconds they are all around us.
What is their problem anyway? Do they really enjoy this?

Daniel stands right in front of Tom and pushes him so hard that he falls to the ground.
"You have to keep your dirty hands away from Emma!" Daniel yells.

"Who is Emma?" Tom looks at Daniel in confusion as he still lies on the ground.
Daniel looks at him furiously. "Are we going to play it like this? Pretend we don't know anything?!" He kicks Tom right in the stomach.

Bill runs over to Daniel and gives him a hard push, which only makes Daniel take a step back.
Angry, Daniel grabs Bill by the throat. Tom jumps back up from the ground. "Let go!" He yells loudly and starts hitting him.

Daniel let's go of Bill and Bill falls to the ground, gasping for air. I want to go over to him but I am stopped by two strong hands.
At that moment they start kicking and hitting Bill and Tom.

"STOP STOP, LEAVE THEM ALONE!" I yell as loud as I can as I try to break free, but I'm not strong enough. I don't think I've ever felt so powerless before. I keep screaming and trying to get loose, without succes.
Finally they stop kicking and hitting and they walk away as if nothing had happened.

I hear Tom groan as he tries to get up. His face is covered in blood. He has a large wound on the side of his forehead and blood is running from his lower lip. I quickly look from Tom to Bill, who is still on the ground, not moving.
I quickly run over to him and fall on my knees next to him.
"BILL!" I scream with panic in my voice.