I attended a school of animals. The monkeys who sat in corners, scratching their armpits and failing school because they only wanted to party and play. The lions who ruled the school, roaring at and bullying those underneath them all the while proudly showing off their manes. The birds who flew from class to class, who never had time for anything or anyone, just carried themselves and their books off to Ivy League colleges with hardly a goodbye. The pigs who devoured school lunches and greedily copied answers because they were too lazy to study themselves. The snails who dragged everyone behind with their annoying questions and inability to keep up with the rest of the class. And me, a cockroach, one of those disgusting bugs that everyone hated and stepped on.
The animals pushed me against walls, punched me, and ripped my schoolwork in half. They forced me into solitary confinement, the monkeys throwing sarcastic comments at me, the lions roaring cruelly in my face, the birds flying over me and refusing to carry me to success, the pigs stealing my homework and lunch, and the snails "accidentally" rubbing their slime on my legs. They forced me into misery, into hating myself, into hating them, the world, all animals.
But Brandon, the top lion, Brandon with his gorgeous cheerleader lioness and his cluster of lions that followed him everywhere, was by far the worst. Ironically, he never touched me, never hurt me the way the other lions did—tearing me to shreds with their words and sharp claws. He just looked at me, his glare reminding me every day that I deserved this, I deserved every bit of this bullying, every bit of this pain.
That glare weakened me to a point where I couldn't fight back. I settled into this cockroach lifestyle and let them feed off me, let the animals torture me until I could hardly breathe. They stole my strength, my dignity, my happiness, bringing them to the top of the animal food chain.
Because by feeding off me, they only became stronger.
And when I graduated, it would be my turn to feed off them.
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The Real Bully
Ficção GeralAs a child, Xander sees his bullies as people who gained strength from feeding off his weaknesses. As an adult, Xander aspires to turn the tables on his past bullies, steal power from them. But his idea of stealing power is very different from his b...
