Secret Ssundee 3: Pained Memories (THE REWRITE!)

03: Fight Back

Colton was on edge. The gentlest touch provoked the nervous nerves that anticipated his attack. He sat in a seat in the crowded cafeteria, but this time, he no longer possessed the impassive expression everyone knew him to. Today he would fight back.

Fingers slinked through his hair jerkily. "Have I ever told you you look like a girl?"

Colton grabbed the hand and with all his force, human or superhuman, flipped the body upside down into the floor. A scream of pain erupted and soon the cafeteria turned their attention to the group as the boy's friends called over an adult. Colton stood up and walked to the only refuge he could think of.

~~~

"Can Colton Stapleton please come to the office?"

That's what Colton's teacher heard on the phone before telling him.

Colton walked briskly through the halls. Better to get this done and over with. As he entered the front office he was directed to the principal's office.

"Have a seat Mr. Stapleton." He gestured to the seat as Colton dumped himself into it.

"Would you like to explain?" Mrs. Mackowitz asked.

A moment of silence passed. "I'm sick of it." Colton responded with a blank expression.

"Could you be more specific? Sick of what?"

"I don't look like a girl. It'd be difficult to if I tried." The barrel of emotions he'd been holding in opened ever so slightly.

"I'm assuming you are talking about the bullying that had been reported to me. That they've been taunting you about your appearance." Colton nodded in response.

"Would you like to tell me more about it?"

"Every single day. 'You look like a girl.' or 'You need to cut it off.' Three times they've cut off my ponytail without my knowing." Colton poured everything he had ever survived and every moment of suffering. "Every day they run their hands through my hair, as if they're trying to rip it out. Endless pain and teasing. I do nothing. But this time..." Colton cut himself off.

"But this time, what?"

"I didn't want to be a victim anymore-" He looked Mrs. Mackowitz in the eye. "-I'm done with pretending to be hopeless and weak."

"We have told you countless times that, violence is never the answer." She leant forward as her brow knit with worry.

"You could have asked for help, and we wouldn't be in this situation. It's a miracle really. Micheal survived with no broken bones, dislocations, or a concussion. Just a few bad bruises. If it was worse, you could have been in even more serious trouble.

"But still, you are suspended as well as all the boys who were reported bullying you. I've called your mother to take you home, and during this time, I want you to think about what you've done. You are dismissed."

She gestured towards the exit. Colton stood up and left the room to see his mother waiting with worry lines etched into her forehead. He savored the moment when she wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her.

He then left her embrace to go back to his locker and get his things.

~~~

As Colton stepped into his room he let out a bear growl of frustration, pounding his his on his desk and collapsing in his bed. Why did he have to scree things up? He knew he could've done better, been the bigger guy and walked away, told an adult. But he didn't. He was impulsive and stupid.

He stretched out his wing partway, and plucked 15 feathers from it, yanking it hard to make sure it hurt, then the other wing, as a punishment. New feathers grew in instantly. He turned over on his head and buried his face into his pillow.

He turned his head and watched as the sky was enveloped in black. Just one other thing he screwed up for himself.

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