Count The Shadows (Prequel to Test the Limits)

Free

"Hey Septiceye, you gonna cry for us crybaby?" Billy taunted, shoving Anti to the white and pale blue checkered floor of the crowded lunch room. His head smacked into one of the light gray round tables behind him before he hit the ground, his head throbbing with pain and the world seeming to spin around him like a merry go round as he tried to focus on Billy.

His lips were curled upward in a sneer, his nameless cronies laughing behind him and pointing at Anti.

"You're a freak." Billy hissed in Anti's face, kneeling down in front of Anti and taking a fistful of his shirt so he could drag Anti's face so close to his that Anti could smell the overwhelmingly disgusting stench of whatever he ate for lunch on his breath, making Anti gag.

"Go to hell." Anti whispered weakly in an attempt to sound brave, when in reality he felt terrified as he imagined the ways that Billy would torture him later.

"Oh Septiceye, I'm already there with you." Billy chuckled before punching Anti hard enough in the side of his face to knock him out cold instantly.

Anti awoke with a gasp, quickly sitting up as he assessed where he was. He was at home lying safe in bed, his emerald green hair matted to his forehead, his back slick with sweat.

It was only a nightmare, Anti realized with a sense of relief.

He released a sigh as he laid back down, grabbing his cracked black phone from his black bedside table and checked the time.

It was only three in the morning, meaning that he had about four more hours until school started.

He's had nightmares of Billy bullying him in junior high, even though it's been years since then. Although Billy would still bother him, he wouldn't beat him up anymore much to his surprise. Instead, he took to just irritating and insulting him, which in Anti's opinion was somewhat worse.

Groaning in annoyance, Anti flung his neon green covers off and sat up again, swinging his feet over the side of his small uncomfortable twin size bed and sliding off to land his bare feet on the old crunchy black carpeted floor.

Almost everything in his room was black and neon green, including his walls since they were his favorite colors.

He traded his black t-shirt that he slept in out for a different, somewhat clean black t-shirt that looked identical to the one he took off. He didn't bother changing out of his black skinny jeans since he didn't have any other pairs in his room since they were waiting to be washed downstairs.

He managed to navigate through the mess of dirty clothes and food trash to get to the kitchen to grab a microwave burrito and coffee for breakfast.

"Ow!" Anti seethed in pain through gritted teeth as he stepped into the kitchen. A seemingly endless amount of empty beer bottles littered the dark brown stained white tiled floor, shards of a bottle now embedded into his bare feet. It wasn't the first time its happened, but it still stung like hell every time.

Anti grumbled curse words under his breath as he managed to tear the shards out of his feet, tossing the blood covered brown glass pieces into the overflowing trash can that smelled like rotting food.

He managed to limp into the bathroom to bandage his feet, leaving a trail of blood behind on the wooden floor of the hallway. Anti started rummaging through the closet by the door, unable to find the bandages. He huffed in annoyance as he stepped in front of the mirror, pausing for a moment.

His emerald green hair was disheveled due to him just waking up, dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and his black t-shirt was wrinkled and dirty. One of Anti's eyes was normal, the iris a vibrant sapphire blue, however the other eye was completely neon green with a blue iris, hence the nickname Septiceye. He had heterochromia, meaning that both of his eyes were different colors. Because of it, he was the victim of bullying all through junior high and most of high school.