-Words can hurt, but they can also heal.-
----
A series of letters through which Becca contacts her former classmates. What she never imagined was that writing may lead her to the guy who started it all...Brian.
Soon Becca will be faced with a quest...
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❝It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire.❞
-- James 3.5
❊
Twelve years ago...
"Give that back!" The angry voice snapped.
Becca let out a gasp of surprise as the skin on her thin pale arms covered in goose bumps. Just the mere sound of his voice made her heart leap out of her chest. And not in a good way.
Before she could blink, a hand stronger than hers whipped her around, loosening the wavy brown locks from their neatly placed pin and making her loose balance as she tripped over her own clumsy feet. She thrust her left arm out instinctively, latching it on a nearby desk to evade the fall and regain her footing, but to her dismay that gained the attention of prying eyes around them and her cheeks begun to feel hot.
Lifting her wide innocent eyes from the ground, she came face to face with the owner of the angry snarl.
Brian.
She was perfectly sure that no other name on the face of the earth sounded as bad as his did. Like scratching her nails against the board, it left her shuddering with disgust. For Becca those five letters were the worst name ever created and a possible threat to humankind. Or worse, to kindness itself.
"This is mine you thief!" Brian said, snatching a green pen from her hands and scrapping the soft skin of her palm in the process. Barely containing a hiss, Becca watched as an ugly splotchy line spread along her palm.
Her eyes began to fill with unshred tears and her vision got blurry. She wanted to answer him. She wanted to tell him that she'd found it on the floor and was asking for it's owner. She wasn't a thief. But the chocking sensation in her airways wouldn't let her. And as she stood there in the middle of the class, facing her worst nightmare, the curious eyes of her friends digging on her back, she realized there were no words. There would never be words for Brian. He'd already made up his mind.
"Don't touch my things ever again. Who knows how dirty your bony hands are. Now I'll need to desinfect my whole pencilcase."
Becca knew this wasn't because Brian never shared anything with anyone. No. It was because he never shared anything with her. He considered her a plague like bugs and she needed to be exterminated as one.
❊
"Lousy,"
"Looousyy,"
The kids chanted, pointing their fingers at Becca with a range of mocking expressions on their faces. She'd been quietly reading a storytale with her friend Ellie during the break when they decided to fix their boredom by bugging someone. And as she was sitting beside them, they went for it.
