The Devil In Disguise

CHAPTER 34: The First Time

"So it all began two years ago. I was in school, and... it wasn't good, let's just say. I hated it and I had no friends and... I was bullied."

I took a deep breath and continued, "I was walking home from school one day. And, these girls... they were ... bitches, to say the least. They were horrid," I curled my hands into fists, remembering their satanic faces as their eyes spotted their victim. "They gave me the hardest time, got their boyfriends to play pranks with them, they hurt me... but I was... I guess too clever, if I may say so myself, and they were never able to execute their plans — at least, not fully. It was probably a mix of both paranoia and astuteness rather than intelligence that helped me in these situations, but I'll call it intelligence anyway."

A small smirk appeared on Xander's face, one corner of his mouth tipping upwards — almost proudly.

"But this time, the girls had no plans. They improvised and I was unaware. They came up behind me and one of them tackled me to the ground."

I vaguely registered my friends' progressively angry expressions. Simon's hands were tightly held together as if he was refraining to punch these people who had caused me such misery.

"One of the girls took her drink and poured it over me while I was on the floor to stop me from fighting back. It went up my nose and I choked, but they didn't give me time to recover; they just started kicking me and throwing things on me and shit. And they called their boyfriends too, to join in," I laughed hollowly. "By the end, there were about eight people hurting me. Within fifteen minutes I was just laying there, cuts all over my face and arms and bruises everywhere."

"That's horrible," Grace whispered, tears in her eyes.

"What are their names? I'm just curious," Corina said in a deadly tone, her eyes murderous.

"Me too," Simon and Xander both said, their teeth gritted in fury.

I smiled at them, glad for these friends that I never had. I felt the stone of secrets slowly chipping, it's weight slowly decreasing and making my chest feel lighter.

"What happened then?" Xander asked, his eyes soft for the first time. I blinked in surprise and struggled for a moment, then broke my gaze from his.

"Uh — well... I was laying there, too shocked and hurt to do anything. I hadn't let myself cry in front of them because I didn't want to give them that satisfaction, I was too stubborn."

"Still are," Xander commented softly, with a fond look in his eyes.

"Agreed," Corina chuckled, to which I smiled lightly, then continued,

"But, after they left, I couldn't help it. I couldn't move, I was too... traumatised. I was in a quiet, desolate little park which was abandoned, so no one could find me — and I couldn't call my parents because the bullies broke my phone."

They nodded subconsciously, their serious faces attentive, paying attention to every word.

"I don't know how long I was there. Could have been an hour, or two... my parents weren't worried; they thought I'd gone to a friend's house. Obviously, like most bully victims, I didn't want it to get out of hand in fear of being bullied more. So my parents thought I'd just forgotten to tell them that I was going to a friend's house, and that I was fine," I remembered their naivety back then. Thankfully, that was gone now. I inhaled and said, "That was the last time they saw me... for two weeks."

As if on cue, they gasped. "What? How? Was it..." Grace trailed off in a hushed tone.

"Him? Yes," I replied, looking down, the memories flooding back as if it were yesterday.