Descendants: Children Of The Isle

Sanctuary

Carlos
I yelp in surprise as someone twists their foot in front of mine, just above it, sending me to the floor. I land on the fresh bruises from yesterday and wince, looking up to see who tripped me. Amused eyes meet mine, kicking my bag from me. I frown in confusion, Jay has never acknowledged me before so why is he now tripping me?
"Watch we're your going," he snaps. I frown. He was the one who tripped me. However I just nod and try to stand. Mal, however, knocks me back down.
"Did we say you could get up?" she asks  icily.
"No?" I say, entirely confused on what is going on.
"Then don't," Evie states. What have I done to these three? They walk off without another word.

I pick myself up from the floor, ignoring the laughs and snickers from other students. Typical.
"Pathetic," I hear someone say. "Can't even stand up for himself." I don't respond. At home I learned not to or the punishment would be worse. I don't want school to be the same. Hopefully this was just a one time thing.

                     _______________

It was not a 'one time thing'. It's now been going on for two months and I hate it. It's pathetic but school was kind of a sancutary for me. It was somewere I felt safe from her and her friends but now I'm not even feeling away from her at school. I look in the broken, filthy school mirror, dabbing concealer on my bruised eye trying to  hide it. The last thing I need is for them to figure out is my homelife and bully me for that too. I then dab it on a cut on my ckeek. I've gotten pretty good at this.

I head out, keeping my head down, hoping no one will notice me.
"Hey runt," a voice greets. I wince at the 'nickname' they've given me and try to ignore her. Mal shoves me against the lockers, Evie blocking my way to the left and Jay the right. Mal stands in front of me, crossing her arms: other students quickly gather around to watch the show. I avoid making eye-contact.

My back throbs from the pressure against the locker: I got caned again last night because she was bored. I didn't even do anything wrong this time.
"What?" I ask, trying to seem indifferent. From their smug looks I can tell it's not working.
"We wanted to know where the little coward was rushing off to," Jay states, a smirk forming.
"I'm not a coward... " I mutter. Lies.
"Of course you are," Mal states, looking amused. "You're scared of us. You're too scared to stand up to anyone. You're to scared to be either evil or mean. You're nothing."

I wince at her words- their smirks widen.
"And you're pathetic," Evie adds. I don't argue brcause everything they say is true and there's no point denying it."

They walk off and I realise how much I prefer the more physical bullying to this. The physical bullying may make me be in pain, make it hard to sleep and make bruises that stay for weeks but this reminds me of how worthless I am and takes away any feeling of security I have here. Home may be called 'Hell Hall' but school is becoming more of a hell with each day, some days physically, some emotional... others both.