Creative Writing

People We Hurt (character development assignment)

"I can't believe it Santiago, I can't!" mom once again seethed, "How can you even do that, I know your dad, and I have raised you better than that."

There's this kid named Peyton at school. He's pretty tiny, and his hair always covers up his eyes, and he's just been getting on my nerves. So, I may have punched him and gotten suspended for a week! I understand why mom is furious, but honestly, he had it coming for him.

It was starting to get dark outside, and this is normally when I start to play games on the Xbox with my friends. When I approach the TV my Xbox seems to have vanished. I scoured the whole living room but I couldn't find it. I turn around, and I see my mom. Of course, she took it because I'm guessing I'm grounded now.

"Go to your room Santi," mom paused, "Now!"

"And what if I don't?" I retort.

"Santiago Harrison Banks, if you don't go to your room and go to sleep I swear to god you will never see your Xbox and phone again."

Hearing this, I roll my eyes and saunter up to my room with coffee-colored walls. I crash down on my bed and try to calm down. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't regretting hitting him the tiniest bit. I take a deep breath in and launch myself up and walk over to the bathroom and do my nighttime routine. About 30 minutes later I and once again crashed down on my bed. Telling Alexa to turn off my lights I close my eyes start to succumb to a night of deep sleep.

My eyes shoot open, and I find myself outside in an unknown area on soft lime green grass. I feel my heartbeat start to race, and I start to get up and look around.

"Where am I? How did I get here?" I say to no one in particular.

I jump in fear when a ding from my pocket sounds out loud. I reach in my pocket and pull out my phone. How do I have my phone? I thought my mom took it away. I put in the password, and I open Instagram. There was a DM from an account I don't know.

It read, "Ew! You're so ugly! Get plastic surgery!"

I feel myself cringe in confusion. Why would anyone say that to someone? I look around, and all I can see is a long stretch of grass and the cyan sky. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. My head starts to spin as I try to remember how I ended up here! I jump once again when I hear the whispers of people. I automatically spin in the direction of the source of the whispers.

"Oh my god!" I see almost all the kids from my school pointing their fingers at me whispering and giggling. I feel the need to hide somewhere, but to my dismay, there was nowhere to hide. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. I scream at the top of my lungs and swiftly turn around.

"Hey, I'm One. You're in my way, move," his voice gets low, "ugly."

I felt like I was about to pass out. This diminutive person, who claimed to be One, is just a singular color. Grape purple. One didn't really have any defining features except for his height. It was almost like he was a cartoon character, but alive, breathing, and talking right in front of me.

One thing I don't understand is why is everyone being so rude to me? I'm not that bad looking. I had a strong feeling that One is behind all of this. He's the only one who stands out from the others.

"Hey, Santiago, One told us that you don't wash your clothes and you smell like rotten eggs!" someone from the crowd yells out, and everyone bursts out laughing.

I feel like the world is spinning around me, my vision slowly starts to get blurrier, and eventually, I am surrounded by darkness.

I wake up and find myself in the same place, and I let out a groan of frustration. I just want to go home! I push myself off the ground, again, and look around. Everything was still the same except for one big thing. My school is now erected about 10 feet away from me. I trudge forward and enter the school. Every single detail of the school was exactly the same except where it's located. I don't think I've been this confused and scared in my life before.

"Aye, Two, look who it is!" someone yells.

Two turns around I almost drop to the ground. Again. Two looked exactly like One, but he was a bit taller and was blood red instead of purple.

He starts to walk over to me, and I suddenly wish I could turn invisible,

"Look who it is! It's Ugly," two chuckles, "why don't you go back to first grade. You don't belong in high school. You're so dumb," his voice was ice cold. Anyone would want to run for their life after hearing him speak this way.

I don't why, but what he just said to me sounded oddly familiar. Then it suddenly came to me, and I felt all the blood rush to my feet. I said this to Peyton. Not once, not twice, but so many times I don't remember the exact number of times.

Two put his arm around my shoulder and I gasp. "What little baby is scared of me. That's cute, that really is!" he starts to yell, "Hey everyone! This ugly thing right next to me is scared of me! Haha, how funny is that?"

I start to feel tears start to form and I quickly blink them away. The embarrassment I feel right now is so grand, I think it's bigger than the sun. The want of just going home, cuddling up on the couch, and crying is so distracting. I thought I was strong, but I'm crumbling under every word that comes out of Two's mouth. Is this how Peyton felt?

I reached for my phone in my pocket to see if there was any way I can text someone and find my way home, but it was missing. I look around, and I see that Two is scrolling through something on there.

"Hey give it back!" I shriek.

"Look at this, guys! Little ugly calls his mother "mommy" he's such a baby," Two chuckles in his signature cold voice.

I feel myself start to shiver in fear again and everything once again starts to go blurry. The darkness wraps around me again.

I once again wake in the same place, the school is still there, and the door is wide open. I sigh and push myself up off the ground and dash into the building. This is the last time I'm waking up here! I take a deep breath in and brace myself for whatever is going to happen next. All the kids are pointing and giggling, as usual.

"Did Peyton get used to all the mess I created too?" I think to myself.

"Three your target is here!" someone yells.

"Look at what we have here. You're going to snitch that we're just having a bit of fun with you?" Three said, his voice as fierce as a lion's.

I had to lift my head up to see Three's face. He was the same as One and Two but was taller and a dark jet black.

Everyone around me started to yell "Do it!" and I started to feel heat creep up onto my cheeks. I knew what was going to happen because I did myself. I swiftly turned around, and I saw a fist flying towards my face at lightning speed. I succumbed to the darkness around me once again.

I was too scared to open my eyes, so I tried to feel my surroundings. I was laying on something soft and smooth. Definitely not grass. I didn't hear any birds chirping or people giggling. Definitely not outside. My eyes shoot open on their own. I'm laying down on my bed all in one piece. It was a dream.

I don't if I ever felt so much guilt in my life before. I think of all the events that happened in that dream, and all I can think about is Peyton. He must have felt all the emotions I felt because One, Two, and Three did everything I did to him. I make up my mind that I will apologize to everyone I've hurt in my life starting with the person I hurt most, Peyton.