Chapter 14
It seemed like Jessica had really decided to latch onto me again. She kept calling me in the middle of the night. The moment I picked up, I could hear her sobbing on the other end.
Annoyed, I tried to put some distance between us by coldly saying, “Jessica, I’ve started a new life. You need to go talk things through with Cameron and clear up whatever misunderstandings you have with him. Stop calling me in the middle of the night to cry. If you keep doing this, I’ll block you!”
Her crying stopped suddenly, and after a long pause, she sniffled and spoke in a shaky voice, “You can’t be that cruel. You remember, don’t you? When you were at your lowest, I was the one who helped you. I saved you, Sebastian. You haven’t forgotten, right?”
Those words hit me like a punch to the gut, dragging me back to when I was sixteen.
I slumped down, feeling utterly defeated.
If, over the past two months, I’d almost managed to forget about Jessica, this moment made it clear–I could never completely push her out of my life. Even though I no longer loved her, I could never ignore her. I could never block her out of my world.
Because once a person walked through the darkness, they couldn’t snuff out the light that once guided them, event if it no longer shone on them.
When I was fifteen, my life was shattered.
A sudden accident at a factory took my parents from me, making me an unwanted orphan.
1 remember a white cloth covering two charred bodies, and police officer covering my eyes. “Don’t look, kid. Say goodbye to your parents.”
From that moment, I was placed in an orphanage. With the help of the government, I was able to continue my education. To avoid the pain, I buried myself in my studies, I became the top student in my grade, year after year. But when a person was good at something, people started to notice, and not always in a good way. Everyone knew I was an orphan, with no family or support, which made me an easy target. Soon enough, I became the target of bullying
“Sebastian, you’re just a cursed orphan who killed your parents. Why are you so proud?”
“If you can’t even learn to bow your head, maybe you should try begging.”
Bullies were rarely one person alone, because no one wanted to stand out. But once someone made the first move, others followed. It was easier to join in than to go against the crowd, especially when everyone else did it. And when group mentality took over, the worst and most savage sides of people came to light.
A boy with red hair flicked his cigarette butt into my hair, shrugged, and said, “Sorry, my hand slipped.”
Another boy, wearing ripped jeans, locked me in the bathroom, then reported me for skipping class.
A round faced boy with glasses gave me a box of cookies, but had hidden thumbtacks inside. They watched as I bled from my mouth, laughing like it was some kind of joke
I turned to my teachers for help, but they just turned away, One teacher had once tried to stand up for a bullied student, only to end up with two broken ribs for her trouble She was a young teacher, just out of university.
Chapter 14
+15 BONUS
She couldn’t even look me in the eye as she whispered, “Sebastian, come to my office if you’re hurt. I’ll put some medicine on it.”
When I told the orphanage director about what was happening, she just stared at me coldly.
“You’re not special. The fact that you can even go to school is already a blessing. If you don’t bother anyone, why would anyone pick on you? Keep your head down and stop causing trouble.”
I kept quiet, my head lowered as I walked back into the darkness,
And that was when Jessica appeared. She was like a godsend, pulling me out of the abyss just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore.
