“That’s right, runaway you loser!”

“Freak!”

“Nerd!”

“Ugly!”

I shouldered my backpack and walked through the hall without looking at any one of them. I didn’t like their comments, oh no. I didn’t like them at all.

But if I burn them into French fries, how the hell am I going to explain that to the police and their parents?

I felt something hit me in the back of my head as I winched in pain. I looked back and saw my jeering classmates. I looked down and saw what hit me. It was my Greek Mythology book that they stole a few days before. I picked it up and dusted it. I’ve always found Greek Mythology fascinating.

“Go back to learning about Greek stuff!”

“You don’t belong here!”

“GO AWAY!”

I ran for it. I shielded my head their pelting as I burst out of the school, turning the corner as I continued running. Sometimes, they would chase me and get some rocks on the road to hit me with.

I ran until I was at least a mile away from the school. I stopped and rested my back on the wall, panting.

Why is it always me?

I sighed and kicked the wall hard, immediately hopping on one foot.

“Great, Jung Scarlet does it again! Making a fool of yourself is really your specialty, huh?” I asked myself as I sighed, limping back to my house where I knew someone who cared about me.

~.~

“Scarlet!”

“Dad!” I smiled for the first time as I saw my dad sitting on his favorite chair, reading the news. I hugged him immediately, kissing the top of his head.

“So, how was school?” Dad asked me expectantly as I opened the fridge, finding my favorite snack, which were cookies. Mmm, cookies.

“The usual. I’ll be upstairs working on my prototype, okay? Bye dad!” I rushed upstairs and went to my room which was decorated with a lot of blueprints drawn by me.

I sat on my squishy chair and looked at the model in front of me. It’s supposed to be a sword, yet I just made the hilt from scraps of metal. It wasn’t a real sword of course, because I don’t have the money nor time to burn any precious gold.

So, I used unused metal to make the golden hilt that I made from scratch. I looked at happily, it was my pride.

I opened up my computer to study my measurements for the blade when I decided to just log in my social networking site. I scrolled through with slight interest. A post caught my eye.

It was one of the people who bullied me. They posted this:

I’m sorry to Jung Scarlet who I bullied everyday. I’m sorry for what I did to make you sad and angry. Forgive me?

I snorted. As if.

So I made this picture for you, as a tribute. Link.

I was curious. I clicked and opened it in a new a tab and waited for the picture to load. As the picture loaded, my jaw dropped in horror.

It was a drawing of me getting beat up by my mom and my father just helplessly laying there in a pool of blood as I was battered and bruised. There was something written on it too.

Psyche, loser!

I exited the tab and stood up, feeling aggravated. How dare they do this to me and my family?!

It’s already broken, but I and my dad were fine by ourselves. Why would they do this. I kicked my chair, sending it crashing on the table. My prototype fell down and broke into a million pieces as I started to feel furious. I glanced at my mirror and saw that my eyes started to turn red.

Oh no.

“Dad!” I yelled in fear as I ran out of my room, leaving a trail of fire. Oh no, not again.

“Dad! Please help me!”

“Scarlet?! What happened?! Scar- WHOA!” I faced my dad in the kitchen as I started to cry. I was blazing. I was a human torch. Everything around me started to blaze with fire as my dad tried to go near me.

“Dad! Help me! Stop it!” I screeched in fear, wanting for everything to stop. He backed away as I stepped closer to him.

Oh yeah, I was a torch.

“Dad! Get out of here before this place burns down! Dad please!” I advised him as he tried to open the front door. It was locked from the inside.

The ceiling, the table, the fridge and the countertop stood ablaze as my father stood a few feet away from me, looking scared.

He saw my expression, and he turned calm.

“Scarlet, before I leave this world-“

“NO! You’re not dying! STAY AWAY FROM ME!” I cried out as I backed away. He didn’t budge. He continued walking towards me. He stood in front of me as I continued to sob. This couldn’t be happening.

“Scarlet, listen to me. Take good care of yourself. A camper will find you in here, I promise. They can sense your broken hilt. It’s going to be okay. Just try to calm down.”

“I can’t! They’re always bullying me in school, they keep on threatening to kill me, but I can’t do anything about it because I don’t want to kill them!” I yelled at him in frustration, a thousand thoughts running through my mind. But one stood out.

My dad was going to leave me.

“Scarlet. Please, just do one favor,” my dad pleaded as I got the courage to nod.

He looked scared, but also ready to accept things as they are.

“Stay yourself. Never change for anyone. I love you.”

“NO!” Just then, the blazing fridge fell forward, on top of my father, and I couldn’t do anything to help him.

“DAD!” I yelled as I used all my might to push the fridge. It wouldn’t budge. I slumped on the fridge and wailed.

“I HATE YOU!” I shouted in anger. I put my face in my blazing hands, wishing I would just go with my dad.

~.~

“Are you alright?” a soft voice asked me as I opened my eyes a bit. It was a boy. A boy with curly hair, gentle eyes and a dimple on his right cheek.

“I’m here to help you,” he said again in the same tone as opened my mouth.

“No one can help me,” I croaked ever so softly, surprised he heard it.

“You’re wrong.”

And with that, I just let go of everything and out.