Heat rose to his cheeks in a form of anger in which he can only let out by clenching his fists until his nails dug deep into his skin, drawing blood. The most he could do was keep his knees buckled to prevent his frail frame from tumbling onto the cold tiled floor.

But regardless, his back slammed into the cold metal of the lockers when the 6 foot 2 junior student fisted his shirt and threw him backwards.

A sneer was on the tall boy’s face.

Baekhyun cringed at the pain in his back as the corners of his eyes watered.

No, I can’t cry, not in front of everyone, not the first day of school.

Baekhyun told himself as the corners of his eyes began to water from the pain. He squeezed his eyes shut to block out the crowd gathered around, who were watching the four tall boys beat up Baekhyun.

It’s not a fair game.

The four boys were all tall with well-toned muscles, while Baekhyun is just a small-framed freshmen. If this is what high school is like, then how is he going to survive?

“Look at him! He’s barely a kid!” The boy with huge ears and a deep voice said.

“I bet his is two inches!” Another one of them said, sporting a heavy foreign accent.

Baekhyun was sure his face was red. Avoiding the bullies’ eyes, he glared down at the floor as anger boiled inside of him like an active volcano, ready to explode.

He waited for something else to come, and maybe he will finally explode. But the sound of a locker opening next to him made him snap his eyes open. The hand is on his collar again, pulling him towards the opened locker with inhuman strength. Baekhyun tried to plant his feet on the floor and clawed at the hand on his collar, letting out a scream. But inch by inch, he was being dragged.

Soon, darkness engulfed him as he was shoved into the tiny, cramped space and the locker slammed shut.

A click was heard.

He painfully shifted and tried to open the locker from inside. It’s locked.

“Let me out!” He screamed.

People laughed.

“LET ME OUT!!!!!” He screamed and pounded his fists onto the cold metal, but his lack of physical strength did not even allow him to make a tiny dent.

People laughed and laughed, until his face burned and the tears really did come out. The small space was suffocating him, along with his quiet sobs. But he never stopped pounding. He can’t give up. He can’t let these arrogant bastards take advantage of his small frame.

His mind struggled to find a way out, amidst the laughs directed at him. Panic took over him. At that moment, his emotions were a huge mess. He was furious, sad, embarrassed, and tears spilled out of his eyes before he knew it. But at that moment, one thing he knew for sure was that he hated, absolutely despised, these bullies, and he engraved their faces into his mind.

“That’s enough, Wu,” the deep voice said. Baekhyun recognized his voice as the one with the huge ears.

“Shut up, Park,” came the accented voice again.

Laughs continued. It continued for as long as Baekhyun can remember, minutes turned into hours and he still hears it. Even when the students are suppose to be in class, the laughs haunted him and echoed in the darkness of the locker, or maybe it was just in his head. But it continued. And he pounded until his fists turned bloody, until he couldn’t tell if he was in a locker or if he is existing in another dimension where despair ate him up whole.

He knows for sure, his four years in high school will not be easy. As long as these bullies are still here, everyone will remember him as the “locker boy”. It’s only the first day, and he hates this school already. He hates the people in it, he hates everything about it. He hates everyone.

Sobbing, he slid down until he sat hugging his knees, and waited.

Classes began and ended, and no one came to open the locker. Lunch period passed and no one came to open it. He knew people were out there and they knew he was in here, but no one came forth to open it.

Day darkened into night, and no one came to open it.

He was engulfed in darkness. And he doesn’t know how to get out.

It was when Baekhyun’s head hit the side of the locker as he began to doze off did the locker finally open. He snapped awake.

It was dark outside too.

The only thing he can see is a tall silhouette holding the locker open and an outstretched hand offered to him.

He took the hand and was finally pulled out of the locker. Staying in a cramped place for over 8 hours made his entire body sore and he almost collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion and hunger. Luckily, the tall boy caught him.

This stranger swung Baekhyun’s arm around his shoulder and helped him up with a hand on his waist, not saying a word. Being too tired to care, he let the taller support him.

The school is empty and the lights are off. It’s night time.

“Thank you,” Baekhyun said weakly, trying hard to focus on the stranger’s face, but with the dim lighting, he can only see midnight black hair and ears too large to be human.

One of the four bullies earlier had large ears.

“You welcome.”

When the taller spoke, that was when Baekhyun realized, this is no stranger at all. It’s that same deep voice from earlier.

So he is one of the bullies. The one that said “that’s enough, Wu.” And this “Wu” guy called him… “Park?”

Why is he helping me?

Now knowing the stranger’s identity, Baekhyun became fully alert. He can’t trust this guy, who participated in humiliating him in front of the whole school, and he pushed the taller away.

“Park” studied him, as if internally asking himself why the smaller would refuse his help. Then without another word, the tall boy walked away, leaving Baekhyun in the dark hallway.

It was nine when Baekhyun came home.

It was dark in his house too.

Turning on the lights that stabbed his weary and swollen eyes, he noticed a note on the kitchen counter.

It read: “Won’t be home tonight, and probably not tomorrow night either. There’s food in the fridge. Call me if you need anything. Love, mom.”

A wad of cash laid lonely on the counter.

Baekhyun laughed at the last two words.

He can’t remember what actual love feels like. It’s pathetic how his “mom” continues to use this word meant for strong affection when the way she uses it is void of any emotions. To her, and to him, it is just a four-lettered word that symbolizes a temporary burst of emotion that dies away with the river of time, the water flowing in it is blood that woozes out of his never closing wounds.

For Baekhyun, his mother had died the moment his parents got divorced five years ago.

He has no mom.

The woman that left him the note is just a body without a soul that operates like a machine, doing her duties as a “mother” instead of doing them out of love.

Baekhyun is used to this.

Even though his stomach is screaming for food, he ignores the fridge and goes straight to bed. He doesn’t go to school the next day. Or the day after. After all, there’s no reason to go anyways. Nobody will notice, or care. Everyone will continue living, the earth will continue spinning, and the sun will continue shining.

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