It was a dark and cloudy day at MacRion academy, and with a few minutes left until break time, Matteo was inside his Spirit Tree while being tested on in the Academy's research facility. Once inside, the first thing he did was wander around, hoping to see a figure he hadn't seen in years.
"Mr Ghost! Mr Ghost"
But no matter how much he searched, Mr Ghost was nowhere to be found. This saddened Matteo for a variety of different reasons, which he had no time to dwell on as he quickly felt another presence in his Spirit Tree. He went back to his entry point where he met up with one of the instructors, who was beyond amazed at what he was witnessing. Never in his life had he seen a Spirit Tree like this one. He had heard stories about it from his colleagues, but no story or description could ever do justice to the real thing. It took him a while to take in the ambience of the place before refocusing on his mission.
"Alright, take me to where you planted the Heart of Seneva".
Matteo walked him up the steps to the pillars where he planted his seed. The instructor was still amazed as he touched the pillars all over and once he had finished, he began the routine inspection of Matteo's Spirit Tree. After a few minutes of inspections, he concluded that everything was still okay and that Matteo was still on good pace to fully grow his Seed and unlock its healing powers.
By the time they had finished, the bell had already rang for the beginning of break. Matteo and the instructor left his Spirit Tree and as the teachers began their discussions and departed the room. Matteo left back to his classroom where he would hope to enjoy his break. It had become a regular occurrence for Matteo to eat lunch alone in his classroom as his teacher was always there either marking papers or doing whatever else a teacher does during their break.
Unfortunately for him, when he got there, the teacher was not at his desk or anywhere in the classroom. This worried him a little bit but not too much as the other students were already grabbing their things and leaving. He went over to his desk, sat down and took out his lunchbox. But before he could even start eating, he was approached by two of his classmates.
"Greetings, Lord Matteo", he said in a mocking tone, "I see you've skipped out on class yet again today. You see, normally I don't pry into other people's business, but I just can't ignore this matter any longer. Why is it that you always get to skip out on lessons, huh?"
Matteo responded shyly, "W-well… I don't exactly skip out on lessons. I just have to go to the research facility so that the teachers can do their tests on my Spirit Tree."
"Oh, I see", one of the boys responded, grabbing a nearby chair and sitting near Matteo's desk. The others did the same, surrounding his table. Matteo tensed at this, reflexively pressing his body together, showcasing his discomfort. The boys continued, "So, what's the deal with your Spirit Tree, huh? What makes it so special that you get to just skip class whenever you feel like it?"
"I… don't know".
"Wait, didn't you hear? Apparently his Spirit Tree is super special, plus he has a new Seed Type that has never been seen before." One of the guys explained to his clueless friend. "Wait, seriously? I thought that was a myth or some lie they told us for propaganda. So you really have a new Seed Type?"
"I… I don't know", Matteo replied once again, "Everybody says that I do but… I really don't know. I haven't seen it yet and… I think I lost the only way to know more about it". The others weren't happy with this response, "So, what do you know?" they asked him.
Matteo clenched his fists, "Listen, I really don't know any of this. The adults know what's going on and unfortunately they are the only ones that know about it. Like I just said, I lost my only way of knowing how. So can you please leave me alone so I can eat my food? I'm very hungry".
"Huh? What's with that tone? Don't talk to us like we're idiots". One of them said as he took Matteo's lunchbox. "Hey! Please give that back". But they ignored him. "What's the matter, I just want a taste". The other joined him and started eating his lunch. "Hey, this is pretty good! I can't get enough of it!"
"Give that back! It's mine!" He shouted, reaching for the lunchbox. He was shoved back roughly by one of the boys. "Did we say we were done? What's wrong with you?" Matteo fell back onto another table, hurting his lower back, "But it's my food! And you didn't even ask for it!"
"So what, now you're crying? Grow up already man! You're in high school aren't you? Next year you're graduating as well, and you're still crying over food?"
"But I mean, you can't blame him, I mean look at him, he's basically still a baby". The boys teased. Matteo grabbed his lunchbox while their guards were down and tried to move to another table. But before he could even take three steps, the boys grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back, "Where are you going?"
"I just want to be left alone", Matteo explained, not turning to face them. "What, you don't like our company? Come on man, sit down. We just want to talk with you. We want to be your friends". They explained. But Matteo was having none of that, "No thank you. I just want to be left alone".
"Oh so what, are we not good enough for you?" they asked. "You don't want to talk to us because you don't think we're good enough to be your friends, is that it?" Matteo explained again, "No, that's not the reason. I just prefer being alone".
"Liar!" They pushed him to the ground. "Human beings hate being alone! That's a well known fact, so I know you're lying! You just don't want to admit that you don't think we're good enough to be your friends!" They accused.
"No, that's not it!-"
"Well then who do you want to be friends with, huh? The princess? The king? Are those the only people worthy enough to receive your attention, Lord Matteo?" They continued laying their accusations.
"No, that's not it!" Matteo repeated. "Oh really, then explain to us why you're leaving us. And don't you dare tell us that you 'just want to be alone'!"
Matteo stood up then thought over his words and finally replied, "Because you are making me uncomfortable and you ate my lunch without even asking. I don't like it and I asked you guys to stop but you didn't want to, so I want to leave instead".
The boys were genuinely speechless, until they all erupted into laughter.
"Would you look at that, the little guy using such big words".
"So adorable," they mocked. "Well, if you really want us to stop, then why don't you do something to make us?" Matteo once again tried to walk away but, "Hey, where are you going, that's cheating! If you want us to leave you alone, you're going to have to stop us. Running away won't help you".
By then, a group of bystanders had already gathered and had been watching the whole thing. One of them finally decided they had seen enough, "Hey, just leave him alone", she said as she grabbed one of their shoulders. "Huh? What's wrong with you? Can't you see we're just playing with him?" The girl stood her ground. "I literally just saw you push him to the ground".
The boys defended themselves well, "So we may have been a little bit rough with him, what has that got to do with you?" The girl pressed on, "He asked you guys to leave him alone. Clearly he isn't enjoying whatever game you guys are playing. Now please leave him alone or else I will tell the teachers". She warned, her voice sharp.
"No. You please leave us alone, or I will tell the teachers, the student council, and your family about what I caught you and your boyfriend doing yesterday on school premises". The girl was stunned. "H-how…"
"Because I have my connections", he smirked. The girl left the scene without another word. There were no other brave souls willing to step up for Matteo and the boys went back to their game.
"Anyway, where were we? Ah, right! So… what's your plan, little man?"
Matteo clenched his jaw. His frustration mounting. " Look, I don't have a plan. So please, just leave me alone". A tear fell down his face. "Oh come on, now you're crying? Is that your plan? Come on, man up! Or did your mother raise a crybaby?" One of the boys pulled on his hair.
"Please… don't talk about my mother", Matteo begged. "Or what? What are you going to do, little man?" they dared him. "We keep on telling you, if you want us to leave you alone then do something".
"I said stop it!" Matteo shouted. "What are you going to do if we don't? Are you going to make her ghosts haunt us as well?" The other boys gasped and then laughed. "Don't do that. Don't mock my mother! You don't know anything about her, so stop it!" Matteo warned them. But they didn't listen,
"I know that she certainly had a few screws loose. I mean, why would someone kill themselves and destroy all their beauty over some random ghost story?"
"It's not a story, it's true!" Matteo screamed louder. "No it's not, you little fool. People tell stories about ghosts all the time, and none of it has ever been true. Yet somehow, Isabella Dumont was the only idiot who couldn't separate fiction from reality". They continued laughing.
Matteo was done screaming and before he realized it, he threw his fist into one of the boys' stomachs as hard as he could. But unfortunately that did not bring him the desired result.
"Oh, look! He's finally starting to fight! Come on, you'll have to fight harder than that!" They kept provoking. Matteo kept pounding his fist into the guys stomach and it didn't take long for him to start feeling the impact of Matteo's punches. Once he felt the discomfort in his stomach, he decided to stop playing around and gave Matteo a hard punch to the face.
But that punch did nothing to stop Matteo as he got back up and tried hitting again, but was met with the same punch to the face. The crowd had grown larger and while there were a few attempts to try and stop what was happening, the boys shut them all down.
They then decided to give Matteo an offer, "Okay, how about we make a deal? If you just admit that you think you're better than us instead of making all your excuses, we will leave you alone. And I promise you that".
Matteo hesitated for a moment, then finally told them what they wanted to hear, " Alright, fine. I think I'm better than you, okay? I'm smarter than you and I'm more special than you, and I'm… better than you! At everything! Now leave me alone!"
The boys all had smirks of satisfaction on their faces. "I see, so that's how it is",
And all hell broke loose.
"So you think you're better than us, huh? We're nothing but worthless scum in your perfect eyes, are we?"
"B-but you told me that you'd let me go if I said yes". Matteo pointed out. "Yes, we did say that", the boys explained again, "However, that was a test, a test to reveal your true nature. You see, they say that a person reveals their true selves when they're most desperate, so if you really didn't think of us that way, you would have stuck to your earlier words and we'd have left you alone. But now that I know what you really think of us, I don't think that's possible anymore, is it boys?"
"No way."
"After that, there's no way I can just leave you alone".
"If that's what you really think of us, then maybe we'll have to change your mind".
They beat him to the ground and began pummeling him, punching, kicking and throwing at whatever they would manage to hit. None of the bystanders did anything to help. They just watched, whether in excitement at the drama, or out of powerlessness at their inability to stop them. Luckily some did leave to go and tell the teachers.
As Matteo was getting beat for reasons outside his understanding, he somehow managed to scream out, "Please stop! Why are you doing this to me?!" The boys actually stopped for a second to reply, "You haven't figured it out yet, genius? We hate you, that's why! You come here and get treated like royalty! You get all the special treatment, these teachers all bend over backwards for you all while we get treated like trash simply because we're not you! I'm sick of it! Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Matteo had enough. Ever since he had first been here, all people would tell him was that exact thing. That they hated him simply because he existed. He never did anything to make them hate him. He just minded his time, did what he was supposed to do and kept to himself. And yet, that was never enough. It was enough for other people, but not him.
No matter what he did, he couldn't escape the hatred of these people. It seemed that it was almost a natural thing. Matteo had run out of ideas. His body hurt, his heart hurt and he was tired of all the pain, he was tired of just letting himself be hated and abused. But at the same time, he tried almost everything and nothing worked. Although… there was one thing he hadn't tried.
At his wits end, Matteo finally understood what these boys had been saying this whole time. If he wanted them to leave him alone, he was going to have to make them. Simply asking them to stop proved ineffective time and time again and trying to ignore it only made things worse, so there was only one option left.
With a throat destroying scream, Matteo got up and pounced on one of the boys. After that he went completely crazy, punching, slapping, kicking, biting, scratching, you name it, he did it. All while screaming,
"Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" Once Matteo finished with the first boy, he moved on to the next one and the next one, and the one after that. Nobody in that room dared to move, and they were all dead silent until the teachers came in. Hearing all the screaming, they rushed into the room and stopped frozen for a split second once they laid their eyes on the scene.
They separated all the boys and carried Matteo out of the room. He was covered in all the boys' blood, his face wearing an expression of pure, unfiltered, animalistic rage. The rat had finally reached his corner, his breaking point, the end of his endurance, and the result could only be described as terrifying by all the witnesses who saw it from that day forward.
As Matteo was dragged out the room, he screamed and cried harder than he ever had before, until the door closed behind him and the room returned to its default silence.