Matteo ended up being placed inside one of the empty classrooms, where he was left by the teachers to calm himself down. It took a while, but the adrenaline had finally fizzled out and Matteo, who now sat at the back of the classroom hugging his knees, was finally calming down.
He wiped the blood and tears off his face and just sat there looking back at what had just happened. Staring at his bloody hands, his mind flashed with images of his outburst. He couldn't believe it. What had he done? He kept thinking back to it, and the more he thought, the wider his grin became,
I did it
He celebrated
They finally left me alone. It worked! So this is how I get people to stop bullying me.
But still, deep in his heart, he felt a weird pain. A sense of guilt as he stared at the blood and hair of the other boys.
I hurt them. I hit them… they were bleeding. Everyone looked so scared. But… I just did what they said.
"If you really want us to stop so badly, then why don't you do something to make us?"
That's what they said, right? I asked them to leave me alone, but they didn't. I asked them to stop, but it only made it worse. Only after… only after I did that… did they leave me alone. Sylvia said that I should ask them to leave me alone, but it didn't work. She told me to tell the teachers, but that made it worse.
I thought it was never going to work. That they were just going to bully me forever. But… I see now. I finally found a way that works! I fought back, and they left me alone! I did it, I finally did it! Now I don't have to worry about the bullies! Now nobody will ever try and hurt me again! All I need to do now is become big and strong, then they'll leave me alone for good!
He chuckled while thinking about it all, but one last memory entered his mind, an old conversation,
"Matteo, promise me you'll always be as kind to people as you are now. Always be nice to others and don't do anything to hurt them, okay?"
"Yes mama, I promise".
His grin disappeared.
I'm sorry, mama, but I tried. I tried and they laughed at me… they laughed at you. It was the only way to stop it. I'm sorry mama.
But It worked. So it's okay… right, mama? Please tell me it's okay. They did very bad things to me. Sylvia's not here to help me anymore, and no one else wants to help me. I was just trying… to help myself. That's okay, right? You forgive me, right mama?
But the only answer he got back was silence. Until…
All the lights in the room went out, leaving Matteo in complete darkness. Then, a soft white glow filled the room, and a few seconds after that, smoke slowly filled the floor of the room. Matteo held his breath as his heart started racing, not with the fear he had the last time this happened, but with something else, something like… excitement.
It had been years since the last time this had happened, but he never forgot about it. And he was sure that he never would. But at the same time, with it being years since he last saw the being responsible for it, he wasn't sure if this was the actual thing. Over the years he had gotten himself too excited for its return, only to be met with disappointment. But then again, the only other time this exact scene played out, was on the night they had first met, the night that changed his life forever.
He thought he hated that being, that it ruined his life and brought him to where he is now. He thought that all he wanted to do was have it answer all his questions, so he could finally get the truth and let everybody know that his mother wasn't crazy. But he couldn't deny that in the past four years, its absence left a bit of a hole somewhere in his heart, and for the past four years there was little he wanted more than to see its return.
He waited anxiously to see what would happen to the smoke in the empty classroom. His heart rate was off the charts and his body trembled from the suspense. Then finally, after four long years… he saw it.
The smoke in the room danced higher and higher off the floor, coming together to form the transparent figure of a human body. Once its transformation was complete, it turned its featureless face toward him and said the words Matteo had been longing to hear for the past four years,
"I'm back, foolish child".
Matteo's face lit up
"Ghost!"