There's a saying that goes, "Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."
Similarly, the tides of my middle school life turned on this fateful day for better or worse.
-
*Knock* *Knock*
My mom woke me up every morning. "Hey Mark, wake up; otherwise, you'll be late for school." As always, she was here for me, knocking on my room's door.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Did you hear me?" And calling my name. "Mark!" I replied, "Yes, Mom, I'm up now!" while still snuggling in my bed. I got up after a long while and got ready for school hurriedly.
She said, "I told you to wake up on time, but you never do. Why don't you leave the door open? That way I can come shake you off the bed." As I'm tying my shoelaces.
I replied, "Have you heard about something called privacy, Mom?" As I closed the door and left.
My school wasn't too far, so I would walk. Every day, I would leave rushing, so there is no recollection of how it felt walking to school. I sat in the middle rows and would only talk if someone talked to me first. There were 4 friends who would talk to me every day, and we would write stories together in breaks and free classes.
I could almost say everything was fine the way they were, but-
"Hey you, what are you writing?"
…
Raising his hand forward from beside my desk. He said, "Here, hand it over." Despite knowing what was going to happen if I didn't give my notebook, I chose to stay silent and kept writing. I was scared and contemplated my choice at that moment.
I thought, "Maybe I should give it to him." As he stood there staring at me, his hands still raised forward.
I was ready to give in to his presence. My eyes were full of tears, head faced down. But he left. I was relieved. I thought that perhaps the tides had finally turned and that I had won for once, but I was naïve to think things would change so easily.
Everyone had left for lunch, and I was alone in the class.
He returned with his friend and demanded that I hand over the notebook again. I was about to speak when his friend snatched the notebook from me and began reading the first page aloud.
I stood up as he started reading the first line. "The People of the Sky Islands."
"Stop! Give it back to me." He blinked, looked at me, then kept reading.
"No one believed when a young girl said she'd seen people with wings peeking down from the clouds. They thought she was but a child speaking fantasy."
I leaned forward to snatch the notebook back from his hands, but I failed as he leapt backward and ran to the podium while reading further.
"But one day her father too saw the impossible. A person with wings flying hastily towards the clouds."
I, too, ran towards him to take the notebook back when the first guy stepped in and stopped me while his friend got behind the lectern and continued.
"Soon a crowd gathered, and the whole village witnessed the person with wings."
I pushed him and ran beside the lectern. As his friend saw me come closer. He closed the notebook and attempted to tear it. Desperate, I slapped him with all that I had in me. Shook, he dropped the copy on the floor.
I knew I went too deep when I decided to slap him in my desperation. Now, all I could think was to somehow run outside after picking the notebook from the floor.
I bent down to pick up the notebook when his friend kicked me on the side of my stomach, and I dropped on the floor with pain.
"Little turd thinks he's something, huh."
I was curled up on the floor when the first guy came to back his friend up. He picked me and then punched me. I was out of my mind from the pain to think straight at that point and punched him with all my might.
All hell broke loose after that. They kicked and punched me all over, but they were careful enough to leave no marks on my face. I, too, replied with punches, but I was helpless and weak, no match for them.
They left me alone after I was no longer fighting and was just curled up on the floor. They tore the notebook into pieces, threw them in front of me, and stomped on them.
I got up after they left the class, picked up the pieces of the notebook, put them in my bag, and went to wash my face. As I walked towards the washroom, I thought I would tell the teacher about what happened and get them punished for what they did to me.
Then I suddenly realized the day something similar happened to one of my friends. He went and told the teacher that he was bullied. The culprits were put into detention, but later that day they beat up my friend again for what he had done. He didn't come to school for 3 days after that. He told the class he was sick, but to us he explained he was threatened they would beat him up again.
And so I kept it all to myself, bottled it up, and never talked about it. The mark from the first punch was clearly visible on my face. I told the teachers it was a friendly scuffle and that he accidentally punched me far too hard.
On my way back, I contemplated if I should tell my mom about what happened, but I couldn't bear the thought of being bullied every day in school for telling my parents.
I saw people gathered in front of the house from afar before police cars zoomed in the same direction. In the back of my head, it hit me that something bad could've happened, so I ran. As I reached the crowd, Dad grabbed me by my hand with tearful eyes and started crying after hugging me. I was confused as to what had happened. Then he told me that Mom was no longer with us. It felt as if my soul had left my body at that moment. I froze from the shock.
Later, I was told what had happened. It was a case of home invasion, and she was shot 4 times before the perpetrator fled the scene. The neighbors had gathered in front of the house after hearing gunshots, calling the police and my dad.
Dad immediately drove back home upon receiving the call. He saw her covered in blood on the floor in their room. The neighbors had pulled him out of the house as he fell from anguish. And that was when he saw me running home.
After everything, we decided to hold the funeral at our village. After the burial, Dad told me that we'll be moving to our grandparents at the village. I wasn't against it. I was, in fact, happy for I'll be leaving the bullies at the school for good. Yet my heart ached for leaving my friends behind.