"Hahaha, this guy is the best!" A tall, skinny, pale high school student was laughing loudly near the door of one of the bathrooms at Veritas High School.
"I didn't even know it was possible to stay underwater for that long." A large, muscular student was squatting near one of the toilets, speaking enthusiastically.
"For real, for real, if he keeps this up, he'll soon be able to compete in some Olympic swimming event." The other student replied, while at the same time keeping an eye out to see if anyone was approaching where they were.
"Don't even get me started, that's a lot of dedication." Continuing to squat, the muscular young man addressed the student closest to him. "Isn't it, Kai?" A big smile soon appeared on his face.
Also squatting near the toilet, listening to that mockery with his face all wet, was a young man who couldn't stand to go through that humiliation anymore.
"Looks like the last few months of training are having an incredible payoff, huh?" He gave a few light slaps to the victim's face. "Huh, Kai? Answer me!"
An awkward silence permeated the place. Instead of answering, Kai stared at the other student with hatred. He knew it was time to act and no longer cared whether or not his revolt would have consequences. He couldn't let things stay as they were.
"Go..." He coughed.
"Go?"
"Go to hell, you son of a bitch."
A third, sitting on the sink with a jacket around his shoulders and his right foot bandaged, noticed the change in the boy's behavior and stood up. He put out the cigarette he was smoking and approached the toilet. The muscular student, startled, also stood up. Quickly, Kai's head was plunged into the dirty toilet water. He remembered why he didn't usually talk back or rebel, the reason why that hellish situation began and why it would never end. It was all because of that damn student, Ray.
"When someone asks you a question, you answer, you trash!" Vociferated the leader of the trio while keeping the unprotected young man's head in the toilet. "Who gave you permission to talk back? Have you gone crazy?" Kai desperately tried to resist, but Ray, a recent two-time national boxing champion in his age group, wasn't someone anyone could beat, even with his right foot in bad shape.
Maybe I'd have a chance if I were still weightlifting and doing martial arts, but I stopped all that because of them.
"Did you happen to forget that you've been my property since that day, Kai, when you tried to save that nerd and took his place?" Ray smiled. "Speaking of which, where is he? Did he even thank you once?"
While his face was still in the water, Kai remembered what had happened. The trio of bullies had transferred to Veritas High at the beginning of the year.
In no time, they started harassing the class, demanding money from all the students and mainly targeting his childhood friend. At the time, he trained Muay Thai almost every day and didn't let himself be intimidated, but the trio, instead of fighting him directly, cowardly chose to follow him after classes ended.
They found out where he lived, a dilapidated house on the edge of town, and that he and his younger sister lived there. Since then, his life had become hell, with the bullies frequently beating him, under the promise that if he didn't resist, they would never hurt his family.
All this because I tried to be a hero.
It had been six long months with the worst moments of Kai's life, the kind of thing that, until then, he swore only happened in movies: bullying. Limitless cruelty for no reason at all.
Ray, in fact, took advantage of the situation to steal Kai's girlfriend, whom he loved so much.
After pulling Kai's head out of the toilet once more, the leader of the trio spoke again. "You know what? You're not respecting us. Maybe I should play with her a little in front of you," he leaned closer to his ear. "With your ex-girlfriend, I mean." Ray laughed. "Maybe then you'll learn to know your place, you piece of shit."
Not much time left. In a few months, we'll all have graduated high school and I'll never see these idiots again in my life. I can't do anything rash now. I have to hold on, I have to hold on, I have to...
The bathroom doorknob began to jiggle, but the door didn't open because of one of the bullies. Quick, strong knocks on the door followed, grabbing everyone's attention just as Kai was about to do what he was asked.
"I really have to go! Someone, please let me in!"
"Go to another bathroom, you idiot."
"The other one is too far, this is the closest one to my classroom."
"Damn it, you damn nerd, just go away!"
For a moment, the delinquent was overcome and the other student managed to enter.
"I don't know why the skinny guy couldn't handle you, but..." Ray looked intently at who was in front of him. "Oh, it's your ex-friend, isn't it, Kai? Look at the gems fate gives us."
He took a box cutter from his jacket pocket with his right hand and prepared to attack. "No one defies any of my orders in this school and gets away unscathed." His right hand moved very quickly, intending to cut the face of the one who had just entered.
Before the box cutter could cut him, Kai instinctively jumped in front. For an instant, Ray thought about stopping the box cutter, but the idea that someone would get away with defying him again enraged him.
With great agility, he moved his feet and prepared to cut him, but his right foot was worse than he thought. He stumbled, felt great pain, and the box cutter slipped from his hands.
"Ah! What crap!" He said as he spun around, holding his right foot because of the pain, not paying attention to what had just occurred.
"Ray..." Said the muscular student.
"This damn right foot! Damn it!"
"Ray..." The other student reinforced.
"Why do you nerds keep showing up one after another? I promise I'm going to kill all of you."
"Ray!" The other two shouted in unison.
"What is it?" Their leader didn't seem to understand the reason for so much agitation.
"Look in front of you." The tall student gestured with his hands, indicating that something was very wrong.
It didn't take long for everyone to realize what had happened. Ray's box cutter had ended up in Kai's throat. Blood was gushing everywhere.
"Ah... Ah..." Realizing the others' terror, the stabbed boy looked at his reflection in the mirror and turned pale.
"Ah!" The leader of the delinquents ran out of the bathroom as fast as he could.
"Ray! Holy shit! Holy shit!" The other two followed him.
"Kai, what..." The ex-friend fainted upon seeing the blood.
"I can't believe it. This can't be happening."
What a ridiculous situation. Why did this have to happen to me?
"Someone help me, please!" He shouted and shouted, but there was no answer. "Please! Someone, anyone!" His breathing was getting weaker and weaker. The bloodied boy looked at the one who had just fainted.
Seriously, what did I do to deserve this? And worst of all...
"I'm about to die and you're not even here to thank me for saving you again." He sighed. "Why did I jump in front of the box cutter? Why did I try to protect him again? What's my problem? This world is full of trash, like Ray, and suckers, like me."
His consciousness began to fade and his perception of time began to change. His vision blurred, his breathing became shallow, his body gave clear signs that it was about to fail completely.
"No, maybe it's more correct to say that the world is full of wolves and lambs."
"I just know that," he made the maximum effort to breathe, "if I were reincarnated," he gasped heavily, "I would never try to be a hero again."
"The first thing I would do would be to fuck some MILF," he said smiling, hardly believing he was thinking about that in his final moments.
The young man died in a pool of blood, lying on the cold bathroom floor.