I remember the day everything shattered.Not the way you remember birthdays or old summers.But the way you remember a fall: sudden, fragmented, accompanied by the knowledge that nothing will ever be the same again.
The rain had stopped, but everything was still wet. Asphalt shimmered like a thin layer of oil, making the ground slippery. It was late afternoon. The school hallways were empty. I should have been home long ago.But I made a mistake—I didn't leave right away.I thought I could just go on living normally. Keep breathing, keep existing.As if what they were doing to me were just words.
I heard their voices before I saw them.Marco laughed loudly. Julius followed, his tone deeper, darker.And Celia? She said nothing. As so often. Her silence echoed in my head like a second voice.
I turned to go."Hey, Noah," Marco called.I stopped. Mistake number two.
"What are you even still doing here?"Julius stepped closer."You think you belong here?"
I said nothing.I had long since learned that words changed nothing. They only added fuel to the fire.
Marco came closer—too quickly."I heard you talked to the school counselor."His voice had gone quiet. Almost dangerously calm."Do you like playing the victim?"
Then everything happened fast.
A shove to the shoulder. I staggered, caught myself.A punch to the ribs. The air was knocked from my lungs.A second blow—this time to the back of the head.
I fell. Hard.My face slammed into the ground.Something cracked in my nose, a warm metallic taste filled my mouth.
I saw boots. Two pairs.And Celia.She stood there. Just stood.Her eyes didn't see me.Or maybe they did—but from a distance.From that kind of cowardice that's worse than any kick.
Then Marco kicked. Straight into my stomach.I felt my body press into the ground, as if it had decided to dissolve.Julius followed. A crack inside me. I don't know if it was a rib—or my courage.
I still heard someone shout, "That's enough!"Maybe it was Celia. Maybe someone else.Maybe it was my own consciousness trying to save itself.
Then everything… dulled.Distant.A high-pitched tone, like feedback, buzzed through my head.My heart beat too fast. Then too slow.And then there was only light.Not warm light. No tunnel.Just glaring, cold white.And behind it: silence.
I awoke in darkness.No sound, no body. Just awareness.And then… a flicker. Screens. Noises. Voices that weren't mine.
Something had opened.Something had survived.