I walked to school, as if it was normal. I ignored the eyes, as if it was normal. My walking was normal, my breathing was normal, even the expression on my face was normal.

  I would never give in to another person again. Moving past such horrible things, I wanted it to be normal.

  I sat down at my desk, face down on the cold wood. The exhaustion of the past two weeks had not left me yet. A small moment of-

  “What are you doing here?” It was some random kid. I knew the question was pointed towards me, however I ignored it anyway.

  A slam on my desk sent vibrations through my body. I slowly opened my eyes, indifferent to the child in front of me. He was obviously from this class and with short brown hair he just mixed in with everybody else.

  I yawned and closed my eyes again.

  “Why are you here, you scum?” He asked before trying to push me, but he failed to knock me out of my chair.

  “Scum? What would make you call me that?” I asked knowing full well where this would lead.

  “You are a murderer, and a rapist. If that doesn’t make you scum then what does.” He replied arrogantly. Quickly the people behind him started to agree.

  “First of all, I am not a murderer. We have gone over this. You need to pay a little more attention-” I said lazily, but was interrupted.

  “What? How does that prove you are not a murderer, because you say you aren’t. Not to forget the rapist part.” He almost shouted in anger, and his face became a shade of red.

  “If a court of law doesn’t find me guilty. What makes you think you are qualified to call me a criminal?” I asked.

  The room was silent, at this point I was entertainment to most of them. The Colosseum that was this class had to fight against me, a horrible monster. People would volunteer to try and hunt me down, an action fueled by their desire for popularity.

  But how did it feel to be the monster in such a case? I didn’t feel anything.

  “Just because a court of law finds you innocent. Doesn’t mean you didn’t commit the crime.” He sputtered out.

  “That is wrong in the literal terms of the law. What makes you think you are better at criminal investigation than the police and court officials?” I asked another question, easily stringing him along.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “I-I-I I bet you bribed your way out of it?” He was grasping for straws.

  “I bribed the police… I bribed those bastards…You know absolute shit.! With what happened to me, and you think I bribed the police. You are insane.” I said frustration unwillingly building inside my chest.

  “What the hell are you spouting? The truth is that every person in this school knows that you are the scum of the earth. I don’t need any evidence to know you did it.” He started getting high on himself, and I calmed myself down.

  “What? Besides the fact that the girl admitted to it all being a hoax.” I said calmly.

  The entire classroom looked around in confusion. They started whispering among themselves. I found another thing that I didn’t like.

  The child just sat there awkwardly, but he was luckily saved by the bell and returned to his seat.

  Not surprisingly, I was not bullied my first day back. They likely didn’t have time to prepare for my sudden arrival.

  The very next opportunity that arose itself, I was ambushed by Kaede and Abby. They started berating me with questions.

  “Where have you been?”

  “What happened?”

  “Why didn’t you call us?”

  I ignored most of their questions and replied instead. “I heard that you were protesting for me. Thank you.”

  “What happened to you?” Abby said suspicious.

  “I can thank people too.” I bit back.

  “It was possible.” Abby said sarcastically.

  “You have changed too much.” Kaede said suddenly.

  “So?” I said in reply.

  “It isn’t bad though.” Kaede said and showed a bright smile.

  “How were you treated in prison?” Abby asked.

  “It wasn’t prison, just a cell at the police department.” I replied.

  “And?” Abby added on.

  “What?” I asked, knowing fully well what was going on.

  “How were you treated?” She said slowly.

  “The food sucked.” I tried to brush off the question.

  “Don’t try to play this off, earlier you were saying ‘with what happened to me’. And you have changed, something must have happened.” Abby gave a perfect summary.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” I finally said.

  “And what if I want to hear it?” Abby pushed even farther.

  “I'm curious as well. I want to know what happened to you.” Kaede added in.

  I gave in and told them everything. About how I was treated, about what really happened with the girl, and even about the dream I had. The only thing I hid was my power.

  “‘Now that you know everything, what do you think?” I asked spitefully.

  “Why is it always you?” Kaede said before looking up to me with a sad look on her face.

  “Why is it always you who has to go through all these things? You suffer again and again. Always alone. Why do you have to suffer this pain while millions- no hundreds of millions of people waste around happily.” Tears formed in her eyes before rolling down her cheeks and landing on her hands.

  I walked in front of Kaede and grabbed her hands. “Kaede, everybody in this world has some kind of suffering. Even if my fate is a little worse off, I can still handle it. And in the end I won’t be alone if you are there with me. Right?”