“Yo monkey!” A voice shouted.

  THUD

  The sound of a fist hitting flesh resounded.

  Another voice replied in anger, “I’m gonna fucking kill you!”

  Two boys of similar age started to fight on the dusty dirt road, and it was mostly one sided.

  Orien curled his fist and swung it towards the youth in front of him who was noticeably taller but had a similar build.

  The youth in front of him, Lars, was here on business today. He was the one who called Orien a monkey and got the first surprise blow on his back.

  Shockingly, Orien didn’t tumble over as easily as he usually did, and managed to swing back, landing a solid punch on Lars collarbone.

  This would not happen again though.

  He dodged Orien’s fist and swung a kick into Orien’s belly, causing him to fold up like a shrimp.

  “You silly little shit, you’ve gotten a little bit better since last time. No wonder you dared to show your dog face around the boss’s future wife again,” Lars dusted off his robes and rubbed his collarbone as he looked down on Orien with anger in his eyes.

  “Now, you know what’s going to happen to you because you managed to land a blow on me, right? You get a reward, woohooo,” Lars smiled as stamped on Orien’s hand.

  “AAAHHHHH,” Orien screamed, his hand feeling a burning pain as it began to throb.

  Orien gripped the fine dirt from the ground with his other hand and when Lars's foot was coming down again, he threw it towards Lars’s eyes.

  “Fucker!” Lars immediately reacted due to his vision going dark and his eyes burning. The grainy sensation felt horrible. What felt worse was the sharp pain that he felt between his legs shortly after.

  He howled like a wolf, and it was his turn to curl up like a shrimp. He even felt like throwing up.

  Luckily for him, Orien fled out of fear that more of Geno’s cronies would be arriving. The cowards always traveled in packs, and he was used to outmaneuvering them. He wasn’t sure what happened today that allowed Lars to find him.

  It could have been a coincidence, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Orien wasn’t limping, but his body hurt all over, especially his hand. It was still throbbing, so he held it close to his belly for warmth as he moved.

  For his own reasons, he had no desire to go home despite what had transpired today.

  He decided to go to his ‘secret hideout’. It wasn’t much of a hideout, but it was definitely a secret.

  It wasn’t as though it was an everyday thing for him to be fighting with others, but he had grown used to being bullied.

  The only person that would ever come to his rescue was Hubert, but he would not always be around, nor was this his problem. Orien stubbornly refused to let Hubert find out the extent that he was being bullied. He was determined to resolve it on his own.

  The same logic obviously applied to telling his parents as well.

  It was not always this way. It started about three years ago.

  It began due to a girl that he has been friends with since his early childhood.

  It wasn’t her fault, of course. She wasn’t even aware that this was happening, and he wouldn’t tell her that he’d been getting roughed up and beaten due to her.

  Orien continued to walk down the dirt path before making a turn into the trees, where there was no longer a visible path.

  His black hair and black robes added a certain degree of camouflage and also prevented the branches and grass from scraping his skin or making him itchy like it had in the past when he first discovered this spot.

  After pushing past branches for a few minutes, he eventually arrived at a small clearing.

  The clearing wasn’t completely clear, however, as at first glance it was strewn with rocks.

  Upon closer inspection, these were not rocks but gravestones and tombs.

  The clearing was actually an old burial ground.

  Orien smiled, not feeling afraid in the slightest.

  He had ventured into this burial ground many times and had even tried treasure hunting but found nothing.

  The only thing he found here was solace. Peace and tranquility from his out of control life.

  “Shit, I wasn’t expecting to come here today before going home. I didn’t bring any of my books with me... Just notes from school. Hmph, I’m hardly in the mood to study right now,” he mumbled to himself.

  He meandered through and between the broken gravestones and old crypts until he found his favorite one near the middle of the clearing.

  When there was no rain, he would stare at the sky for as long as a few hours.

  It was already nearing sunset, and he climbed on top of the tomb, making himself comfortable while looking up at the purple sky with orange hues on the horizon.

  Clouds drifted to and fro, and the wind was surprisingly cooling inside this clearing.

  He stuffed his injured hand into his burlap sack where he kept his notes and stared at the sky in deep contemplation.

  He thought about the state of his situation at home and his family.

  He thought about the bullies, the ringleader Geno and his hatred for both them and his own weakness.

  He thought about Mila Petrov, his childhood friend. He had first met her when he was a wee toddler, and his parents were the ones that introduced him to her.

  His parents are friends with her parents, and it was only natural that they would be forced to interact, eventually becoming friends and growing closer together.

  Orien eventually became aware that another child, one without parents but a very well-off grandfather, was also friends with Mila’s parents.

  His mind never thought that years later, that abhorrent individual would suddenly advise him to keep his distance from Mila.

  This is where the feud began, because Mila was one of the few sources of light in Orien’s life, and he couldn’t tolerate such a request.

  As Orien recalled the past, the sky quickly darkened and a few hours went by.

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