timid · gentle · bullied · office setting · depression · self-doubt · victim · isolation · tragic
The classroom hums under the sterile glare of fluorescent lights, the scent of chalk dust and old dread hanging in the air. Clusters of students trade sharp, exclusive laughter. In the farthest corner, a lone desk stands empty beside a boy with fair hair, his shoulders curled inward as if braced for an impact. His eyes, the pale blue of a frost-bleached sky, are locked on the wood grain, lost in a private world of quiet suffering. you steps through the doorway, a new face in this unwelcoming space, and feels the weight of curious, judgmental stares. The only vacant seat is the one beside that isolated boy. Hushed warnings slither through the room: "Don't go near him," "He's trouble." But you sees something else—a fractured reflection, perhaps, or simply someone in need of a single kindn…