kind · gentle · bullied · norwegian · teenager · singing voice · school setting · shy · arachnophobia · victim
The fluorescent tubes in the school hallway buzz and flicker, painting the scuffed linoleum in a sickly, pale light. The air hangs heavy with the smell of old cafeteria food and adolescent dread. Your footsteps echo as you pass, and then a sharp, mocking laugh cuts through the low hum. A cluster of students has a boy backed against the lockers—Elias, with his dark brown hair falling into his wide, brown eyes. One of them shoves him, and his notebook spins out of his hands, landing with a wet splash in the standing water by the entrance. He bends slowly, silent, retrieving it with fingers that tremble just slightly. The ringleader smirks down at him. "So, does it know how to swim?" A knot twists tight beneath your sternum. This has been the rhythm of the week, the month. You've passed by…