Jayden stared at his puffy eyes in the bathroom mirror. He had cried himself to sleep last night. Again. His dad beat him again last night as his mom called him names. His sister just watched it happen. She did absolutely nothing. Jayden found that he hated her more than them.
Why was he stuck with them? What did he do to deserve this? Was it really just because of his soulmates? Jayden had been born with two names on his wrist. His soulmates had been born before him. Was he really hated for something that was so far out of his control? How was that fair? He wondered how life was for his soulmates. Did they have loving families? Do they get bullied in school? Were they just as hated as him? Or did people in their lives not care enough to torment them. He wanted to meet them but he wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to put up with this.
Jayden didn't have a safe place. His home life was hell but so was school. No matter where he turned, he would get a beating. Would his soulmates hate him just as much as the people around him seemed to? He was terrified to find out. What would he do if the two people in this world who were meant for him, hated him? It seemed like the cruelest of fates.
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Jayden ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind him.
"Open up, Loser!" He cried as silently as he could. He just wanted to be able to go one day without getting beaten. He made the mistake of trying to fight back today. They had trapped him against his locker and he decided, like an idiot, to hit them and run. Jayden was scared. Jayden stayed there until the banging on the door stopped. School had ended before he made his way into the bathroom. He had been putting his stuff in his locker when they came up to him. Jayden figured that he had already missed his bus so now he had to walk home. He decided to wait an extra 30 minutes just in case they were still waiting behind the door.
Jayden inspected himself in the mirror. He had a busted lip thanks to his dad and a bruised cheek. He lifted his shirt to see the bruised skin. He had some scars from his father pressing cigarettes against his skin. He also had scars across his back from his dad beating him with belts.
Jayden eventually deemed it as safe as it could get and opened the door. He let out a shout in surprise as he was thrown to the ground. He gritted his teeth in pain as he was kicked over and over again. They shouted so many cruel things to him and he tried not to cry but ultimately was unsurprised when a few tears rolled down his cheek.
He was just so tired of this.