The walk back home was a lot more tedious than Ian would have liked to admit. By the time he got home, he was panting from exhaustion and he felt like he could pass out anytime soon.
He removed his wet hair from his face as they covered his eyes and rummaged through his bag for his keys. He found it fairly quickly and opened the door. The creak from the door was loud enough to wake the person in the next room up from a deep sleep and he sincerely hoped that wasn't the case as he hurried inside and closed the door behind him.
Once inside, he rid himself of his wet bag, not caring to remove the contents, took off his clothes and plopped on the bed with no regard for his wet hair possibly wetting the bed.
"Just another depressing day," he sighed as he remembered the events that led to him passing out in the alley earlier. "My last day in high school was just as bad as the first, if not worst."
Earlier today, Ian hurried out of class the second the school bell rang because he didn't want to get caught by a group of people. Unfortunately, it turns out that they already made arrangements to catch him as a group of three boys were already waiting for him in the hallway.
The second he noticed them, he quickly turned in the opposite direction to get away from them when a group of five, two boys and three girls who also happen to be the people he was trying to avoid walked out of the class, placing him in between them. He contemplated yelling but he knew there was no use for that. No teacher would pay any mind to him. In this world, a low level like him has no basic human rights or privileges.
"Where are you running off to, Ian boy?" the boy in the middle asked with a smile as he walked towards him. He stood a head taller than everyone in the group and was obviously the leader as they followed behind him. The other group of three were also closing in on him slowly, making the thought of escape impossible for him.
"Class ended already," he replied, standing his ground as there was nowhere to run to. "I am heading home just like any other smart person would."
"It's the last day of school, dummy," he laughed. "You should hang out with your friends before leaving. Oh, wait. You don't....."
"Have any friends," Ian rolled his eyes. "That's an old story. Say something more creative, Dylan."
Dylan's face contorted with anger for a few seconds but he quickly switched back to his smile and spread out his arms. "How about we become your friends for today?"
"No, thank you," Ian refused. "I would rather not have any friends than have friends like you."
An invisible force hit him hard in his stomach as he barely finished speaking, causing him to keel over as Dylan immediately appeared right beside him, closing the short distance in less than a second. He crouched low as he whispered in his ear. "Well, guess who doesn't have a choice?"
A couple of strong arms gripped him and led him through the hallway towards the gym without any resistance from him. He knew resistance was futile so he decided not to.
Dylan Bors had always antagonized Ian throughout their time in high school. He was the smartest kid in class, second only to Ian who beat him in every theoretical subject. Even though Ian was only the fifth highest-scoring student in the class, he attained that position solely through his theory tests and examinations.
He was terrible in practical subjects and would always get the worst score in the class, but this just seemed to infuriate Dylan even more. He believed that he should be better than a weakling like this in everything and wouldn't accept that Ian was better in some.
He did his best to make Ian transfer classes but couldn't get past Ian's stubbornness so he decided to make his life in school, hell until his last day, which led them to this moment.
No one batted an eyelid at them once they saw the person being dragged along, not even teachers. Everyone ignored them even though they knew what they were going to do to him.
They threw him roughly to the floor and locked the door behind them as they watched him struggle to stand up.
"Now, Ian," Dylan grinned sinisterly and looked at the three girls with him. They stepped forward, each with a smile on their face. "Shall we begin?"
The next few hours were the definition of hell for Ian as he was poisoned, cut, pummeled, and suffocated repeatedly. They would then heal him and repeat the process all over again. He screamed and cried until his throat got sore and even screaming hurt. In the end, he curled himself in a fetal position on the floor and took all of the beatings until they were satisfied.
Dylan wiped the sweat off his forehead as he grinned, breathing heavily from all the effort he had expended in beating him half to death.
He took one look at Ian's bloodied body and sighed. "I'm not a bad person now, am I?" he said as he signalled for the girl with green hair to come closer and she gingerly stepped forward. "Close his wounds, but don't heal him well to regain his stamina. I want him to suffer from the pain as a passing gift."
"It's a surprise he's still alive after all that," one of the boys chimed in, twirling the dagger in his hand.
"He's a freak," another added. "We know he was gonna live that's why we did it in the first place." They laughed and mocked him as they let the green-haired girl heal him.
"Hurry," Dylan hissed at her. "We'll be heading off to military school tomorrow. I don't want to be locked in here when that happens. They'll think we flunked and that would be a problem."
Once she was done, they hurried home from school as it was beginning to drizzle, leaving Ian weak, fatigued and alone in the gym until he finally picked himself up and trudged out of the gym slowly.
Ian sighed as he relived the painful memory as a streak of tears fell from his eyes even when he made no sound.
"Stupid life," he sighed and buried his head in his pillow. "Military school would be no different. It could even be much worse."