The sun beat down on the bustling streets of Wysteria, casting a golden glow over the scene unfolding before the gathered crowd. Students from the prestigious Wysteria Academy poured out of the nearby buildings, their faces a mix of curiosity and concern.
Sean Blake stood frozen, his eyes locked on the figure before him. Lyra Flynn's voice trembled as she spoke the words that would shatter Sean's world.
"Sean, I...I don't feel the same way anymore. I'm sorry."
The crowd's collective gasp was like a punch to Sean's gut. He felt his face burn with shame and embarrassment as Lyra turned to walk away. Sean's eyes followed her, his mind reeling in shock.
"Lyra, wait!" Sean called out, his voice cracking.
But Lyra didn't look back. She disappeared into the crowd, leaving Sean standing alone, his heart in tatters.
The onlookers began to murmur, their voices a cacophony of whispers and gasps. Sean's friends, the ones he thought he could trust, looked on with a mix of pity and discomfort.
Sean's eyes scanned the crowd, searching for a friendly face, but found none. The shame and humiliation threatened to consume him. He felt like he was drowning in a sea of faces, all of whom seemed to be staring at him with a mixture of curiosity and contempt.
As the reality of the situation sunk in, Sean's vision began to blur. He felt a stinging sensation in his eyes, and his throat constricted. He was going to lose it, right here, in front of everyone.
Sean turned and ran, disappearing into the crowd as the onlookers parted to let him through. The whispers and gasps followed him, echoing in his mind like a cruel mantra.
You're not good enough. You're not worthy. You're nothing.
Sean's heart pounded in his chest as he ran, the words burning themselves into his mind like a brand. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to get away.
Away from the shame. Away from the pain. Away from the memories that now felt like a distant, unattainable dream.
As everyone watched Sean make a run for it, they couldn't help but shake their heads in pity. Sean was so pitiful, eversince he was born he was critisized because he was without magic.
Everyone would awaken their magic at 12 but Sean never did. He was given many nicknames due to that issue, they called him a bad omen, misfortune, cursed child and so on.
To top it all of, he was an orphan. His parents died when he was 3 and he was taken care of by the orphanage since then. They took care of everything for him, even school fees till he was in high school.
He met Lyra on the first few days of school and eventually made a move on her. She accepted him, maybe out of empathy or something but he didn't care, he just wanted to be loved. Everything was going well for him until today.
She saw him when he was going to the cafeteria for break and decided to break up then and there. She humiliated him and he felt betrayed and destroyed. An indescribable pain built up in his heart and couldn't go away.
As Sean ran away from the crowd, he ran straight for the boy's restrooms and hid in one of the rooms and sat on the seat in silence. Tears started streaming down his cheeks as flashbacks of what happened replayed in his mind.
'Why is it that everyone always treats me this way?' he thought as he opened a pendant that hung on his neck. In it were two pictures, a male and a female. They were his parents who died years ago.
"Mom.... I miss you so much. I wish you were here. I can't stand this anymore." He said tearfully as his vision turned blurry.
Just then a knock could be heard on the room door, interrupting his crying session.
*KNOCK*
"c'mon bro, finish up already. We need to use the restroom too you know!" a bulky boy's voice could be heard behind the door as he knocked frantically.
Sean then hurriedly wiped his tears and straightened his messed up uniform before opening the door. As he was about to rush out of the toilet, he almost bumped into the guy who was knocking but managed to evade as he exited to the school corridors.
Just as he was walking in the corridors, the bell rang indicating that it was time for lessons to continue. Jake felt his shattered heart sink even deeper. He knew he was going to be critisized some more by the other students in the classroom.
He wanted to not attend any classes for the whole week but he was powerless to do so. He did not want to fail his exams so all he could do was brace himself for the impending torture.
As he got to his classroom door, he could hear the buzzing of students chatting and laughing, waiting for the teacher to come. As Sean showed his presence in the class, absolute silence descended upon the classroom. Everyone glued their eyes upon him. Sean suddenly felt a suffocating pressure press down upon him that he could not breath properly.
Under countless watchfull eyes, Sean shakily made his way to his desk. As he sat down, he laid his head on the table in attempt to block the scrutinising gazes locked upon him.
"Look at him, so pitiful"
"if I were him, I would not have come to school at all"
"Tsk, what right does he have to date our school fairy? Just a toad in a well"
"Serves him right, a nobody like him doesn't deserve such privilege."
As Sean kept his head low, he could hear the snickering of everyone as they threw gazes full of contempt and pity at him. Luckily, a teacher made his way into the classroom, saving him from all that drama.