Chapter 6 Frustration

Pan tried to get up, but Marc stepped on his chest, pinning him down. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Please, let me leave,” he begged. The group exchanged glances and snickered.

“Oh, you are a busybody, aren’t you? Going to hide under your brother’s shadow?”

“You’re pathetic even as an Osbourne!” Jerry said with a sneer. More laughter followed.

“I-“

“Shut up, bitch!” Roonie fired. “Explain why you were trying to act smart today in class!”

Pan folded his hands. “I’m sorry. Professor Gergich punished me for it. I won’t do it again!”

Marc took the foot off his chest, and Pan struggled to his feet. But there was no path to escape. The group surrounded him, and a couple of them spat at him. He wiped the spit off his arms. Anger welled up in him, but what could he really do?

“Marc,” Mindy said. “I saw him following Jessica just now.”

The Class President’s eyes flared. “What! Is that true, bitch?!”

“No! She asked me to follow her.” The group broke out in laughter.

“Why would the class diva talk to you?” Jerry barked. He turned to the group. “He’s lying! The creep was probably stalking Jessica.”

“No... that’s not true…” Pan stammered. “Please… let me go.”

Wham! Someone slapped him so hard that his cheek started bleeding again. His right eye went blurry. Pan grabbed onto his face and whimpered in pain.

It was Marc. “Bitch! You want to fuck Jessica, don’t you? You are not even worthy of her shadow!”

Somebody slapped the back of his head. Another punched him in the back. His limbs went numb. Pan trembled in place, weathering through the pain and exhaustion.

“Speak up, bitch! Tell us the truth!”

“I... I’m ss-sorry... I will never go near her again… I swear!”

Someone kicked his shin, and his legs gave way. He collapsed to the floor. The boy tried to move his legs, but they were paralyzed.

A few poor students were in the gym, but they kept silent. Nobody wanted to be a hero. The rich kids would bully anybody who walked into the limelight. And the bullying would happen throughout the year.

The group dragged him into a closed room and surrounded him. They started raining blows at him.

Pan covered his head with his arms and rolled up into a ball. He begged them to stop, but they wouldn’t. He called for help, but no one came to his aid.

“Die, loser!”

“Fucking beggar!”

“Piece of shit!”

“Penniless clown!”

“Riding on his brother’s coattails!”

Fifteen minutes later, tired and bored with punishing Pan, the group left him bruised and writhing on the gym floor. He waited for five minutes, hoping the bullies were gone. Then he opened his eyes.

A tall young man was standing in the gym’s gallery, watching the entire scene. He was none other than Leo Osbourne, his elder cousin.

“Pathetic!” he said aloud and left the gym. The boy struggled to his feet. Leo saw him getting attacked but didn’t come to his rescue. Perhaps he hoped the bullies would kill him. Did Leo hate him so intensely?

Pan limped to the nearest washroom and tidied himself up.

‘Did Jessica really want to spend time with me? Perhaps she set me up to be bullied? She is no different from Leo and Marc.’

‘Yes, that explains everything,’ he concluded. ‘She lured me to the gym so others could beat me up.’

Pan bit his lip and held back tears. He was foolish to think that a diva like Jessica would like him. “I hate my life!” he screamed at the mirror. “I hate everyone in it!”

“Do you want to rebuild your life?” a voice said.

Pan was startled by the sudden words. He looked in the mirror but there was no one behind him. The voice came from none other than his own reflection.

“What is going on?”

“Do you want to rebuild your life?” his reflection urged again.

Pan extended his hand towards the mirror. “Yeah… I would like to do that…” he said and touched the glass surface.

As soon as he did so, he was pulled into the mirror as if it were a whirlpool. The boy fell into what seemed to be a bottomless lake.