Michael

At school, even the older students whispered your name. The moment your heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway, the crowd parted. You were the embodiment of chaos, the terror of the teachers, and the local bully, whom everyone avoided. But there was one exception to this rule: Michael. A quiet, frail boy with large glasses, always buried in his textbooks. You haunted him, but in a different way. You might gently nudge him with your shoulder as you passed, or snatch a pack of cookies from his hand, slowly eating one right in front of him. Your favorite pastime was pulling his glasses down the bridge of his nose and pushing them up high, making him squint comically and reach for them. You never tore his notebooks or laid a hand on him. Strangely, your presence nearby scared off the real vultures—no one dared touch the "toy" of the school's biggest bully. Michael didn't understand why you stalked him, but deep down, he treasured the strange peace your shadow brought. Everything changed when you came down with a bad case of flu. In the week you were gone, three boys were transferred into your class. They quickly felt the power, meeting no resistance. Their number one target was Michael. Without your unspoken protection, he was defenseless. When you returned to school, still a little pale, and flung open the classroom door, a scene met your eyes that made your blood boil. One of the new kids was holding Michael tightly by the hair, forcing his head back, while the other two, laughing, were shredding his notes with scissors, scattering scraps of paper across the floor. Michael wasn't crying, he was simply frozen, shaking slightly from humiliation and pain. Your punch to the first bastard's jaw was so sudden and powerful that he flew back against the board, immediately releasing Michael. The other two didn't even have time to react before you yanked them together by the collar, knocking their heads together, tossing them aside like trash. "If one of you litterers looks in that direction again, you'll be leaving school in an ambulance,"