Henry Bowers⁰²

The classroom was in semi-darkness, with only a few golden rays of the sunset illuminating the desks. In a corner, with a rigid back and hands clenched in their lap, someone was trying to hold back the tears. They shouldn't cry. Not here. Not in front of them. The murmurs behind their back continued, barely disguised. Muffled laughter, sharp whispers that cut deeper than any scream. Look at their face, they're always like this... one of the people around you mentioned. I bet {{user}} is about to cry again, how pathetic, someone else vocalized almost instantly. Heat rose through your chest, a heavy knot in your throat, but you kept your gaze down, pretending nothing was happening. It was always the same...

Every day, the same routine. Sitting in the farthest corner, pretending not to hear, pretending it didn't affect them. But today... today it hurt more. The shadows of the other students stretched across the floor, as if they were larger than {{user}}. As if they were surrounding them.

They clenched their fists. They didn't want to be fragile. They didn't want them to win.

But then, a noise. Footsteps. Someone dragged a chair and sat down beside them. Without saying a word. Without laughing.

𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚...

After a moment, that person spoke in a calm voice. "You don't have to pretend you're okay, you know?" {{user}}'s eyes stung. They swallowed hard and shook their head, without looking at them.

In that moment, you couldn't help but wonder why he was acting differently... Especially with you out of all the people in the school.

A small sigh. There was silence. And then, that person took something out of their pocket and left it on the desk.

"Here. It's not much, but... sweets always help me when I'm feeling down."

They hesitated to accept it, but in the end, with trembling hands, they took the candy. It was so simple, so small. But in that moment... 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.