It’s present day, near the end of May of this year, 2023, and there are merely days left until I am no longer considered a child, but this is not important.
What is important is that, even to this day, I constantly think that whatever has just happened to me is one of the worst experiences any human can ever have, much more a student like me, especially under circumstances which would have made the disaster nigh impossible to occur, much less on an important event like, well, an anniversary, one that got ruined. I got traumatized and I’ve remained with these sinister thoughts since that day, no matter what everyone else tried to do during this immediate aftermath, all because of a person, a boy that I treated as my best friend, had the crazy intention of ending me once and for all.
While it’s hard for me to understand the exact motive behind this episode, I don’t believe it was done out of nothing. A sudden change happening, however, is a whole another issue, and it was a drastic one in attitude, compared to the same person I met 4 years ago, during another bad event happening at my former school, who showed up friendlier than expected. That’s when I met my former friend, Luke Parker.
Don’t get me wrong, we did see each other at school fairly often even before then, after all, we had been in the same school for at least two years, but we never truly interacted with each other until that date, April 5th, 2019. We were not in the same class back then, although our classrooms were on the same floor, hence why it took this long to bond our friendship.
That particular date was a really bad one for me, as I got bullied by the entire class throughout the day, and they still insisted that everyone should leave before Geography class starts, which was our last one before our Easter break started. It was such a painful day that I went to the bathroom instead, crying in misery, because it wasn’t just the usual verbal bullying that exists even now, it involved physical bullying too. Luke went to the bathroom for his job, only to hear the cry of a 13-year-old after a flush, that being mine. It became a concern, and he asked me for my wellbeing.
“Hey, mate, what’s up?”, asked Luke. These were the first words I heard from his mouth that were directed to me, and the words that I wanted to hear from anyone. He did not see who it was behind the door yet, so he didn’t know it was me.
“No…I’m not,” said myself, barely able to utter something from all the sobbing.
“Has something happened?”
“I’d tell you, but you wouldn’t care…”, with the worry that I’d be ignored once more.
“Nah, mate, I ain’t that guy, just tell me what’s wrong.”
The second I heard those words was when I opened the toilet door and he saw me with a big frown and on the floor, as if someone died.
“Oh, good lord, you’re not fine at all! Take my hand, I’ll get you up,” said Luke, lending his hand for help.
That was the nicest gesture someone had done to me at school since elementary, and instead of stopping there, he asked again for my wellbeing.
“So, tell me, has something happened?”
“I…got bullied…”, after which I stopped shedding tears.
“No wonder, the back of your head looks like someone gave you a hard slap, gee! Uhm, Peter’s your name, right?”
“It is…”
“Well, I’m Luke. Nice to meet you, mate, and I feel so bad for you. Wanna be friends?”
“Sure,” said myself, with a forced smile after a big frown.
Unfortunately, the talk didn’t go on for too long. The bell rang, and everyone had to go back to class.
During the entire time I was gone, my classmates created a scandal that revolved around me, with a bunch of insults, yelling, and even wishes of death. At this point, the feeling of finding a new friend was too strong to just go back to that sadness from several minutes prior. Geography class started and the class stayed this chaotic until Mr. Hunter came in, giving us all a test paper for disturbing the silence of the rest of the school. A test paper right before the break was the last thing my classmates wanted.
This rage continued even after school, when they removed me from the Instagram direct message group. I’d be in tears for being isolated on social media too, but I already had that problem in real life, so I just did not care any longer.
After the test, we were dismissed, ready to enjoy our Easter break. To my surprise, Luke was waiting for me near the school gate, as if we did not just become friends in the bathroom, but rather friends that had been together for a much longer time.
“Howdy, mate?”, asked Luke, with a smile that definitely felt less cheeky than mine.
“Hunter got mad crazy.”
“The Geography teacher?” with a slight raise in voice.
“Who else? Although I can’t blame him. My class is more toxic than uranium.”
“Yeah, he really doesn’t have any sympathy for your class. He’s always talking rubbish. Unless it’s about you, then he’s all <<Peter this, O’Brien that>>. Every time he was saying something like that, it pissed me off. I can’t be mad at you, though. I’m sure your life is not just about school.”, said Luke in the brink of turning into an emotional rollercoaster.
“It isn’t, and I hate it when everyone assumes that. It’s not true, and just because I’m a bookworm, it does not mean that I’m a nerd. I dictate what to do with my life, not someone else.”
“Indeed, mate. Hey, may I ask you something?”
“Of course, Luke. What is it?”
“I’m in the mood of going out in the park. Wanna come?”
“I’ll have to ask my parents for this, though I prefer going home right now. Who knows…maybe some other time?”
“Alright, mate, peace.”
The rest of the day was uneventful. However, things took a turn at night, right after I fell asleep, during a nightmare. It wasn’t my first time I had one, and most of my nightmares were nowhere near as brutal or scary, even for a 13-year-old. Nevertheless, there is always an exception or two, and this ended up being one of them.
The nightmare itself was a sight of Luke turning into a maniac, starting off with the classic insults and humiliation in public, the setting being in some city that I visited only about one year ago. These details by themselves are enough for this ordeal to be otherworldly compared to my usual nightmares, but they were really only the tip of the iceberg. It continued throughout the night and even the next day. I wanted to mind my own business after lunch for the last few hours spent in the city, only for Luke to hit me hard immediately after leaving the restaurant, leaving me unconscious, him and two boys that look the same as each other, probably twins.
Eventually, I woke up in a basement, with my arms tied up, towards the ceiling, in a way that it felt excruciating. Meanwhile, I had nothing on but shorts and I looked partially injured, and when I tried looking down, I saw the floor with some barely visible yellow stains, resembling gasoline. I yelled for help. Luke got into the basement immediately after, with a whip on one hand and a lighter on the other. The whipping was more than just painful, and after many minutes of screaming, all that was left was the lighter, and I was lit on fire, whipped and burnt to death.
This is where the nightmare ended and I woke up in the middle of the night, in a state of panic. At the end of the day, it was still a nightmare, but it looked real, it appeared to be real, the suffering was not plastic, as if it was a foresight, something that will certainly happen, not a fantasy.
“Ugh…oh, thank God it didn’t happen…” said myself a few minutes after waking up in shock.
It took me an hour to calm down and move on, before finally going asleep again. Thankfully, nothing else happened.
Several days passed and the Easter break ended. My parents did feel like I needed a breath of fresh air after what happened on that Friday, so they let me walk in the park after school on a Friday, especially because I wasn’t going to be alone, fulfilling the promise to Luke, and that’s what I did.
It was May 17th and school was over for the week. As promised, Luke and I hung out in the park. It was the perfect time, considering that the weather was unusually nice for a day of May. It wasn’t cloudy, it wasn’t rainy, the sun was burning, all the good stuff that a Brit would otherwise not even tolerate.
On our way back to the park entrance to go home, we stumbled upon someone who looked like he was 23, carrying a shopping bag. Luke wasn’t paying enough attention to where he was going, and he hit the man. Assuming that my nightmare didn’t actually reflect his attitude and it was, at best, an alter ego, it was an accident, but Luke still took it seriously and he was shouting at him for practically nothing.
“Ay, what are you doing?! Watch where you’re going!” Luke shrieked and was talking unusually loudly.
“I’m sorry…” said the young man on a sad tone, although he couldn’t finish his sentence because someone was complaining.
“Sorry won’t make it, bloke! You ruined my new shirt! Do you even know how much it cost?!”, persisted Luke.
Wow, of all things he had to get worried about, it was the shirt that was the biggest problem? That’s just stupid. No, really, I’d be more worried that I got injured if I were in his place, but I’m more worried about the man himself.
“I didn’t mean to…” said the young man, keeping the sad tone. As before, he couldn’t finish his sentence.
“You didn’t mean to what? No, you absolutely wanted this to happen! Screw you!”, said Luke in a furious matter, before telling me to just go.
As he was going ahead, I lent my hand for the poor man to get him back up. Then I began asking questions of concerning matter.
“Did you get hurt?”
“A bit, ugh. My right hand does hurt. You should tell your friend to be more cautious and less…ferocious...”, he said.
“Indeed. I apologize for what he has just done. I’ve met him recently, so I didn’t know he was going to act like that.”
“You don’t have to apologize for him, or for anyone else. After all, it wasn’t your fault. I appreciate that you didn’t screech like he did.”
“I had no reason to. I feel bad for those who get injured, and that is what I’ve experienced at school recently,” I confessed. “Anyway, here is your bag.”
“Thank you. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Connor.”
“Peter. Pleased to meet you. I have to go before someone gets mad at me, heh. I hope we see each other again sometime.”
“I hope so too. Take care!”
That was the end of our conversation, and I went swiftly after Luke, not exactly knowing when he left the park.
This incident made me realize that the nightmare I had in April was not fully parallel to Luke’s real-life personality. It was rather a huge inconvenience that I had to deal with for multiple years, just for the sake of our friendship, even if it was only rarely witnessed. Little did I know that this attack was only the first sign of my friendship with him breaking, after merely the first 6 weeks out of nearly 4 years.
Little did I also know that this little interaction with Connor would become a great help just four years later, and it would be, perhaps, the biggest payback I’d live to see.
