bullies and books [Ali]

:: When you were standing in the wake of devastation When you were waiting on the edge of the unknown And with the cataclysm raining down
Insides crying, "Save me now!" You were there, impossibly alone ::

The bell rang- a shrill constant ringing echoing through the training room- Thadeus lent against the punching bag with a huff. Sweat trickled down the creases in his forhead- like rivers down canyons- and off the tip of his nose as dabbed his face with the towel that was slung round his neck.

Thadeus rain wheeled himself down the corridor which was full of bodies who flowed in all directions. School was somewhere he hadn't planned on coming back to until recently- he had dropped out at 16- since he was no longer able to train alongside his fellow careers since the accident. It was not that he did not enjoy school, it was just he had once seen his training as a more important aspect of life but now, that was gone.

The people who moved through the corridor, heaving and squeezing past each other in an awkward desperation to get to class- something Thadeus did not really have to be fair. They're bodies easily squeezed past one another, for they did not have the inconvenience of having to use a wheel chair just to get from class to class; the schools of District 1 were not made for the physically handicap.


"Now Thadeus," the Doctor looked up from his glasses "Due to your, loss of movement in your legs you will now require to use a wheel chair to move around. An inconvinence I know but at least you will be able to do things for yourself then?"

The halls were so full of bodies now that it was nearly impossible for Thadeus to move on. For f- he thought to himself as he found himself, some 5 feet from his classroom, stuck behind a traffic jam of people. He watched the people aimless look at one another as if they had no freewill to actually move around the blockage- one boy was pinned to the wall by the slowly moving crowd. The boy in the wheel chair watched as a girl- not far off his own age- strode through the crowd holding her head high like she owned the place. He couldn't help but shake his head; he had once been like her but that was now a long time ago.

Finally he managed to get to class- the crowd cleared enough so that he could fit his wheelchair through the spaces between the bodies to get to the door. He took his place right by the door and watched others pass him by- glancing over his shoulder he noticed the girl who had held herself all so high and mighty. The door closed and the teacher began to talk so he drew his attention away from her and to his text book.

"Now, does anyone know who was the leader of the first and only uprising?" Their teacher asked, looking out hopefully towards the faces in the crowd

:: Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?
You build up hope, but failure’s all you’ve known
Remember all the sadness and frustration
And let it go. Let it go ::

:: When you were standing in the wake of devastation When you were waiting on the edge of the unknown And with the cataclysm raining down
Insides crying, "Save me now!" You were there, impossibly alone ::

The lesson was long, tedious and dull- the subject was Capitol History- which was clearly felt by other class mates who sat around him; their eyes blankly staring at the board or out the window in a desperate attempt to not pay attention. The teacher picked out some of those who were noticeably not paying attention to what he was saying- one of which was the girl who had held herself so high and mighty in the corridor. Nylia simply rolled her eyes and continued to pay attention to anything else but the actual lesson.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, the bell rang once more; not sounding as shrill and harsh as before- it was more of a beacon for their freedom. There was the chorus of scrapping chairs across the limonium flooring- the excited chatter of what they were going to have for lunch and who they thought would die next in the games filled the room- as people got out their seat. Thadeus took the break off his wheel chair and wheeled himself out into the corridor when most of the students had left.

As he wheeled himself down the corridor past Nylia, he noticed two girls crying to an older girl. Pausing, briefly, he listened to the conversation that they were having. According to one of the younger ones, a girl had pushed them to the floor prior to the class he had just left. Unsurprisingly, he heard Nylia's name mentioned- to which he just rolled his eyes- by the other younger girl. He was about to move on when he heard the words 'brat' and 'bitch' fall from the blonde girls mouth.

"Who pushed you??" Evan had asked

Thadeus cried and pointed out the person who had, moments before, pushed him to the ground. Evan looked in that direction before looking back at Thadeus with a slight smile.

"I see.....but you know what we're going to do?" Thadeus shook his head before Evan continued "Nothing, because doing something would make us no better than them"

He glanced back at the blonde girl- who was still comforting the young ones- beyond whom he could see Nylia staring furiously at the girls; her fists where clenched at her sides. Turning his chair round, Thadeus wheeled himself to the three girls who looked at him and smiled some as he parked up beside them; he smiled back.

"Can I help you??" asked the blonde one who continued to smile at him

"Yeah actually, are you an orphan??" when the girl gave him a confused look he continued"Or did you're mother never teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all"

The girls stared at him, bewildered, as he nodded and wheeled himself back down the corridor towards the canteen.

:: Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?
You build up hope, but failure’s all you’ve known
Remember all the sadness and frustration
And let it go. Let it go ::