"What a damn fatso! Look at him, he was meant to be—" a boy said halfway, throwing another hard jab into the side of Fynix's liver, "—a punching bag!"
"What an idiot. Cant even fight back" another boy said, lighting a cigarette he'd snuck into school.
The kid they tormented was Fynix—short, overweight, and an overall easy target for bullies. He was ostracized by those around him—and for what? Just for being different? It made no sense.
"Please.. Make it stop.." Fynix winced. cowered in a fetal position after the liver blow.
The kids, named Griff and Paulo, continue punching and insulting Fynix—eventually rubbing out the cigarette on Fynix's arm, leaving a small but painful burn.
"Come on, do something." Griff leaned down, grabbing a chunk of Fynix's hair into his fist before preparing to spit, "Open wide!"
Ptooey!
A large glob of spit, spat out by Griff, splatters onto Fynix's swollen cheek, eventually dripping down and making contact with his lip.
"That's what you deserve, useless fool." Paulo said whilst laughing, taking Griff and leaving Fynix alone on the roof with his emotions
"I'm so useless..." Fynix cries to himself, wiping the glob of spit off his cheek. "Why is this only happening to me!?"
After what felt like forever, Fynix finally decided to get up and walk home, thick tears of his own uselessness flowing down his face—just as the rain began to fall, masking his own crying behind the falling droplets.
"I can't do this anymore... I really can't...!"
Fynix's face scrunches up into another ugly cry, tears blurring his vision, everything was soaked—clothes, socks, and even his own heart. He stares up into the sky, lightning striking in the background. "I hate everyone."
Suddenly, the ground shakes rapidly, large echo bursts can be heard beneath the floor, as if there was something hollow underneath him. The rain intensified.
Zooming out, the world is in chaos—tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoons. All sorts of natural disasters occur across the planet, killing millions as the seconds pass. Its even worse than what people claimed COVID-19 to be...
"MY PARENTS!"
Fynix yells out loud, causing the pavement to crack under him as he begins to run, each chunk of road and sidewalk falling into the deep ravine that just appeared behind him, slowly catching up to Fynix's pace of running.
Fynix's legs run past their own limits—lungs burn, throat closing up. He keeps running, his body cries, and pleads for him to stop.
"Mom...! Dad...! Please be okay!"
A ragged cough tore from his throat, vision blurring as the ravine catches up to him, making him fall. His fingers scrape against the sharp walls of the endless ravine as he tries to stop himself from falling, pain shooting through his whole body as blood drips from his fingertips—looking down, a swirling portal awaits, distorting in and out of reality, threatening to swallow everything he holds dear.
"I don't want to die...!" Fynix shouts, tears flowing down his face, the stench of wet concrete filling his nostrils. "Maybe... Maybe Its for the better."
His grip on the ledge falters, the pain becoming too unbearable for him to handle further. His hand slips, making him free-fall—only one thought echoed in his mind: "I hope my parents are okay... My death wont affect them too much anyways, right?"
A calming yet mechanical voice is heard in his head:
[Welcome to the tutorial..]
He finally loses consciousness—taken into the portal as it flickers out of reality. Fynix is left nowhere to be seen.