Blake’s eyes twitched, his grip tightening even more, his knuckles white. Ash could barely breathe, his chest burning.

“That’s gonna make some famous last words, freak.” Blake rasped, shaking him violently.

But Ash could barely hear him.

He braced himself for another impact, when he caught a glimpse of red coming inside.

‘I s-should…st-stop imagining things…’

“Enough, Blake,” It was Lucas, he stepped into the light, his eyes narrowing on seeing Ash’s form.

Blake released his grip with a frustrated growl, shoving Ash to the ground. He barely had a moment to catch his breath before Lucas stepped forward, his shoes stopping inches away from Ash’s face.

“So, any progress?” Lucas asked, his voice cold. Blake wiped the sweat from his forehead, glaring down at Ash one last time before stepping back. “He’s too stubborn, Boss,” Blake muttered. “But I’ve got a feeling he’ll keep his mouth shut now.”

Lucas didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he crouched down next to Ash, studying him with those intense, red-tinted eyes that seemed to pierce right through him.

For a moment, the room was silent except for Ash’s ragged breathing.

“You understand now, Ash?” Lucas asked softly, almost like a whisper. “Do you see why I tried to warn you? Why I kept you away from all this?”

“I was trying to protect you. From all this.”

Ash didn’t respond, instead he stared blankly at Lucas.

He seemed different- too different.

He was barely able to focus on the present. His mind drifted to the thought that rattled him that time.

.

.

We’re friends, aren’t we, Ash?

.

.

Friends... The word felt like a cruel joke.

He never really believed in it, not before high school. Friends were just people you kept around for company, people who would leave the moment things got tough, things got dirty. That’s what he used to think, anyway.

But then came Lucas and Jason, bursting into his high-school life with their energy.

It was like they’d taken a hammer to the walls he’d carefully built around himself, cracking them just enough to let a bit of light cut through.

‘I didn’t mind it,’ he realized. ‘I didn’t mind them.’

Lucas with his humorless jokes, always knowing when to push and when to back off. Jason with his loud opinions and even louder laughter, dragging him into conversations he never thought he’d enjoy.

They became... something he never thought he needed.

Companions. Allies. No... friends.

But now, sprawled on the ground, with blood trickling and limbs numb from all the beating, everything felt like a lie.

Everything just- hurt.

He thought he’d been fighting bullies, standing up against the people who made life hell for others.

But here he was, facing something far worse, the realization that even the people you let in could turn into monsters.

‘Maybe I was stupid to believe it,’ he thought bitterly. ‘Stupid to think that this time would be different, that having someone around would make me push my limits. Would make me change my dumb mind.’

But the truth was, he liked having them around. They made the loneliness he carried feel... lighter, somehow.

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Then Ash blurted, his throat aching, “H-How could you do this? …How could you expect everyone to trust you…w-when you’ve become….become this.”

Lucas clenched his fists. “You don’t get to bark nonsense, with the way you are. You’re the one who broke my trust. You never told me you passed on the notes, you never told me you were coming here. You always…do that.”

Ash managed some energy and scoffed. “Y-Yeah?...Sorry to pop your b-bubble, but I never found you th-that…trustworthy. You’re worse…Much worse t-than anyone here.”

Lucas snarled and glared, and then without any warning, he punched Ash on the face.

His head snapped to the side, and he felt the blood in his mouth.

He wasn’t unaware of that pain, he had been punched many times.

But for some wicked reason- it hurt more than before.

It stinged.

“I figured you wouldn’t tell me. So…Ash, I started to come to your home in the morning, to accompany you to school, and then Blake told me he stopped getting notes in the mornings. First, I thought of it as a lucky coincidence. But then it kept on happening.”

Lucas turned to look at Blake.

Blake chuckled, “Yeah, Boss was always this observant.”

‘T-That’s why…he came. And I was a fool for not thinking he might be observing the t-timings.’

“I wanted to make sure of it, that’s why I came by, hanged around till noon, and so Blake stopped getting notes. I knew you were the one sneaking around, butting your nose into business that didn’t matter to you,” Ash scoffed at that, “I wonder, Ash,”

Ash made eye-contact.

“Why is it always the quiet ones?”

Ash blinked. That’s right.

Why is it that the quiet students are prone to doing things no one imagines they can do? Why does no one expect them to do something fruitful?

Why does everyone think they are only comfortable with themselves, and not help others?

Why does everyone think of them as…selfish?

“Why do the people who look the least to try, go that far? I had to know. So I trapped you. You thought you were special, unstoppable? But you played right into my hands.”

Ash stared at Lucas, “Y-You must be stalking me then, h-huh?”

Lucas laughed, “As if you weren’t stalking Blake. Ash, no one here is a good guy. You and I both know that. But the things you do, you consider them to be good, noble actions. But the things we do, us?” Lucas turned to face Blake, and then looked at Ash, “People get mad. We might as well look at someone, and you’ll make rumors of us bullying that person.”

Ash coughed, his voice hidden somewhere inside, or he couldn’t muster the courage to speak.

“So, keep shut and stop, will ya? ‘Cause we can go get Noah right now.”

Lucas turned to leave, but Ash couldn’t let it go.

He couldn’t let Lucas walk away with that sick look of satisfaction on his face. Gritting his teeth, he summoned whatever strength he had left.

“G-Go to hell, Lucas,” Ash rasped.

“What did you say?” Lucas turned to look at him, while Blake did the same.

“I said,...Go t-to hell,” Ash repeated, his voice barely a whisper.

He forced himself to sit up even though his body screamed in agony.

Lucas was glaring at Ash, his fists clenched at his sides.

“You…make me s-sick, dumbhead.”

For a moment, it looked like he might just walk away, but then something snapped in him. Without a word, he crossed the room in a few quick strides.

“You just don’t know when to shut up, do you?” Lucas hissed, picking up a long, heavy stick from the corner.

Before anyone could react, Lucas brought it down hard on Ash’s leg. The sound was loud, and Ash let out a choked scream.

“You are pathetic.” Lucas spat, as he brought the stick into Ash’s leg once again, twisting it.

Ash scoffed, and closed his eyes in a hopeless attempt to stop the pain from shooting all over the body.

With that, Lucas left, muttering curses under his breath.

Blake snickered, and he left following Lucas, while quickly kicking Ash on the face.

Ash didn’t had the courage to look back at them. Blood dribbled from his nose, but Ash didn’t have the strength to even lift a hand to wipe it away.

‘What time i-is it?’ he wondered, his thoughts a mess. It could’ve been hours or mere minutes since they dragged him into this nightmare, but it felt like an eternity.

The room was spinning, every part of his body screaming in agony.

‘H-How did it come to this?’ Ash thought, bitterly. ‘Who would’ve thought that it was…L-Lucas…all along.’

His mind kept drifting back to Lucas’s words.

.

.

You are pathetic.

.

.

‘Look at me. I a-am…’ he thought, ‘Maybe I am p-pathetic.’

Lucas’s words kept replaying in his mind, like a cruel reminder.

Maybe he really was. Maybe he really was pathetic. Maybe everything he’d done, all his attempts to stand up and be brave, were just the desperate, sad excuses of someone who was destined to lose.

His vision blurred, the room fading into darkness. His body refused to move.

Ash’s last conscious thought was a bitter whisper to himself: ‘...M-Maybe I deserve this.’

And then, everything went black as his eyes rolled back.

Because in the end, nothing mattered anymore.

He was the one left battered and broken, the one who faced betrayal.

He was the one who lost.

He was the kid who lost his direction in the shuffle.