Once again, Matheus was running for his life.

A typical day, during a typical morning.

His barefoot felt cold on the concrete, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t care. Behind, four boys chased, throwing insults and mocking him all the while.

They had been at it for ten minutes, following after him from the gymnasium. Persistent assholes.

He knew that joining the chess team was a bad idea, he knew that he should have stayed at home, where he was safe and comfortable. But his mother insisted, saying he would make no friends if he refused to leave his home.

Well, he wouldn’t get his ass kicked either. Between that and friends, it was an easy choice.

“Hey King, come back! Stop running like a little baby”. Said an ugly looking boy, with more pimples than face.

“If you don’t stop, you’ll have to eat both of them”. Said an even uglier one, with a receding hairline so big it almost made him bald.

Bastards. All of them. Like they wouldn’t beat him up if he stopped.

With trepidation, Matheus turned a corner and almost stopped. The concrete street ended, and a field of gravel stone lay ahead of him.

Damnit, he got so focused on running, he forgot to check where he was going.

As usual, his idea of joining a team from a different state backfired at him. They recognized him either way, on the very first day, and now he was lost in a city he didn’t know.

Nothing to do about it now. Barely missing a step, he kept running, ignoring the pain.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuuuuuuuck.” He groaned, while he hopped like a rabbit.

Well, maybe he wasn’t ignoring it, but he was still running. That counted for something, right?

His pursuers all laughed. They could laugh all they want, as long as that was the only thing they did.

Unfortunately, it was not.

A fat boy, with a double chin and barely any neck, got tired of running after him and threw a handful of stones in his direction. He mostly missed, but Matheus had to protect his head.

Soon, the others joined in, and small rocks rained around Matheus, hitting him on his arms, his legs, his neck.

One even hit his left ear, taking him by surprise and almost knocking him down. That hurt a lot more than he thought possible.

Still, he kept hopping away. He couldn’t stop. Matheus could deal with small bruises, the humiliation had always been the unbearable part.

He needed to find his way back to the gymnasium, find his stuff, get in contact with his mom and stay in his home until the end of summer. Or maybe forever.

I mean, what chance was there for him if even the chess guys were bullying him now?

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That was a new low, even for Matheus. And once he’d got beaten up by a group of kids five years younger than him.

There were lots of kids, but still.

“You coward! Come back.” They cried after him. Of course those sedentary fuckers wanted him to go back, that was probably the longest run of their lives. But he wasn’t about to make it easy for them.

Matheus was panting, his body begging him to rest, but he needed to keep going, just a little more. He managed to create some distance, and was almost getting far enough to hide somewhere.

Then, he slipped. Somehow. While running on sharp gravel, wearing no shoes, he slipped.

Fortunately, Matheus was already with his hands up, protecting his head from the tossed stones, and avoided falling on his face. Unfortunately, he was only wearing a shirt and shorts.

Matheus yelped in pain, this time coming from his scrapped arms and knees. Blood started dripping from the wounds, only small drops, but enough to make him feel sick.

Matheus hated blood. Always had. In fact, the first time he’d seen it, he started puking and passed out almost at the same time.

But constant exposure had made him stronger.

Nowadays, he could keep himself conscious, and hold the urge to vomit maybe half the time.

Today was not one of those.

He tried to hold it back with his hands, but the hot leftovers of his lunch spilled from his mouth passing through his fingers.

“Hahahaha. Holy shit, Did you record all that?” Asked pimple man, laughing hysterically.

“Yeah man, I got it” Replied the last of his pursuers, a very slim boy with a Naruto shirt. He was holding his phone pointing at Matheus, and had been recording him this whole time. Probably the only reason he wasn’t running with his arms extended backwards.

Why did they always have to record it? Wasn’t it enough that they tormented him, was it really necessary to share it with others?

Well, he knew the reason. Everything had started because of a video, after all.

And all this time later, he was still paying the price for it.

Matheus tried to get up, but his head was dizzy, and his injuries all screamed in pain. He felt the beginning of tears, but stopped them.

In his experience, they only made people meaner.

Before he could get up Matheus was cornered again, and he doubted he would manage to escape a second time.

Escape to where, really? There was no escaping who he was, no place where people treated him differently.

The King of Losers.

“My God, you are disgusting, you know that right?” Said the neckless one, laughing and pointing. He was sweating from everywhere, making a small puddle around him.

“You gave us a good chase, King. People are gonna love it” Said the almost bald one, with a smirk on his face.

Please. Let it be enough. Go home. Leave him alone, let them be satisfied, please, please, PLEASE.

“But, we are still missing the main event, aren’t we?” Shiny head continued, with chuckles from all of them.

Matheus felt his heart drop on his chest. Why were people never satisfied?

They threw his sneakers on his lap. They all grinned, like it was the funniest joke ever.

“What are you waiting for, King? Eat them.”

Matheus wanted to cry, to beg for them to stop. But he knew better by now. They wouldn’t stop. Not until he gave what they wanted. And they would only hurt him more if he tried to resist.

He picked his left sneaker, and held it in front of his face. They were a gift from his mother, and the leather was worn out.

Before he lost his courage, he put the tip of the outsole on his mouth and bit with all his strength.

His assailants all started cheering.

“Kings of Losers” King of Losers! King of Losers!” They chanted together, the cellphone pointed at him.

“Man, this is too good. Girls are definitely gonna want to talk with us after we show them this video.”

He chewed on the leather, but it was hard and rigid. After some effort, he finally managed to pluck out a small bit. It tasted like dirty and feet.

With a force of will, Matheus tried to ingest it.

He couldn’t. It got stuck in his throat.

Matheus tried to ask for help, but only a high-pitched squeaking noise escaped his mouth.

He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe. Was this really happening?

“Hahahhahahahaha, he is getting red as a pepper! Look at that!” They all kept laughing, still recording the whole thing.

Panic surged through Matheus as he instinctively grasped at his neck, fingers trembling. His heart raced, pounding in his chest as he desperately tried and failed to get air to his lungs.

He refused to accept it. No way he was dying like this. But every second, Matheus felt weaker. And for all his efforts, the piece of leather was still stuck in his throat. The pain was agonizing.

The chanting slowly decreased, until the only sound was of Matheus' gasping for air.

“Is he… isn’t that too much?” Asked one of them, but Matheus couldn’t say which one. He couldn’t focus on anything else besides the small object slowly taking his life from him.

“Should we do something?” Asked another one, but none moved. They only stared in silence.

Darkness crept into the edges of his vision, his consciousness slipping away from him.

That’s how it ends, then. Live as a loser, die as a loser.

Regret filled his final thoughts.

Matheus gasped a few more times,

His body made an involuntary jerk, and got still, to never move again. All was black.

Matheus died.