-Written By Wilma Bos
(Reading Time: 10 min Approx)
Anika, a young woman off almost seventeen, is sitting down at the riverside. Watching the wrinkling of the water, while she is throwing little pebbles into the river. She always comes here if she needs a peaceful place. When her head is overloaded and she needs to clear her mind. Somehow the water calms her down. Her life hasn’t been easy. Everyone’s life has ups and downs. But for her, it has more downs than ups.
Her childhood was very hard. She struggled every day, to get through it all. She never seemed to fit in with the other kids. Making friends was very difficult for her. She always felt less than others. Too shy to stand up for herself. And that made her the person who always got picked on by her classmates. Being bullied became a normal routine for her. The teachers knew about it. Some of them participated with the bullies and some tried to protect her. They allowed her to leave class earlier so she could escape her bullies.
On the days when she wasn’t allowed to leave early, she hides in the bathroom of the school. Hoping her bullies got tired of waiting for her, and went home. Sometimes she got lucky. Sometimes they were still there. A group of girls, much bigger and stronger than her. They kicked her, pulled her hair, and slapped her. She just let it happen. Her body frozen by fear….paralyzed. Unable to hurt them back. When her attackers got tired, they allowed her to go home. As fast as she could she went home on her bicycle. There she had to face her other fear. Her father, who was always very angry at her when she was too late. So again she got slapped. She never told her parents why she was late. Feeling very ashamed that she was too weak and didn’t fight back. At gym time it was the worst; she was very bad at it and always got picked last when they made two teams. Her classmates openly complained that they ended up with her on their team. That didn’t help a lot to get her self esteem up. She began to believe she wasn’t worth anything. That she was too slow, ugly, and stupid. One of the teachers, a woman participated with the bullies. She told her, as soon as she entered the classroom, that she had to stand in the corner with her face towards the wall. The teacher told her she was too stupid to learn something, so she might as well stand in the corner. Almost everybody was laughing. A few felt sorry for her, she could see it on their faces. But that was even worse, them feeling pity for her. She could bare almost everything, but not pity. Without noticing herself, tears run down her face and fall into the water.
She gets so deeply lost in her mind, that she doesn’t hear someone sneaking up to her from behind. A pair of hands is touching her shoulders and tries to push her into the water. Somehow she is able to plant her feet firmly on the ground and the attacker fails. Quickly she turns around and is looking straight into the eyes of her biggest enemy, the leader of the group. Stella Brown what are you trying to do! What do you think; my God you are more stupid than I thought! I try to drown you so I never have to look at your ugly face again. I don’t know why my boyfriend thinks that you are pretty. You are the ugliest person I ever saw. Your boyfriend? Is that the reason you and your friends are tormenting me? Shut up stupid, and just die! By saying these words, Stella tries to push her again. But Anika outflanked her and Stella lands face down into the soil. In two seconds she gets up and grabs Anika’s hair. Anika feels something” that she never felt before.
A big rage is taking over her scary feelings. No more abuse! No more being the victim! She tackles Stella and drags her by her hair towards the water. An unknown strength makes her feel powerful. The girl is screaming and tries to get out of her grip, but she doesn’t have a chance.
Anika walks into the water while Stella is putting her nails in her legs, trying to stop her. No pain can stop her. A lot of blood is pouring out, but she doesn’t feel it. Everything is numb. A bad smell entered her nose. Stella peed her pants out of fear, and she is hopelessly crying. Anika holds her grip and pushes the crying girl underneath the water. The girl is desperately kicking with her feet and hits Anika’s arm.
She loosens her grip and Stella is gasping for air when her head is above the water. She is weakened, and Anika captures her again. Now she is faced up. Anika’s hands are around her neck holding her down. Stella’s movements become slower and her frightened eyes become lifeless. At that moment Anika comes to her senses and realize what she is doing. Shocked she pulls the girl out of the water and begins to give her CPR. Stella wakes up and takes a deep breath.
Thank God she is alive, I almost killed someone. She makes sure that she is breathing fine, walks up to the girl and gives her a hand to help her stand. This time she tells her with a calm voice. Next time we meet, leave me alone and tell your followers to do the same. I’m not interested in your boyfriend or whatever. I just want to go to school and have a good time. Stella just looks at her with bloodshot eyes and nods slowly yes. And don’t tell anybody about this, or I will tell them that you peed your pants out of fear. She walks away and the only noise she hears is the sound of a sobbing girl.
-Written By Wilma Bos
