Feel the Breeze: Chapter Three!

[C-Breeze 249]

 

Links to Previous Chapters:

 

Spoiler

Chapter One: Out Cold  |  Chapter Two: A Small House

 

Chapter Three: Bully Beware

 

Who-ville's frozen pond lay nestled in the heart of a grove of oak trees, down behind the old sawmill. On another day, at another time, the scene would have made for a lovely postcard. Alas, this was not that day. "What's he doing here," one of Jimmy's deplorable friends shouted out upon detecting my presence. "I know, I know," Jimmy retorted, but I didn't have a choice!"

"Well, we're not going to ease up just because he's here," exclaimed one of the scruffier looking kids.

The aforementioned pack of deplorables were all aged somewhere between thirteen and fifteen while I was a meagre ten. That made me everyone's favourite target as they all seemed to genuinely relish bullying the little kid. All the other players were bigger, faster and stronger, so it wasn't long before I was being knocked about like a ping pong ball while the older kids broke out into devilish grins.

We were all busy pretending to be our favourite VHL stars, mimicking their every move and re-enacting their moments of glory. Yet the more I tried to fit in, and the harder I fought, the more they seemed to enjoy planting me on the ice. Time and time again I picked myself up and got back into the fray, but despite all my best efforts it didn't seem to earn me even a morsel of respect. Just the opposite in fact as the deplorables seemed to grow even more irritated at the sight of my dogged determination.

And then it happened. The largest deplorable of all hit me harder than I'd ever been hit before. The impact was more than enough to spin me right round and sent me careening down face first onto the rock hard ice. It felt like landing on concrete as my jaw bore the full weight of the sudden impact. There I lay completely stunned with blood oozing from my mouth and all I could hear was Jimmy mocking me in front of his friends.

"Aah, are you going to cry now? Maybe you should run home to Mom and have a good cry!"

As I lay there in a pool of my own blood it occurred to me I had two choices. One, I could either tuck tail between my legs and try to live with the shame for the rest of my life, or two, I could get up and do something about it. Both prospects were frightening in their own ways, but somehow I decided it was better to face the short sharp pain now rather than live with dull chronic pain that might never go away. And so I picked myself up, wiped the blood from my mouth and skated over to cold-cock Jimmy as hard as I could.

The sudden aggression seemed to take Jimmy by surprise as I caught him flush on the chin and watched him slump down from the force of the blow. As I stood there, high above my fallen big brother I quickly uttered the words: "No, you live with it!"...

[TO BE CONTINUED]

514 Words

 

Chapter Four: Ella Grace!

Edited May 12 by C-Breeze
Added Chapter Links!