《Bully Slave》


 1. Challenge

    Afternoon, leaning towards evening. Most students are in class, and the cafeteria is empty. That''d be eerie for most, but Eric didn''t seem to mind. His schedule happened to have a half-hour free space towards six, putting him right in between of the afternoon and evening shifts.


    His tablet was down to 37%, with brightness set to minimum and a soft sepia filter over the pages of a critically acclaimed manga: "My Childhood Friend is a VTuber?!" It was a horrible read, but somehow ever so slightly endearing.


    Step, step.


    Eric heard a person approaching, and he''d raised his ears if he''d been a puppy. Shyly, he kept his eyes glued to his screen.


    Step, step, step. Closer, this time?


    He thought this was weird, and took a moment or two to react.


    "Yo! What''re you reading, dweeb?"


    "Dweeb?" What is this, middle school? - he thought to himself. With a brow furrowed in annoyance, he looked up... and back down.


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    It was a girl. Short, cute. Long black hair, gray shirt and a modest, flared skirt. She looked like her mom picked her clothes, and had a cute little pink hairpin for a spark of color in her outfit.


    Eric took a big second to respond, but he did. "It''s a manga. It''s called..."


    When he blinked, he noticed she''d taken the tablet off his hands. He blinked another two times, dumbfounded.


    She said something about it. A hand to her cheek, the device in the other. Maybe it was some sort of mockery. Eric wasn''t hearing. A whistling beep was stuck in his ear.


    "Can I have that back, please?" Eric had never been "bullied." However, as the pieces of what this interaction was supposed to be connected in his head, his heart accelerated. His skin, got hotter. His eyes, despite his glasses, were blurring.


    "Ha, ha! Nah, I think I''ll keep it."


    The beeping became stronger. Deafening. Childishly, "It''s mine! She cant'' take it from me!" Maturely, "This is a waste of time." And overbearingly, taking over his mind...


    "Give it back, now."


    She stopped, her cheeky smile fading for a bit. She slowly handed the device back to him. Eric sighed in relief.


    Then she kicked him in the balls.


    "AGH!" Eric dropped to his knees. She cackled like a stereotypical princess from an anime.


    "Who do you think you are to speak to me like that, huh?! You silly, stupid dumb!"


    Petty insults. The tablet still in her hands: second to latest model. The first thing he''d ever saved up for.


    He stood up.


    "What''s with that face, dweeb?"


    Eric''s hands furrowed her collar. Casey''s eyes froze in fear.


    SLAM!


    Lights out.

 2. Fear. Fear. Fear.

    Breath. One, two. Deep, panting breaths. One, three, four.


    "What... what have I done?"Eric clutched Kasey''s shoulders. "Hey! ... Hey!"She was not moving. Eric retreated, hesitating. Checking every corner. His tablet, on the ground, its screen intact. The hallway, empty. Through the windows, nobody to be seen. The cafeteria, deserted still.


    He gathered his belongings in a rush, and put himself to a sprint of complete fear.But he stopped, no more than a step into the getaway.


    "They''ll find my fingerprints on her.""They''ll notice I skipped class.""Someone will see me leave."


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    Eric froze in place, shivering, quivering, like a jumbling mess of gelatin. He pulled himself back to the table and flipped Kasey face up. Her eyes were closed. Her forehead was bloody, and her arms were limp.


    With a storm in his lungs, heart and ears, Eric held his breath to listen...


    She was breathing.


    "Oh, thank God. Thank all that''s holy. Oh God. Oh Jesus Christ."Eric grabbed Kasey from the hips and sat her on the table, throwing her arms on his shoulders.


    "What do I...? What do I do now?"She was not waking up.


    Step. Step step. Step step step.


    OH GOD. Pure terror pierced Eric''s body, from his spine to the bones in his toes.Someone was coming. Someone was coming! "I... I..." Need to do something! - he wanted to say, but he couldn''t.


    "WHAT DO I...!?"

 3. Quick!

    "Good af-!" a young man with blonde hair and a green shirt passed by. He peeked into the cafeteria to check if his classmates were there yet. "Ooops! Sorry to interrupt." He immediately left.


    Eric''s body shook like it had frosted up and melted. His knees weakened and he almost felt to the ground. Lucky. He had been so lucky.


    The way he was holding Kasey made it look like they were making out from an distant point of view. His absolute clumsiness saved him.


    Eric hung down his head, dropping it on Kasey''s neck. He was sweating so cold and she was so warm, you could power a differential reactor with these two.


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    "... Mmm. Hmph. Uhhm..." Kasey started muttering, and Eric sprung right back to panic mode. That means he jerked back, and as a result, Kasey fell onto the table and hit herself again.


    "Owch! What the hell?" she bolted awake in a moment, with a furious glint in her eyes. She then stopped, glaring at Eric for a long second.


    She paused, feeling the cold wetness on her forehead. Kasey touched the zone lightly, and saw the crimson blood on her index and middle fingers. Her mouth went agape, she took a breath, she looked at Eric and at the blood again.


    "You piece of...!" she began to form a scream, but it was muffled by the screeching bell''s ring. Eric looked at her, panting, breathless, scared half-to-death. And then he took off in a sprint, joining the night shift students in the hallway.


    Casey sat then, silent. Quiet. Alone.


    "My fucking head hurts..." she muttered to herself.

 4. Not Anymore

    When Eric made his way out of school that evening, he was skittish like a mouse and watchful like an owl. Since most students taking that last class continued to take other lessons in the night shift, Eric had to leave on his lonesome. And today, the relatively short walk from the central building to the street felt like a minefield that stretched for miles.


    Once he finally got the gate, he let the night''s coldness into his lungs as would a drowning man. "Seems she isn''t coming for me after all..."


    "Oh, but she is."


    Eric jerked in fear, but Kasey caught him by the shirt and pinned him to the wall.


    "Not such a big boy now, are you?" She smirked after hearing him squeal.


    "Y-You..." Eric started to speak.


    "My head still hurts, you know? Did you think you could do that to me and just get away with it?"


    "You started it!"


    Kasey shook him up a bit. "What if I did? You don''t just get to stand up to me. Get this into your head, if I want something from you, you give it to me. And..."


    At some point during her dialogue, Eric''s expression started to change. She realized, frowned, and stopped herself.


    "What''s with the pretty face, huh?"


    Eric thrust his hand up and grasped Kasey''s neck. She gagged, losing her grip on his shirt. He started pressing, his eyes lost in a light that wasn''t his.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it."H-Hold on... We can... Ugh... Aaaagh!"


    He wasn''t stopping, and Kasey started throwing her hands at him. It didn''t do much, but she knocked his glasses off. In response, he got even more pissed and threw her against the wall. She shrieked as that took out the last bit of air she had in her lungs.


    "Uuurgh... N-No..."


    But Eric kept choking.


    "S-Stop it... Please..."


    He kept going.


    "I... I''m sorry..."


    Eric started hesitating, as if human compassion suddenly returned to him.


    "I won''t... bother you... anymore, so please...!"


    He closed his eyes and let suddenly let her go, backing off. Kasey dropped on her butt, back against the wall. She started gasping for air, holding her neck.


    Eric stood for a moment in front of her. The adrenaline surging through his body was blending with the terror of what he''d just seen himself do.


    "... Why!?" he cried out at Kasey. She rose her bloodshot, scared wide-open eyes at him. "Why do you make me do these things?! Are you into this or something? Are you one of those ''choke me daddy'' girls? What the hell is wrong with you?!"


    Kasey already felt weak and pained, and after hearing that, she found herself also feeling empty.


    "I-I..."


    "Get away from me! I don''t ever want to see you again!" Eric picked up his glasses and stormed off down the streets.


    Kasey then sat where she was, blurred eyes peering into the night, fending off so many thoughts, she could hear static in her head.

 5. Unbearable

    Eric had a hard time getting any sleep that night.


    Kasey had a harder time hiding the bruises when she returned home.


    "What the hell was this day...?" He said as he took his glasses off and put his phone away, eyes fixed on the ceiling. He took a deep breath, his shaky heart putting shivers into his skin.


    "Hopefully, that will be it. She did say she would not bother me anymore... I hope she doesn''t try to send the police after me or something."


    Eric was particularly afraid of that. He had read many stories about men being accused of violence or sexual abuse  by women who antagonized them, and it almost never ended well for the guys. He couldn''t fathom how Kasey could organize such a thing, but at the very least, she might be able to get him expelled and isolated by his acquaintances.


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    "What am I even gonna do if that happens...?" He tried to tell himself it wouldn''t, but she had taught him last night that with her, that wasn''t going to work. If he was to rest easy in the coming days, he''d have to deal with her, somehow.


    "How to get away with murder" is not something you should look up on your personal phone. Fortunately, he didn''t dare. And the realization that he had even considered it made him terrified at the kind of monster his conflicts with this annoying and persistent girl were making him into.


    It was about five in the morning by then, and he had work and school again tomorrow. For a moment after checking the clock, he tried to think of a solution... and passed out for the night.