The Past I

In the playground of Midwood High School, Brooklyn, a young boy with brown hair and brown eyes was sitting on a swing. While the other kids were either playing sports or recording themselves dancing stupidly to a song, he was out there reading a novel.

The excitement and wonder in his eyes couldn't be hidden as he continued scrolling through his favorite web novel. He was so engrossed in reading that he didn't realize that a group of kids with not-so-good intentions had snuck up behind him.

All of a sudden, a tall boy kicked him in the back, causing him to fall from the swing and bruise his knees. The group of kids then surrounded him and began snickering. The tall boy, Jared, who seemed to be the leader of the group, grinned. "David, are you reading those stupid novels again?"

David didn't reply to the bullies, but silently got up to his feet, dusted off his clothes, and walked toward his phone that had fallen a short distance away. Seeing that David wasn't replying to him, Jared's eyebrows furrowed. He walked toward him and slapped him in the back of the head.

"Ughh!" David grimaced in pain but still didn't reply.

Jared looked at him and mocked, "Didn't your mom teach you it's bad manners to ignore people when they're speaking to you?"

Once again, David ignored the youth and bent over to pick up his phone.

Jared patted himself on the forehead and said, "Oh! My bad, I completely forgot. Your mom's dead, so you have no one to teach you the basics." He loudly cackled, along with the rest of the boys. David, who was just about to pick up his phone, froze. He bit his lower lip as his heart filled with rage.

But he controlled himself to not lash out. He had long since learned the consequences of lashing out at the bastards that preyed on him at every opportunity they had. If he ever fought back, they would only beat him even more. And it wasn't like David could even fight back in the first place; he had a very frail body to begin with.

Thus, he controlled his impulses and bent over to grab his phone. However, just as he grabbed it, one of the boys viciously stomped on his hand.

"Aaaggghh!!" David knelt down and yelled in agony. His phone's screen had already been broken, and now that the boy had stomped his hand on it, some of the glass had pierced his palm.

Jared walked toward him and twisted his ear. "You think if you don't reply, we'll stop? Hah, think again!" With that, he raised his other hand and slapped David in the face.

A red handprint formed on his cheek. David clenched his fists as his lips quivered, but the next moment, he screamed in his mind, 'NO! I can't cry in front of this fucker!' From his years of being bullied, he had learned that bullies take extra pleasure in kicking people when they were down.

He couldn't stand up to these guys because he was weak, and if he was going to be bullied either way, he might as well endure. No matter what they threw at him, he would continue enduring. He might be weak in body, but he was strong at heart... or at least that's what he liked to believe.

Seeing that he still couldn't elicit a response from David, Jared clicked his tongue in annoyance. Suddenly he thought of something and he grinned. "David, I heard that your mother was actually a whore? And that you're actually a bastard son—"

However, before he could finish what he was about to say, David turned his head in his direction and viciously glared at him. The tall boy stumbled back a few steps after being stared at like that. He felt like he was being eyed by an ancient wild beast.

A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead as he said, "Y-You bastard, how dare you look at me like that?" Embarrassed that he had actually been scared by such a weakling, Jared was enraged.

He clenched his fist and delivered a solid punch to David's face. However, the brown-haired boy continued glaring at him. David would not stand for someone badmouthing his late mother; that was simply crossing the line.

"Son of a bitch!" Jared was outraged. He instructed his friends to grab David's arms while he raised his hand to deliver another punch. Midway, he realized that his friends were looking behind him in sheer terror.

"What the hell's wrong with you guys?" Jared asked, puzzled. However, his friends didn't reply. Instead, they turned and fled, all the while screaming, "Run! It's the demoness!"

When the tall boy heard the word 'demoness', he began trembling. Slowly, he turned around and saw a black-haired and black-eyed girl coldly looking at him.

"E-Elena… wait…." The tall boy raised his hands and tried to speak, but before he could, the girl rushed toward him and slapped his face. The boy was swept off his feet and fell to the ground, his lips beginning to bleed.

However, Elena wasn't done and she walked toward him, repeatedly kicking him in the stomach. "You scumbag, how dare you bully David!"

David got to his feet and hurriedly pulled Elena back, afraid that she would send the boy to the hospital. He dragged her across the playground, and all the while she continued hurling insults at Jared, who was still groaning in pain.

After calming down a little, Elena scolded, "Why do you always let them walk all over you? Do you like getting bullied so much?"

David scratched the back of his head and smiled brightly. "That's because I know you'll be there to save my ass."

Elena's cheeks reddened a little and she snorted, "Hmph! Don't think you can always sweet talk your way out of it."

"Okay, okay!" David chuckled. Then his eyes gleamed with excitement. "Let me tell you how that gu master was able to scheme against his enemies and kill them all…." He began talking to her about the current novel that he was reading.

That was what he always did when he was with her. He would share stories about the immortal cultivators that he had read about in novels, and she would always listen to them with relish.

She was David's only friend, the only ray of sunshine in his bleak life.