Haze’s Miserable Life

It was a cold noon, the sun peeped lazily behind the clouds, seen but not felt. Haze leaned on the wall and sighed heavily. He was in school and it was time for their lunch but while other kids would be excited, Haze was far from it.

While other kids eagerly anticipated lunchtime so they could eat and have fun with their friends, Haze had a different reality. He had no friends so he had no one to share the moments with and he had no one to prepare him good food so he always brought hastily prepared unflavoured food.

As a result, Haze went to the cafeteria to get a single fruit to spice up his meal. Most times, the fruit was all he ate since the rest of the food would be almost inedible.

With another sigh Haze mustered enough strength to stand straight and start walking, as lunchtime would soon end and he needed to eat something. The wind sang a mournful melody in his ears as he walked to cafeteria and headed to the fruit section.

The lunch woman was a kind elderly woman whose hair always spilled out of her hairnet. She smiled at the Haze when he arrived.

Haze managed a weak smile. "Hi, I'd like an apple", he said.

The lunch woman handed him an apple and he paid for it.

"Have a nice day", The woman said as he left.

I sincerely doubt that, Haze thought bitterly. Knowing that his day would be anything but nice.

He was right.

Haze left the stand and headed straight for an isolated table at the far corner of cafeteria. An isolated table for an isolated boy. The thought almost made him smile.

He had barely sat and brought out his lunch to eat when he saw three boys staring at him. They sat at a table far away from him yet they turned their heads to look at him, malice written on their faces.

Haze knew who they were. They were Adam, Cage and Zach and they had been the biggest thorn in his flesh ever since he got to the school. They constantly bullied him and made his life a living hell on their whim. He would have reported them but who would he report to? He had no mother, no older sibling or any sibling for that matter, all he had was his father and the man did not care for him one bit.

Haze bit into the apple and looked at the guys staring at him, he decided he didn't want their trouble that day so he packed his lunch and entered the school building.

Inside the building, Haze wandered the hallways searching for an empty room, he eventually found one that was unoccupied and pushed the door. The door groaned as it swung open, Haze entered and shut it behind him. He checked his watch and saw he had only a few minutes left before lunchtime was over so he hastily set his food out and started eating.

BOOM!

The door swung open with force and the three boys strolled into the room, wicked grins on their faces.

"Well well well, what do we have here?", Cage asked and cracked his knuckles.

"Our favorite friend", Adam replied, his grin grew wider.

"And he's hiding from us", Zach said. "Don't you want to play with us, friend?".

Haze had gone still. He knew how this would play out and his body had retreated into itself in helplessness.

The three of them formed a small semicircle around Haze, Cage placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He's silent", Cage said and turned to the others. "Why is he silent?".

The two of them shrugged.

"Well, you know the drill", Zach said and snatched the apple from Haze's hand. He bit into and made a satisfied sigh.

"You need to try this", He said and passed it to the others. They all bit into it and agreed it tasted good. Then they picked the rest of his lunch and dumped it in the bin, then they left him.

Haze still didn't say anything, he stood up and walked slowly out of the empty class room and headed to his locker, soon the bell would ring and classes would resume.

Haze spent the rest of the day hungry, his stomach grumbled as he sat through the lectures hoping school would end soon.

Classes went by in a blur, no one bothered him, the teacher didn't ask him questions, they never did. Haze endured through the classes till finally school was over.

Haze stepped outside the school building with some relief. The cold weather had given way to a slightly warmer one and the sun's rays gently ran their hands over his skin.

While other kids walked home with their friends, Haze started the walk home alone and slightly envious of the kids with friends.

What wouldn't I do to have a friend?

He walked on in silence till he got to the sharp bend on his way home. He walked to the bend, unaware of the danger he was in, Haze believed since he wasn't in school he didn't need to keep his guard up any longers, he was terribly wrong.

Waiting for him at the bend, stood the three boys. They had malicious looks plastered on their sweaty faces.

Haze didn't see them until he ran into them literally. The biggest of them, Cage grabbed him by his scruff and smiled.

"Look what the universe delivered to us, fresh meet".

Haze couldn't believe his luck, he was going to be bullied twice in a day, it had never been this bad. So he did something he normally didn't do, he spoke to the bullies.

"Why are you here?", He said in a shaky voice. "You're never here".

"Adam was not pleased with the amount of time we spent with you today", Cage replied. "He was upset that you left the cafeteria to avoid spending time with us, so we decided to come make up for it".

Haze gulped and accepted his fate.

Adam dipped his hand in Haze's bag and brought out some books, he went through them and saw Haze's art book.

"Interesting", He said and started to flip through it.

"Wait, no!", Haze said and struggled to take it back but Cage held him firmly in place.

"Seems he loves his book", Adam said with a smirk. He suddenly tore a page out of the book.

Haze screamed. His art was the only thing he had, it was his friend, his brother, his only place of solace.

Adam, Cage and Zach rushed at the book, ripping it out with glee while Haze kneeled on the ground helplessly watching them.

After they were done, they flung the rest of the books at Haze and went on their way.

Haze knelt there for a while, stunned and shocked beyond word or action. Eventually, he got up and slowly gathered the torn pieces of paper and put them in his bag, then he walked home slowly.