A Dream Is Just Dust

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***

- This is Kent Brockman with the top story of the day:

My medal picture came up on the screen. Naturally they picked the one with my slightly villainous twisted face.

- Another showy hero turned out to be a rotten man, whom all of us ordinary people have every right to judge!

Then there was a sequence of people talking about me. There was the headmaster who expelled me, who told me about how I set fire to the school....

But I didn't!

There were the bullies who beat me up in primary school and got me expelled from secondary school. They made me out to be more than a bully, they made me out to be a Mafia kingpin...

Unlike you bastards, I never laid a hand on anyone!

There were strangers who talked rubbish, making my childish pranks look like motivated crimes.

- And even you?

Jessica Lovejoy also suddenly appeared on the screen to tell me that I'd been stalking her for years and even molested her.....

- ...I actually thought we'd become friends....

- You'd think so. If you were in a tank! What could have caused such a change of heart in the public?! The revealed truth about a petty pervert who thought he had the right to represent a country that prides itself on morality and integrity.

Next came a retelling of the story by another announcer. Naturally in it I was called different names, but the essence was that I blackmailed my girlfriend's sister into sleeping with me....

Which was a load of bollocks!

- Naturally, the public pressured the Olympic committee to strip such a pathetic and disgusting man of his right to represent the United States of America.

My dream.

All I wanted was to win the Olympics...

Yes, it's a huge, almost unattainable dream, but I had a chance to get close to it, to be close to fulfilling it, and now....

- And can you blame anyone but Bart Simpson? When even those who should have been the biggest sceptics either refused to comment or....

Next up was a clip of a weeping mother begging for forgiveness....

Mum, what are you apologising for? I didn't do anything wrong.... Don't you believe in me?

by my father, who said I couldn't have done it, told me about my other antics, then finished:

- Because sexual blackmail is a natural stepping stone for a teenage rebel like Bart. Toh!

Is it an excuse that my father is an idiot who doesn't think before he speaks? I suppose it should. But couldn't he just this once say something nice about me?

Is there really no good in me? If even my family members don't see any good in me...?

Lisa apparently refused to comment, which is a good thing. Because she could have said all sorts of things about me.

Maggie, fortunately, was not featured in the report.

Next up, another unexpected face.

- Bart, him. - Milhouse was introduced with an ex-convict and my best friend's plaque. with no attempt at audience control. - I was dating Sherry, and he went behind my back... I never thought he'd do something like that.

What?!

No, it's definitely a montage!

Milhouse is my best friend, he would never say that. He'd definitely be on my side, like I was on his after I got out when the whole school shunned him!

When I pulled out my phone to call my best friend, my screen nearly froze with alerts from various social media sites with messages containing....

'I wish you were dead!'

'That moral creep should have his dick cut off!'

'Rapist.'

'I hope they fry you in the electric chair!'

'I'm disappointed in you.'

Even from the few that managed to catch my gaze, the strength left my body and I put the smartphone away. Collapsing on the mattress in Coach Engle's office.

- ...If I could go back in time... - then I wouldn't have made the mistake of sleeping with Sherry that ruined my whole life.

.....

- Aren't you going home? - after an unknown amount of time, the coach walked into his office with a bang.

- It's that late...? - I replied, not removing my hands from my face.

- It's twelve o'clock.

- May I... - Since I hadn't eaten or drunk anything for a long time, the words came out of my mouth hoarsely.

Yes, because I haven't eaten....

- The keys will be on the table, I'll lock the doors. - the coach said in a tired voice.

Yeah, and I disappointed him in the end....

.....

When the hall was finally empty, I finally got up. True, walking out the door my hands were shaking, and my gaze was darting from side to side on its own, making sure that no one was really there.

However, the gym was indeed empty, even though the coach had left the lights on. Probably only so that I noticed a large pack of instant noodles and a bottle of mineral water on one of the benches.

Being all alone calmed me down. A heavy, gusty sigh escaped my lips as my stomach rumbled in parallel.

In the reception area, along the table on the wall was a small kitchen with a coffee machine, a kettle, and a miniature fridge.

I brewed a beachpacket and ate, and went to bed, for I didn't feel like working out, much less going outside. It's funny, when you think about it, how tired I was, even though I'd been lying around all day.

In fact, I dreamed that all of today had actually been a dream.

.....

- Aren't you going home? - I was woken up this morning by Coach Engle, who wasn't very nice. At least he didn't crawl under the covers, because that would have been too much for my heart to take.

- Nah.

- Bart, you can't do that either. - my response was a little embarrassing for a coach who was already sighing heavily from my presence. - Did they call you?

- I don't know. - I haven't turned my phone on since last night.

- Coach! Is he here?! - while Coach Engle and I were talking, the voice of one of the guys who'd been training recently suddenly came through. I think he was saying that my success is what brought him to this particular wrestling school.

- We thought you got rid of a freak like him! - came another voice.

- It's him or us! - and I knew the third one well. I'd known him for three years.

An unknown number of fists hammered on the door to the coach's office. Gradually, the shouting turned to insults and then to threats.

- Bart... - Coach Engle looked at me with a pitying look, but even in that look I could read the rejection. So I had no choice but to--

- All right, I get it, I'll leave. - to put my head down and pack my things in silence.

- Bart, I'm sorry, but this school is my life and-- - I think Coach Engle was saying something, but I wasn't really listening. I was just in a hurry to get my stuff together and get the hell out of here.

When I came out of the office, the guys stepped back in surprise. But soon their faces changed to aggressive grimaces and they started insulting me, shoving and even throwing something in my direction.

Surprisingly, I didn't get angry and didn't respond in any way. My body, or rather what is called the soul or consciousness, it collapsed and I didn't care. I could hardly move my legs myself, so the extra shocks were good for me.

When I was escorted outside, there was a whole crowd waiting for me. The cameras started flashing. People screamed. They even started throwing eggs at me. A stupid waste of food, if you ask me....

- Bart Simpson to jail!

- On the chair!

- Deport!

Not to say this was my first lynching ever. However, I was a ten-year-old boy then, and I didn't fully understand, or maybe I under-received, all the hatred in the countless eyes of the crowd.

Somehow my own eyes fell on Becky Shorter standing off to the side, looking at everything with anxious eyes. I wonder if she believes all the accusations. And how pathetic am I now if I want her to take my side?

...But she won't. She's slowly being shut out of sight by the crowd of people yelling accusations and evil wishes.

.....

- Bart, after everything you've done, I don't even want to hear from you, understand?! - After I got out of the crowd, I called my best ... Turns out, my ex-best friend.

He went on and on about how friends don't steal each other's girlfriends. That a normal man, a normal person wouldn't blackmail someone for sex. And only a total scumbag would do it behind the back of the girl he's dating.

- So?! Nothing to say, Bart?! You're just gonna keep breathing into the tube like the creep you are?!

- Bye. - not wanting to say anything, I just hung up the phone, saying goodbye to a friendship that had lasted longer than I could remember.

Apparently everyone still believes I did it....

Maybe I did blackmail Sherry into having sex with her.

Can't my family, my friends, and my hall mates be wrong?

I mean, it's mathematically impossible that--

- I didn't do it.

Not knowing where to go, I crawled into the tree house in my backyard. I didn't want to see any of my family. I just wanted to be alone, to escape into a parallel, completely empty world for a while.

When I got bored, I unlocked my phone again. There were no calls. I didn't look at the messages, because the ones on the screen were already demotivating enough.

- It's hard to get a harem, Gg, how unlucky you are.....

After that, with his head sat down for the passage of an uncomplicated, drawn toy on the type of deathsim.

- We'll always be with you!

- We love you!

- We'll support you!

Until the totally dumb, wussy scene with the main character supporting the protagonist in a bad situation.... I didn't cry.

- And why the hell am I crying at such luscious bullshit...?

Trying hard to wipe my eyes, I couldn't stop the tears, which I'm very ashamed of.... I'm ashamed of myself...