InsaneJournal

Idehr's past.
Who: Idehr, Ryan Marshall and others.
Where: a street in Rothbury, England
When: afternoon on a Thursday, 1997
What: one of the defining moments in Idehr's life.


Idehr crossed the street and adjusted the strap of his backpack. For the fifteen millionth time since he began secondary school, he wondered why his parents thought it was a good idea for him to learn with humans if they all had a problem with the way he looked. He knew they stared at him when he wasn't looking, whispering behind his back and it was almost too much to handle. The only respite he had was science, where people had to focus on their work instead of throwing paper balls at him otherwise the teacher would be angry.

Not to mention there was this cute girl at whom he could sneak glances. For weeks he had admired her from afar and noticed how she wrote notes, applied lipgloss, and tucked her hair behind her ear to name a few things. Once, he'd even got so far as to say hello to her and she hesitantly said hello back. That had been a happy day.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he heard people behind him, jangling keys and laughing. He recognised the voices - it was Ryan Marshall and his mates, Idehr's frequent bullies. He ducked his head downwards, his long hair falling over his face and his gloved hand tightened around the strap of his bag. If he didn't do anything, they would go away.

The jangle of their keys continued as they followed him, and his heart pounded heavily in his chest. A surge of energy rushed through his head - oh no, oh no, that meant that his illusion magic had failed and now revealed his tusks as what happened when he was very distressed. Shit, shit, fuck, shit. His pace increased, but so did theirs, and suddenly the jangling of their keys was right next to his ears. Ryan and the others had surrounded him completely. There were eight of them, including Ryan, so their strength overwhelmed Ide although he had three times a human's strength (his mother said).

"Oi, fungus," said Ryan, his crooked teeth flashing as he grinned. "What's the matter? Why you running off so fast? We want to stay and talk." He shot out his hand to give Ide a push, and since the orc wasn't expecting it, he stumbled forward. The boys laughed and when he regained his balance, one of them noticed his tusks. Bernard was his name, if Idehr remembered correctly.

Bernard's beady eyes widened and he smelled like mature cheese and sweat. "Fuck, Ry, he has the fucked up teeth again!" he exclaimed. Idehr's tusks had shown during one of their previous encounters and the boys still had no idea why some times they appeared and most of the time they did not. At Bernard's statement, the others all stared at his face and Idehr bent his head in the fleeting hope that his long hair would cover the tusks.

Ryan stepped forward, his brow furrowed for an instant before he saw that it was true. "He's a fungus and a fucking troll. Aren't you? Fucking ugly lug, too. Least that's what all the girls say." Ryan's words shouldn't have hurt, but they did. A rush of anger shot through Idehr's stomach and he tried to hold it in because his father always said that violence was not the first solution. Always the last.

"Sod off and let me pass," he said with all the courage he was able to muster. On a very good day, Idehr managed to weasel himself out of a conflict, verbal or physical, and he hoped Ryan was in a tolerant mood.

He was not. "Get 'im," Ryan commanded, and three boys each grabbed Idehr's arms. Idehr struggled and pulled to get his arms free, but it was no use. Ryan stood in front of him and suddenly, punched his jaw. "I've fucking seen how you've been looking at my girl. You can cry and fucking wank yourself to sleep each night, 'cause you're never gonna get your prick inside her. Hear me? You're a shit-faced fucking troll and every time I look at you, it makes me sick."

Idehr wanted to vomit. "I bet she wants to be sick when she looks at you too." It felt so good to be so out-of-his-mind scared to be able to say such things to the bully, but in retrospect, he should have kept his mouth shut. Ryan punched him across the face, harder this time, and Idehr retaliated by kicking Ryan's leg as hard as he could. The boy doubled over in pain and managed to stand again after a minute, now with a blaze of anger in his eyes Idehr had never seen.

"Stuff something in his fucking mouth so he can't scream." Ryan's words were slow but decisive and Idehr struggled as hard as he could to free himself. No use. The boys were able to drag him to the side of a house and gagged him with his own blazer. Ryan took a beer bottle out of his bag, breaking it against the wall and he along with two of his friends grabbed a glass shard. Idehr couldn't scream, couldn't move as the other boys pinned him against the wall.

The next thing he knew, his shirt was pushed up, they raised their hands and slashed the skin of his stomach with the pieces of glass. Tight, needle-like jolts of pain rushed through him and he looked down to see blood oozing out of the cuts. They didn't stop there, and cut him again, and again. There was so much pain and his shirt was now soaked in blood, and Idehr wanted to cry and vomit but rage overtook him. He ripped his arm free and lunged to punch Ryan's face hard. The boy stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, causing the other boys to reach for him. Idehr was too quick for them and punched another one before he ran, ran like the wind back home.

His parents were still at work when he unlocked the door to the house and walked painfully to the bathroom, slipping off his shirt and letting it drop on the floor. His hands shook as he twisted the tap to start the water running. A couple pieces of glass were still lodged in his skin, he saw, and he pulled them out, wincing. They clattered in the sink and he hurried to find some cloth bandage to wrap around his stomach. It was only then that his emotions caught up with him and tears started to fall.