The Mirror World

When Everyone Hates You

His expression didn’t change as I fell into despair.

The only person that ever mattered to me said that he hated me.

I was heartbroken.

I expected rejection but not hatred. I wish this was nothing but a cruel joke. But I knew that he meant every word of it. Because his cold eyes were honest, unlike his smile. At that moment, I realized two things: My crush just crushed me and everyone hates me, including myself.

I did nothing at that moment. Thousands of thoughts ran through my mind, but nothing was positive. That day I just want to disappear into nothingness as they want me to. But then I remembered that I still needed one last thing from this wretched life. His explanation.

“Wh-Why?”

Then, Demian's face changed. He no longer wore the fake smile that I used to love so much. If looks could kill, then I would’ve already died from his cold eyes. Instead of answering my question, he turned his face behind him towards the bushes.

“Told you, it’s a piece of cake, guys,” he shouted towards the trees and bushes behind him.

There were people that hid in the trees and the bushes. They are the people that I hate, the bullies. They were all laughing at me as they were applauding Demian. Many of them burst out laughing as they were pointing fingers at me. I was dumbfounded and overwhelmed by all of that, so I spaced out. But, then something I heard brought me back to reality.

“Good job, boss.” One of them said.

“Yes, you really make that trash fall in love with you.”

“Yeah, I know I’m awesome. But, don’t forget about the bet.” Demian said proudly.

As I slowly came back to reality. My despair turned into wrath. It was sickening to realize that Demian was not only one of them but he was also the mastermind behind it.

His betrayal turned my face red but I did everything that I could to withhold my tears. My crush has successfully crushed me. I’ve already hit rock bottom. At that time, I thought that was the worst thing that happened to me.

But I was dead wrong.

That was just the beginning of something that was much worse than Demian's rejection of my confession. Until this day, I still can't get over it. It haunts me in my dream.

The tragedy that made them call me a monster.

I was lost in my own head, so I didn’t notice that Demian had moved his face really close to me.

“Get it, dumbhead?” he whispered.

I glared at him but I said nothing. My head and my body were frozen. At that time, I had a severe headache but I barely noticed it because of my anger. I just clenched my fist and gritted my teeth.

It is clear to me that no one is on my side. I’d rather be alone than be surrounded by the people that hate me, yet here I am surrounded by each and every one of them. What a pathetic fate.

There were three dogs from hell, Freya Reese, the senior that always kicks his basketball at me, and him. Demian Bryon. It was suffocating. It felt like I was deep in the ocean and I couldn't breathe.

I remember how hard I tried to hold off my tears. I made sure that not a single tear escaped. I would not let them see me vulnerable, especially Demian. Deep in my heart, I didn't want to believe that he had betrayed me. So, I asked him, again.

"Why did you do this?"I asked, "Why did you try so hard just to hurt me?"

"Try so Hard?" He asked as he raised his eyebrows.

"Please, you were so desperate for any type of affection. You will befriend anyone that is a little bit nice to you, Kyra." He said as if he was reading my mind.

"Also… well, I'm bored and you are an easy target. That's all the reason there is," he emphasized.

"So, instead of asking me 'why’ you should’ve asked me how”, he glimpsed at me with a sneer.

My eyes widened as I bit my lip. I wanted to run away from there, but my stupid heart still wanted to justify what he did. So, I demanded his explanation.

"Fine. Go ahead, tell me how." I said in anger as I glared at him.

"It all started on one boring afternoon 2 months ago," he began his narrative, "And we didn't know what to do."

"So, we play truth or dare, but it soon becomes boring." He described, as he walked away from me.

"But, that changes when the dare is about you." He scoffed as he glanced at me. I wanted to avert my eyes from his sickening gaze but I chose to stare at him.

As Demian continued his explanation, the headache that I'd experienced before had become more intense. I have never felt a headache as strong as that. It felt like something split my head in half. I kept thinking about why the headache was more intense than usual. Was it really because of stress? Or is it something else?

"The plan is nothing complicated." He stated, "I just need to be nice to you while the others do what they've always done to you."

After the excruciating headache, my vision became blurry without a warning as he continued to talk. It made my eyes tear a little bit from the pain but I held back from wiping it off. I didn't want them to see me cry. Instead, I kept eye contact with Demian to show him that I was not afraid of him and what he did to me.

I stared at the devil that was smiling as he confessed his sins.

I made sure that every hate in my heart projected into my eyes when I glared at that demon. I hope that he never forgets my wrath for the rest of his life.

"It is not even funny how quickly you were falling in love with me." He let out a short laugh.

"Kyra, how come you head over heels with someone that you knew less than 3 months ago?" he shook his head mockingly.

"Well, I guess desperate people are easy to please." He spoke before turning his back to me.

I wanted to get back at him so badly at that time, but my headache didn't get any better and it made me sleepy. However, my strong will and hate keep me awake.

"I feel generous today so I'm going to tell you what exactly happened…," he continued "Consider it my very last kindness to you."

"Go ahead brag about it, Demian." I dared him, "This is my last mercy on you."

Demian looked at me in disdain and then he continued, "I think you already know that it all started at that pool."

Ah, of course, the pool where I was saved by this evil.

“Do you know where I got the idea?” he asked as he walked closer to me.

"Well, a bird told me that you hate the idea of getting drenched in water,” he disclosed as he came closer to me.

“Because the day you were discovered as a baby in that poor orphanage was raining." He leaned his face closer as he whispered to my left ear.

“Correct?” he pulled his face away from mine, his golden eyes staring close at me.

What? How did he know about that? The only ones that know about that are the orphanage’s director. No way. Did he give my personal information to him?

“H-How did you-”

"So I thought it would be hilarious if you fell into the pool or something." He giggled, "And although those people will do it for free…”

“I did pay that guy to push you," he asserted.

"How childish…"I replied. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist because the headache kept getting worse. I tried to distract myself from the unbearable pain. So I glimpsed at my fist.

Then, I noticed that my hands were glowing. It was glowing and then went dim again.

Wh-what just happened? Am I hallucinating?

I averted my eyes toward Ren, the bully that kicked his soccer ball at me earlier. His eyes widened and his mouth slightly opened as he paid attention to my hands. The rest also looked perplexed when they glanced in my direction. It seemed like only Demian was indifferent.

"Hey! Pay attention to me," Demian shouted. The lights soon disappeared entirely from my hands. I was back glaring at Demian again.

"Kyra, just so you know that I never regretted doing this to you." He looked me straight in the eyes.

“Why!” I screamed at him, “Why do you want to hurt me so badly?”

A tear passed down my left cheek as I demanded an explanation from him but I didn’t wipe it. “Tell me why?” demanded me.

"I know there is a real reason-"

“Why should I?” he smirked. "All that was necessary is for you to be hurt," he stated. “That’s all you need to know.”

It was odd for him to say that it was necessary for him to hurt me. Others teased me because they were bored or they simply disliked my existence. It was not something that was necessary for them to do.

It seemed like he intentionally hurt me for something important that he refused to reveal.

Until this day, I truly regretted that I didn’t dig in further about the reason he put all that effort into hurting me.

He sighed, “You know what, Kyra, if I tell you all about all the things I did to mess with you. It will never end." He looked up at the sky as he paced back and forth, "So, I'm just going to pick my favorite."

"And if I have to say which one it was…"

He suddenly held back his laughter with his right hand, "I guess it was the time at the library.” he laughed at me. “You remember that, right?"

Suddenly, his friends, who were just silent the entire time, burst out laughing.

"Oof, that was embarrassing!" one of the shouts.

"It felt like I was watching a soap opera or something." One of them lets out a tear while laughing.

"You could be an actor, Demian," the others said.

Demian's underlings couldn't stop laughing at me. Some of them still held their laughter even after Demian started to talk again.

"I remember how repulsive it was to pretend to want to be beside you," He looked at me in disgust.

"But that was the most elaborate plan we had." Ren said, "We even had Ms. Scott, the librarian, to go outside the library."

"Yeah, I thought it was crazy that we had almost 20 people to have Kyra and Demian have a fake date in the library."

"Yes, we also have a few people guarding the library so I and Kyra could have some quality time together," Demian elaborated.

He walked closer towards me, "You should've felt honored, Kyra."

"I bet no one else would have put this much effort into you," he whispered t me as he looked at me from top to bottom, "Not even you." He taunted.

I glared at him. There was nothing I could do except glare at him. At the time, I was so powerless because of my unexplained illness. All I could do was glare in anger as I gritted my teeth. I hated him more than the loneliness and the cold shoulder that people gave me. I hoped I could hurt him twice more than he hurt me.

But, now that I am calmer, all I wish for is his reason for what he did back then. I would do anything to turn back time to force the explanation out of him. He must have known something about me and about the accident that happened that day.

One thing for sure, that day is that I lost myself to something I didn't know.

Demian continued to ramble on and on about his plan, but I no longer cared or I no longer could. Since, all of my senses became numb.

There was a sound that kept ringing in my ear. My vision started to blur and I could only see Demian's silhouette. His voice was just a mumble. I felt like I was deep in the water, just like when I fell into the pool. I kept blinking my eyes to try to gain my sight but instead, my vision turned black.

The light that surrounded my hands and all over myself was all I saw before I lost consciousness.

"What-what happened to her?" Someone shouted as the girls were screaming.

"Hey! Look at the ground!" the other shouts.

All of them simultaneously looked at the ground. Then they saw that the ground that was under me cracked and split. They were all horrified by the sight, but all they could do was look in shock.

They are too busy to notice that Demian is indifferent towards all of this. He didn't say a single word. Nothing had changed in his demeanor or posture. His eyes focused on me with his arrogant smile.

He was expecting that to happen.

"Oh no! My feet!" A girl shouted, whose feet were trapped beneath the cracked ground.

Those who tried to run at that time found their feet stuck in a cracked ground. It was as if the cracks were following them. But that's not the worst thing that happened to them.

"What the hell happened to you?" Someone shouted as he pointed in the Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest direction.

The girls screamed as they watched the Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest bodies become so large that they couldn't get up.

"HELP ME!" They shouted at the same time. But instead, the rest were avoiding them.

Then, Freya's braided hair expanded. "What is this? What happened to me? Help me!" She shouted as she tried to find something to cut her hair. But soon she fell down as her hair became so large it was impossible to lift her head.

In the midst of this bizarre and chaotic scene, Demian became out of place with his calm demeanor. He stood in the middle of the school's backyard motionless without a care in the world about what happened to his gang members. He was unharmed. Demian was the only one that wasn't affected by my power.

Then he walked slowly towards me amidst the people trapped between the cracks in the ground.

He stopped just inches away from me, who was losing consciousness. Then, he brought his face closer to mine and whispered something to me. After that, everyone who was there lost consciousness, including the nurse who told me about this incident on the day that I woke up after that day.

Nurse Baneli is someone that I frequently visit whenever I am injured at my elementary school. She is no sweetheart and we are not that close either. The reason that she doesn't differentiate me from others is simply that she is a professional that takes her job seriously. Fortunately for me, she was the one that witnessed the incident, or else I wouldn't get the full story.

"How long have I been unconscious?" I asked Ms. Baneli, who was busy preparing the medicine that I would take that day.

"A week," She informed me shortly.

I nodded in response.

"So…" I hesitantly asked, "What happened to them?"

"They are alright," She assured me. I looked at her in disbelief.

"On the outside at least," she said. She stopped what she was doing and looked me straight in the eye.

After a long pause, she revealed, "But I don't think they will go back to the way they used to."

I stared at her in horror. What have I done? What happened to me? What happens to them?

I get out of bed abruptly, "Wh-where are they now?"

The nurse went to me quickly and tried to calm me down, "Be careful! You just woke up." She reminded me.

"But I need to know what happened," I demanded. "Did-did I…" I couldn't finish my sentence. The thought of me becoming a murderer is too much for me.

"No, no, Kyra. As I've said before, everyone is fine." She reassured me again,

"Is that just…well you'll find out soon." She quickly ended the conversation.

"Now that you are awake you can give your testimony to the principal along with the rest of them." She said as she prepared to leave the room. "There you will understand what I've said."

My gaze followed the nurse as she left the room. I was restless that day and couldn't sleep at all.

The next day, someone knocked at my door. It was my homeroom teacher, Ms. Gill.

"Kyra, are you well enough to give you the testimony of what happened?" She asked and I nodded in response.

"Follow me."

I followed her along the school hallway towards the principal's office on the 1st floor.

She walked quite fast for someone wearing 10-inch high heels, so I was quite behind. After a 10-minute walk that felt like an hour, we arrived at Mr. Morgans’ room, the Principal of Little Valley Elementary School.

Ms. Gill knocked and opened the door slowly, revealing a scene that I couldn't have imagined.

"What is this? W-What happened to them?" I shouted in horror as I looked at the bullies' condition.