CASTLES CRUMBLING | R. ROTH, G. LOGAN

𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 ᴛʜᴇ ᴀᴡᴀᴋᴇɴ

TW;a messed up timeline, a short chapter, no teachers available, bullies

11 years ago

"Do you know what we're having for lunch?" Daniel asked his sister who sat next to him in class. It was almost lunch, and he was hungry.

"No. I heard it's, like.. pizza." Juliet told him. "It's disgusting. I prefer Alfred's pizza." The young girl expressed. Daniel just frowned.

"Food is food." He defends.

"I know. You eat junk food all day." She sighed, shaking her head.

"So do you." He scoffed, causing her to smile as she looked him. She just grabbed her backpack from the back of her chair, standing up like everyone else as she slung it over her shoulder, her brother doing the same as she pulled out her hair.

"Oh, the struggles." Juliet groaned. The teacher, one they enjoyed, were telling them to line up at the door. It was a calm class and they had went back to their home room after lunch. Juliet always ate lunch. She didn't mind it, even if she thought it was disgusting.

For some odd reason, she ate more than most. She didn't know why, and she was surprised she wasn't fat yet. Daniel would have to assure her that she was fine and she shouldn't be ashamed of it. She was seven. Of course she was ashamed of it despite his words.

"Did you hear that Bruce wanted to give us private lessons today?" Juliet asked, eyes lightening up at the thought. Bruce always had private lessons with Dick, and he said they weren't ready yet. He's taught them how to defend themselves, but only on what seemed like level 1. "It's gonna be awesome!"

"We can be like Dick." Daniel grinned, he and his sister having similar expressions.

"Well, when I looked, I saw, like swords and bo-staffs and stuff. We should definitely practice those." Juliet began, unaware some older boys grabbed Daniel by his jacket, shoving him into the bathroom. "And, then maybe we could go out with Dick and Bruce to-" Juliet stopped when she went to look over at her brother, but saw some random boy. "El?"

The students walked past her while she stopped, turning to look. But he was nowhere in sight.

"D-Daniel?"

"Let me go!" Shouted Daniel, his arms being held. He wasn't really liked in his school. They were fourth graders, another following them. "Help! Julie!"

"Hey, Grayson." Daniel stopped, looking up at one of the boys. He was taller than him, chubby, dark skinned. "When was the last time you washed your hair?" He asked, Daniel's hair being a complete mess as he grunted, being pulled into a stall.

"No! No, no! N-" His head was shoved into the toilet, his arms held as a hand was on the back of his head. He grunted, holding his breath with his eyes slammed shut. He was thrashing around, trying to get free, but it wasn't working.

"Sorry, man! Can't breathe? We can fix that." One of them reached over and flushed the toilet, making him scream, gasping for air once it flushed down as he was pulled back, his blonde hair all wet and soaked as it dripped. "You gonna run to mommy and daddy? Oh, you can't do that, can you?" He screamed out again, his head hitting the side of the stall as everything began to sound out.

He was being pulled backwards as he continued to screamed, the older boys letting go of his arms, but he didn't register it as he just held his hands into fists, his arms at his sides, his head lowered. They looked at the tiles on the wall that were falling, the walls shaking.

The whole school was shaking, causing teachers to tell their students to get covered by what they thought was an earthquake.

"Daniel! My brother's missing!"