My Brothers

Chapter 42: Daniel's Birthday

"Sorry," he said, breathing heavily as he ran up to me. "I'm sorry."

I gave him a small smile. "It's okay."

And I went back on my phone. Eventually when I looked around, I saw the kid playing against himself. He was kicking the soccer ball onto one of the walls and it kept rolling away.

Then a group of older kids, around 12 and 13, no older than 8th graders came to the playground, laughing and looking around.

I decided it was nothing and continued scrolling through Instagram until I heard one of them say something.

"Hey loser!" They called out.

When I looked up, they were near the kid who was playing soccer by himself.

"You're a fucking loser, that's why you're here by yourself," They said.

"You don't have any friends, do you?" Another one added.

"You're a freak, that's what you are."

Jesus Christ.

"You're not going to cry, are you? What a baby."

I rolled my eyes, sighing. They're pathetic.

"Are you going to bring your big sister to protect you? Because you don't have a mom? And because your dad's in jail? What a psychopath!"

I stood and walked towards them, fed up with their bullshit. I stood in front of the soccer kid, towering over the little bullies.

I put on my death stare, the one I learned from my brothers that terrified people, and I guess it worked because the kids took a step back, eyeing me wearily.

"Don't say that," I said, annoyed. "Go pick on someone your own size. Or just don't pick on anyone at all."

The one that looked the most confident tried to stand up to me. As I said, tried.

"Who the fuck are you?" He spat.

"Let's not do this now," I said. "I'm already annoyed, don't need to piss me off."

"Fuck off," he said.

"Look, it's my birthday and I really don't want to cause any trouble, just leave the kid alone."

"Who the fuck are you?" He repeated his question.

For fucks sake.

"I'm the fucking guy that'll beat your ass if you don't leave him alone," I snapped, stepping towards him, making him back up.

I'm not going to hit a kid, I'm not going to hit a kid, I'm not going to hit a kid.

"Are you dumb? Piss off," Another kid said.

I almost laughed because of how pathetic this was. To think that I used to be one of them. "Are you guys really testing me right now?"

I might hit a kid, I might hit a kid, I might hit a kid.

Instead of punching them in the face, I grabbed the middle one by his shirt and yanked him closer to me. "You can fuck off and leave him alone. If I see your ass again, I won't let you off so easily, got it?"