First

𝙰𝚌𝚎

𝙰𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛

7 years old.

The brown-haired boy stood there looking at the woman helping her kids choose the toys they wanted.

Ace didn't get help from her, he's shy, anxious that she's going to return the ten dollars teddy bear that he brought.

His soft small hand clenched the ear of the brown teddy bear, he pouted and with a shaking body, he approached his mother.

"mom, " he whispered but the woman didn't even glance towards him, his eyes welled up with tears and he tried again.

"mom, " he called, a little bit louder than before.

Anne, his mother, snapped her head towards him and frowned upon his small feminine posture.

"what?" She snapped and he flinched, casting his eyes towards his worn-out convenience store shoes.

He showed her the brown teddy bear with hope filling his light brown eyes.

" can you buy me this?" he whispered and waited for her response, the silence is making him tremble with fear and dismay.

" yes, " she said and the bright smile sketched itself on his cute little face.

He was getting ready to thank her and hug her.

" When you become a worthwhile brat, " she snatched the teddy bear he's holding and threw it on the upper rack of the shelves.

She left him standing alone.

Trying to gulp back his tears.

Trying to hold back his sobs.

Trying to contain his emotions.

His older brother and sister stood beside their mother while the cashier counted the toys they had chosen.

" it's a thousand, two hundred and fifty-two dollars, " the cashier said, their mother got her card out with a smile on her face and his sibling's smiles were shining brightly, it wounded him.

She didn't get him the ten dollars teddy bear.

12 years old

The slap was as loud as a clap and stung Ace's face.

It had been an open-handed smack and it had left a red welt behind.

His father Alec stood there with a big scowl on his face.

Just below his eye was a small cut where the ring had caught him.

He staggered backwards, clutching his face, eyes watering.

" you are a fucking disappointment, your grades are the worst, " his father threw the papers on his face and left him in his small room compared to his siblings.

He looked at his hands, clenched them and tried to fight back the backstabber tears.

He got B+.

With his hard work.

He didn't bully others to get them to do his homework, unlike his brother, his brother cheated and still managed to get a C.

But he has better grades, why is he being scolded and hit by his father?

13 years old

The wind howls as the students arrive through the gates, hustling and bustling down the corridors.

Friends are greeting each other with a hug or playful punches.

While Ace is being slammed into one of the blue lockers.

His parents sent him to a public school, declaring that he's not good enough to be attending a private prestigious school.

And he's been bullied since the day he stepped foot in the school.

The boy in front of him sneered at him and his friends laughed at Ace.

" Are you afraid of me little pussy? Huh?" Jack smirked and looked with his ugly blue eyes into Ace's eyes.

Ace looked at him, his oily blond hair and tried to not breathe, his mouth breath is disgusting.

" Why are you looking at me like that pussy? Do you like me? Perhaps, you want to kiss my handsome face?" Jack's ridiculous friends laughed showing their weird-shaped tooth.

Ace didn't reply, he stayed silent.

Jack chuckled and looked at him with a glare.

A sudden gush of pain jolted through Ace's body.

His stomach ached, his arms lost tension and his legs began to weaken.

'He will not get the better of me,' he thought as he dropped to the ground.

His tongue was soaked in the taste of blood.

Bruised and wounded, with a leg in agony,

His head was pounding.

Jack's kicks and punches kept on raining his body and he couldn't do anything.

His parents will blame him if he did.

Black dots filled his vision and the darkness swallowed him fully.

15 years old

" it's not mine," his voice cracked, his hands are trembling.

He's looking at his parents while holding the bag of weed that the maid found in his room.

" shut up," his father screamed and it made his younger siblings flinch and run away from the scene.

Ace flinched and gulped, he tried to not panic.

He looked at Andrew, his older brother, with questioning eyes.

" get your phone, laptop and everything you own right now, place them on my bedroom's bed and lock yourself in the room," his father ordered and he didn't hesitate to do what he asked for.

He got the laptop that he worked hard to get, he got the phone that he picked out from a charity and placed them on his parents' bed.

He dropped the bag of weed beside their bed.

With a heavy heart, he locked himself in the room and didn't get out.

Ace laid on his bed, staring at the white ceiling with an empty mind.

He suddenly felt the rustle of his bed.

Ace looked to his right, where his second pillow is stationed.

"hi, " the boy that laid down on his right side waved and smiled brightly at him.

White hair and dark green eyes.

" Who are you?" Ace whispered to the boy in front of him and frowned.

" I'm Oren,"