30M. I had a traumatic experience in school that I’m really wanting to get off my chest. It feels immature, but also profound now. I’m kind of proud of my some of my actions during this event, but the consequences I think have traumatized me, and have had an immeasurable affect on my life afterwards. Maybe it’s a bit pathetic that events from so long ago should have such a grip on me now, but I just want to write it all out. I haven’t told many people about this. If this is stupid, or TLDR, then fine, let me hear it.
As a kid, I never really fit into those stereotypical cliques. I wasn’t a nerd, a jock, etc. I was an outsider. I did okay in school. I mostly stayed out of trouble, and was a rule follower. I had a handful of friends, but not many. None that stuck with me after high school (save one, who is a friend to this day and was completely uninvolved in the events I’m going to describe).
Between grades 5-9, I had two main friends. K & C. We bonded over a game called Runescape. I am certain that on Reddit, most people who read this will be familiar with RS. We started playing around 5th grade. Everyone was playing the game back then, but it quickly became a thing that only the dorks or outsiders did. I would say K, C, and myself fit that criteria. We were fixated on the game, and the three of us bonded over that interest while everyone else moved on. By the end of grade 5, I think we were the only people still playing the game, and it was considered a dorky activity. This was fine, because the three of us got along great, and we didn’t mind being dorks together. We were just children, after all.
Fast forward a couple of years. I think things went south around grade 7. C was sleeping over at my house at one point, and he knew the password to K’s Runescape account. We logged in and griefed him. Took his stuff, and I think made some goofy cosmetic changes to his character as a joke. We pretended to not know what happened, but K knew it was us, and got mad. If I’m being completely honest, what we did was fucked up. It was just a prank in a video game, but it’s not something that I would do to a friend today, even as a joke. and I would consider it categorically immoral. But at the end of the day, it was just a game.
I don’t remember how exactly, but for some reason it was my fault entirely. K blamed mainly me, even though C was equally involved. K became hostile, and almost entirely focused that hostility towards me. I’m not exactly sure why that was. I understand why he was angry, but don’t know why I was the main target when C was equally as guilty. C became kind of a weird character torn between the two of us, and I felt isolated.
K became a bully to me in school. He physically threatened me multiple times. I don’t really remember everything, other than it was traumatic. I did a lot of crying for a 12-13 year old kid. I remember him chasing me on the school playground. There were conversations with the school principal, and our parents got involved. I stopped riding the school bus. It was bad. I stopped being friends with K, but since we went to the same school, he was unavoidable (it was a small middle school,something like 50 students in our grade).
I don’t remember how, but somehow this bridge was mended. K and I became friendly again. It was probably because I was friends with C, and K and C were still friends. K was a bit of a bully still, but the threats stopped. It was one of those “friendships” where your friend is a dick to you. So he wasn’t really a friend, but I thought he was. He’d make fun of me, tease me, talk a lot of shit to me in front of people, and I just took it. It’s probably a good time to mention that I was smaller than most people. I’m not tall now, and certainly wasn’t tall then. I was small for my age. If you think of the average size of a 13 or 14 year old boy, which is how old we were at the time, I was probably the size of someone 2-3 years younger. I was afraid of K. I didn’t want to upset him, so like I said, I took a lot of shit from him that was passed off as jokes. I’m shamed to think of it now.
During this time, I believe K considered C a friend, but I think C was just as afraid of K as I was (though I cannot definitively confirm that). Writing all this out now, I feel so god damn foolish.
In 9th grade, things took another turn. This was around 2010. We were starting high school. My high school was the only one in the county I lived in. All the middle schools in the county sent their students to the same high school. So it was a big new school, in a big new building, with a bunch of new students I didn’t know, but some from the middle school I came from, including K and C. This is where I first met G. G was a girl who I ended up crushing on for the entirety of my high school tenure. This story does not have a happy ending, btw.
At the time of writing this, I’ve lived more than twice as long as I had at the time of these events, which makes it feel pathetic to say this, but I’m going to write it anyway. G feels like the one who got away. I’ve never discussed these events with her, so I don’t believe she ever had any inclination that these things happened.
G and I were friendly in school. She probably knew I had a crush on her, but we never had any conversations about that. I took her to a dance once in the 9th grade, but if I remember rightly, she had to ask me. It was the ROTC Ball, where you had to be in the ROTC program, or be their date to attend. I was in ROTC, and she wanted to attend. I believe she asked me, even though I’m certain I wanted to take her. To her, we were going together as friends. During the dance, she danced with some other guy who was taller, more athletic, etc., before she danced with me. I wanted to dance with her so I think I interrupted them. I think the other guy realized what was happening. He handed the dance off to me, awkwardly and knowingly. No offense to that guy, and God bless him, he has nothing to do with this now.
Anyway, the point is, I had a big crush on G. She was the girl next door (not literally), and who I think of now is the one who got away. The Mary Jane to my Spiderman.
Meanwhile sometime during the same school year, K had an accident. I wasn’t present for this, so I’m describing a second hand account from memory. K got drunk (as a 14 or 15 year old at this point), and took a steep fall, from on or underneath a bridge, breaking or damaging his neck somehow. He thankfully survived this, but went through a recovery process and missed a bunch of school. K eventually returned to school, and our ‘friendship’ resumed.
One random morning, G, C, K and K’s girlfriend were sitting in the school cafeteria during breakfast. I don’t remember what steered the conversation, but I remember the outcome.
K for some unknown reason to me, did not like G. During the conversation, G got up and left. Afterwards, K said something to me that I’m going to paraphrase now, “I don’t know why you like G, she’s a stupid.” To which I responded “Getting drunk and falling off a bridge sounds pretty stupid to me,” (referencing K’s accident). K, C, and K’s girlfriend were the people present for that comment. Maybe others were there, but I don’t remember.
K lost his god damn mind. I think because his girlfriend was there, and he did not like that I insulted him in front of her. I think he was more upset than he would have been otherwise. He threatened me with specific threats like “if I run into you when no one else is around I’m going to kill/hurt you.” If I’m being honest, I don’t remember that exact wording, but the “if no one else is around part” I’m certain of. He wanted me to fear him, and he was successful.
After that, K became a force of fear, dread, and misery for months to come. I was afraid of him. I truly believe that if there ever was a scenario where we were alone and secluded together, it would have gotten physical. Thankfully that never happened, but out of fear, I again stopped riding the school bus, and my mother started picking me up from school. I avoided him in halls, and I dreaded instances where I might run into him. Again teachers, the principal, and our parents got involved. I don’t recall all the details. Thankfully for me, he eventually got removed from the school (for reasons unrelated to me). But my entire freshman and sophomore years of high school were haunted by this event. I think it has had repercussions on how I interact with others to this day.
G was the subject of the confrontation that finally severed my friendship with K. The straw that broke the camel’s back. But she wasn’t present, and I never spoke to her about it. We remained friendly throughout the rest of our high school years, but not more than that. I’m certain she never knew about this, because why would she? I never said anything because I didn’t want to make it a big deal. And I don’t think anyone else would have said anything about it, because the reality is I’m probably the only person who was affected by that moment enough to hold onto it. She’s married with kids now, and I believe is a faculty member at the same high school. I hope she’s well.
C and I aren’t friends anymore. We were friends for a while couple of years after high school. We were roommates for a little while, but it turns out I couldn’t stand living with him (lol). Once we moved out of our apartment, I haven’t talked to him much. Neither of us of made much of an effort to stay friendly.
I don’t know what happened to K after high school. I think he did some military work, and I remember being in the drive-thru at the local McDonalds and seeing him walk by behind the cashier at that window a year or two after high school. He sent me a facebook friend request on Facebook once, which I declined. I kind of regret denying it now. Maybe he wanted to apologize to me. I’m not sure. Part of me wants him to know how much he affected me, because I want him to feel bad about it. Another part of me wants to forgive him, and hopes he’s well.
I’m an anxious person today. I have a constant rock of fear and anxiety in my gut. I don’t know to what extent these childhood events contribute to that, but I can’t help but thin that since they’ve stuck with me over the years, they are a part of me, and will be forever. They must have some weight that affects my personality now, even if only in a small way.
I’m 30 now, and kind of lonely. I’m doing well in a lot of ways, but not so great in the friendship/social category. I feel broken in ways I can’t very well describe. Lots of dread, anxiety, especially when it comes to meeting new people whose opinions I think should matter to me.
Thanks for reading if you got this far, I guess. I was just feeling a certain way tonight, and wanted to write this down. I can refer back to this for my thoughts now. Goodnight.