Hi everyone.
This is my first short story, The Inner Pain. It’s a personal/dramatic short story about bullying, anxiety, trauma, and rebuilding your identity.
I’m still learning as a writer, so I’d genuinely appreciate honest feedback—both positive and critical.
I was around seventeen years old when I began to feel that inner pain in that small school. It was already my final year in that place… in that little hell I had called school for so long.
Every morning I walked through those hallways with my head down and tired eyes. I could feel eyes fixed on me, whispers, and even mocking laughter that made me wish I could stay home and never go outside again.
There was a boy from another class whom I will call Lucas. He was the kind of person who always talked about others, but never in a good way. He did not particularly stand out in school, yet he was always surrounded by students who seemed just as bad… or even worse than him.
They watched everyone, looking for flaws, insecurities… anything that could become a reason to make fun of someone.
And I was no exception.
They found something in me that they knew could hurt me… something that would make me feel vulnerable.
One day, I walked through that horrible hallway and heard a fake laugh… a laugh filled with cruelty.
They were trying to imitate mine.
From that moment on, my life inside that school changed completely. Just knowing I would hear that laugh again filled me with fear. At first, it did not affect me, but after hearing them laugh every single day, over and over again, it slowly started to destroy something inside me.
Every time they talked among themselves, my heart would race, and my body would tremble just from seeing Lucas’s silhouette in the distance.
I became deeply insecure. I had always been reserved, but I had never been afraid of socializing. Yet now, it was no longer that I did not want to… it was that I was afraid of being hurt from within.
I spent almost six months without going outside because, unfortunately, he also lived in that town.
But one day, after spending so much time locked away, barely speaking to anyone, and spending almost all my time in front of a computer, I found the courage to face it. I decided that I could not keep living like that… that I could not let someone steal my life from me.
I left my house. There was a soccer match happening in the town square.
I was determined to face those inner fears that were consuming me from the inside.
I remember walking while trembling. My heart was pounding, I was almost sweating, and negative thoughts kept flooding my mind.
But I kept going.
When I got there… he was there.
And so were his friends.
There were around seven of them.
At first, they did not notice me. I sat next to a friend; I will call him Pedro. Sorry… I’m not very good with names. He was a guy who did not study or really do much with his life, but he was one of the few people who never judged me and treated me like a true friend.
I sat there for a while…
Until one of them noticed me.
And just like that… all my courage, all my peace, went straight to hell.
They were about seven meters away from where I was sitting, and in the middle of all the noise from the match… I heard that fake laugh again.
The laugh that had stolen my peace.
I think it was one of the days I suffered the most internally.
All I wanted was to run away… lock myself in my room… disappear.
But I tried to stay strong, pretending I did not care.
Even though, deep down, I was probably the most broken person in that place.
And the most painful part of it all was not the bullying itself…
It was looking at my younger brother and my cousin… laughing.
Making that same laugh.
Pain does not always leave scars on the skin…
Sometimes, the deepest wounds are the ones no one can see.
There were nights when not existing felt easier than continuing to feel.
My only refuge in that gray school was a classmate who noticed my pain. Not even my own family noticed… but that little blonde girl did.
And without exaggeration…
She saved me.
She was probably the only person I have ever truly considered my friend.
Whenever I talked to her in some quiet corner of the school, I felt peace. For a moment, I forgot about all the problems I carried every day.
I let my guard down.
It was never romantic love…
But I loved her in a different way.
I truly believe that without her, I would never have survived that horrible year.
I managed to graduate and get into college.
But even though I have improved a lot… the ghosts of the past still follow me.
I genuinely believe I should see a psychologist.
Because even today, when I visit that town, I can feel an irrational fear running through me… from the tips of my fingers to the last strand of my hair.
I do not hate those who hurt me so deeply.
And I do not hate the school either.
I also made good friends there… in the middle of so much cruelty.
Today, I am about to finish university.
I moved away from that small town that for so long had become a prison for my thoughts.
Sometimes I go back to visit my parents, and even though the wounds are still there… they no longer bleed like they used to.
I still try to avoid crossing paths with certain people from my past.
The fear still exists…
But it no longer controls my life.
Changing environments helped me more than I ever imagined.
I met new people.
People who do not look for flaws.
People who do not judge.
People who simply listen.
And that was when I understood something…
Bullying may seem like a simple game to some.
A passing joke.
A meaningless laugh.
But for others…
It can become a wound that follows them for years.
An invisible wound.
The kind no one sees…
But one that is never forgotten.