My Shiny Bully

Jeremy C. Shepherd was a classic bully. He took our lunch money, he beat on us, he made fun of us for being nerds, and he had a host of followers who stood behind him as he did his evil. I hate to admit it, but he was an important part of our lives. We whispered about him at lunchtime and talked about him when we met after school. We were sure he tortured and killed small animals. Also, he made us realize that we were all sheep, all people everywhere, and only folks like him were wolves.

Then something changed near the end of junior high. Jeremy started giving us a pass in the hallway, he ignored us at lunch, he sometimes even said hi. We wondered what brought about the change and speculated wildly, until one day I walked into the boys bathroom on the second floor and saw him cutting deep marks into his forearm with a razor.

”Oh, Jacob,” he said when he saw me. He had never used my name before, “You see what I need to do in order not to punish you? I am punishing myself. For you.” There were tears in his murky blue eyes.

We did not know what to make of it, but we had to admit that we lied it. He evolved from “simply not hurting us” to “being human towards us.” He said hi, kept his host off our back, sometimes even cooperated on projects, like when we were preparing a dance or a trip.

On my last day of high school, I was anxious about the great vistas that were about to open before me. I stood in the hallway, reminiscing, when I realized Jeremy was standing next to me.

”Hi, Jacob,” he said, “I guess this is it,” he nodded slowly.

”I guess it is,” I said. I thought about him cutting himself, about all that might have motivated him to bully us and then let it go. It made me angry that somebody could be so evil, but then I just let it go.

I moved on to go to college and learn about our big old world. Jeremy was never a part of my life again. Not in person.

Posted by: Paweł Kowaluk