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🌑 Chapter 1: The Boy Who Kept Falling
This story is based on real events. Names and places have been changed. The truth, however, remains untouched.
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Ray White was thirteen years old.
A quiet, unremarkable boy, he walked the hallways of his middle school like a ghost. He didn't stand out, didn't shine. He was just… average. Not great at studies. Not good at sports. But he had a few friends, a soft heart, and a smile that hadn't yet faded.
He was a decent boy—friendly, kind, maybe even too kind.
But that kind of boy doesn't always survive school life.
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Ray's academic record was weak. Math made no sense. English felt like a puzzle with half the pieces missing. His report cards were disasters—always bordering failure. But Ray tried, quietly. He showed up. He listened. He didn't cause trouble.
And for a while, that was enough.
Then, the world changed.
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The pandemic arrived. School shut down. Online learning took over. And Ray? He got lost.
The screens made things worse. His learning gap widened. He couldn't understand anything. Homework piled up. He skipped online classes more and more—at first out of confusion, then out of fear, then out of habit.
When he turned twelve and entered the next grade, everything collapsed.
He failed.
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Repeating 8th grade was humiliating. Worse than the failure were the eyes—the way teachers looked at him like he was a burden. Like his presence alone was a problem.
That's when the harassment began.
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Mr. Saito, the math teacher, was the first.
> "Again? You failed again?"
"How many times do I have to teach you the same thing, White?"
"You're wasting space."
Sometimes, the punishments weren't just verbal. Mr. Saito's wooden pointer wasn't just for pointing—it struck desks, chairs, and sometimes even Ray's arm when he got a problem wrong. Not hard enough to injure. Just enough to humiliate.
Then there was Miss Ayumi, the English teacher.
> "Don't even bother, Ray. You can't even read a paragraph without stuttering."
"Honestly, are you even trying?"
One day, she slammed his notebook shut and shoved it off the table. Ray's classmates laughed. And something inside him cracked.
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Even his friends began to change.
There was a time they joked and laughed together. Played during breaks. Shared lunches. But now? They avoided him. Some whispered behind his back.
> "Ray's such a loser now."
"He used to be fun."
"I don't want to get in trouble sitting next to him."
But the worst moment came when he overheard his closest friend—Yuki—laughing with the others.
> "Ray? He's a walking failure," Yuki said. "Should've just stayed home."
Ray didn't confront him. He just smiled the next day like nothing happened.
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At home, things weren't better. His family called him useless. Trash. A disappointment. They blamed him for his failures, never once asking if he needed help.
And yet—he didn't give up.
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Every morning, Ray still put on his uniform. Still tied his worn-out shoes. Still walked to school.
Even if no one wanted him there. Even if he had no place. Even if he felt invisible.
Something inside him refused to break completely.
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One afternoon, after another rough day, Ray sat alone behind the school building. His bag slumped beside him. The sky was cloudy, just like his mind.
He stared at the ground.
> "Maybe they're right…"
"Maybe I really am useless."
Tears welled up in his eyes, but he held them back. He wouldn't cry. Not here. Not for them.
> "But if I give up now… I really will become nothing."
He stood up, dusted off his pants, and picked up his bag.
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Ray White had no trophies. No friends. No praise.
But he still had one thing no one could take from him:
Endurance.
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He wasn't strong. But he hadn't quit. And that made him dangerous to a world that wanted him broken.
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To be continued...