My words left a bitter taste in my mouth. I hadn’t meant for their sticky syllables to escape from the darker parts of my mind, but his snide comments seemed to poke me constantly in the head.

The sun beat havily down on my back; my skin roared in pain as the hot rays scorched its cells. He stood a few feet away with the same grin he always wore. The smell of dung from the school farm drifted through the air and echoed my feelings for the piece of shit before me. Trees rustled in the breeze that didn’t surround us.

I hated that guy. He invoked a hatred that haunted me nights. The twisted hate that encompassed me when thoughts of him graced my mind kept me awake, snaking through my body.

He said something that I’d normally brush off, but that day I snapped. All the hate trickled out of my body and off the tip of my tongue. He stood there, head lowered, for a second before taking three quick strides and past me, tears streming down his face.

My heart caught in my mouth as I looked, confused, after him.