Suicide
My little sister, Lily, killed herself after being
bullied. My parents aged overnight. The three
little monsters who did it just smirked and said,
“We’re minors. The law can’t touch us. What
are you gonna do about it?”
I smirked right back. “I’m going to make you
wish you were never born.”
It started with a phone call from Mom during
class. She couldn’t speak, just these broken,
choked sobs. My heart started pounding.
Finally, she managed to get out, “Jake,
something’s happened to Lily!”
I bolted from class, didn’t even grab my jacket, and took a cab to the bus station. “Mom, I’m coming home. Just tell me what happened!”
All she could say between gasps was, “Lily…
she was beaten…”
く
I called Lily. No answer. I called Dad. Nothing.
My hands were shaking so bad I almost
dropped my phone. I logged onto Twitter and
searched Lily’s school and her name.
A video popped up
–
tens of thousands of
views already. I clicked it.
A small, frail girl lay curled up on the ground,
shielding her head. Three girls surrounded her,
taking turns stomping on her face. After half a minute, one of them said, “Let’s cut this little slut’s hair, see how hot she is then.”
She grinned, squatted down, grabbed a fistful of Lily’s hair, and started hacking it off. Lily curled tighter, trying to disappear. The bullies just got more excited. “Trying to hide, huh?”
They worked together
–
one sat on Lily, pinning
her arms down with her knees, another filmed,
and the third slapped her across the face. Slap.
Slap. Slap.
<
опре
That’s when I saw it. The bruised, bleeding face
under the mangled hair. It was Lily.
The slapper stopped, gestured to the one
filming. I heard an excited voice off–screen, “My turn! My turn!”
She pulled out a marker and drew a crude turtle
on Lily’s swollen cheek. Lily screamed, struggling uselessly. “Look what you did!” one of the monsters said, “Ruined her pretty little face. How’s she gonna whore around now?”
She pulled Lily up, brushed the dirt off her
clothes like she was actually going to let her go. Lily just stood there, clutching her torn shirt,
completely lost.
Then, the girl kicked her in the back, hard. Lily crumpled to the ground. Blood spread across the concrete. They pounced, grabbing her shirt and ripping it open. Rip.
<
The comments on the video exploded. Then,
just as fast, the video disappeared. “This video
has been removed.” The whole post vanished.
“You alright?” the cab driver asked, looking at
me in the rearview mirror. “You look a little
green.” We were driving through a tunnel. The
window reflected my bloodshot eyes, the veins
bulging in my forehead.
The front yard was crowded with gawking
neighbors. I pushed my way inside. Mom and
Dad sat numbly on the couch. A cop sat
between them. Across from them were a well-
dressed man and three other adults
—
the
principal and the bullies‘ parents. The three
little monsters huddled in the corner. Two
looked down at their feet. The ringleader,
Brittany, sat on our fruit crate, casually picking
at her nails.
She saw me, nudged her friends, pointed, and
they burst out laughing.
<
“I’m going to kill you!” I grabbed the kettle
from the stove and lunged.
Hands grabbed me, held me back. One of the
parents snatched the kettle away. “Let me go!
I’ll kill you all!”
Brittany hid behind her dad, giggling.
The cop patted my back. “Son, calm down.
We’re trying to figure out how to handle this.
Don’t make it worse.”
I wrenched free of the parent’s grip. “Okay, 30
how are you going to handle it?”
The air thickened. They exchanged glances,
clearly not expecting me to call them out.
The principal pulled me aside, put an arm around my shoulder. “You’re Lily’s…?”
“Brother.”
<
“Right. Well, the school takes this very
seriously. We’ve spoken to Brittany and the
others, they’ve assured us this won’t happen
again. Seeing as it’s a first offense, we were hoping…”
“Hoping what? That we just forget about it?” |
shrugged him off.
“Now son, you need to consider the bigger picture. We’ve managed to suppress the video. That kind of thing getting out… it wouldn’t be good for Lily. She’s a young girl…..”
“So what? We should be thanking you for your
mercy? You suppressed it for Lily, or for those little punks?”
“You need to be reasonable.”
“I can’t be reasonable! My sister was
brutalized!”
<
Brittany’s dad snorted. “Maybe you should ask
yourself why your sister was targeted. Maybe
she did something to provoke them. It takes
two to tango, you know?”
I punched him in the face. He staggered back,
clutching his nose. “You son of a…”
“I’ll kill you!” My vision went red. I lunged again,
but the cop grabbed me. “Calm down, son. You
hurt him, you’ll have to pay his medical bills.”
Mom grabbed my other arm, her face streaked
with tears. I softened.
“Officer,” I said, “we want to press charges.
How long will they get?”
He sighed. “I understand how you feel, but
realistically? A few days in juvie, maybe a small
fine. They’re minors.”
A few days? A fine? My head spun. I saw the
<
faintest hint of a smirk on Brittany’s face.
The parents, hearing about the possibility of juvie and a record, started hissing at their kids. The three bullies shuffled over, bowing and apologizing.
Brittany took my hand. “I’m so sorry. We know what we did was wrong. It’ll never happen again.”
Something hard pressed against my palm. I looked down. She’d slipped a hair clip into my hand. It was covered in blood. It was Lily’s.
Strands of her hair clung to it. Ripped out.
“You bitch!” I swung, but her dad yanked her
back.
