Triumph

A Story by Aureate

A boy and his bully.

Prejudice has been a part of society ever since early cave men first crawled our of their caves and began building the first civilizations. We as a species are fearful of that which we cannot understand, and that fear had not gone away, even in this advanced age. Things really do stay the same as they continue to change, and unfortunately this fact can be found in the youngest of our generations. But for every wrong action, there will always be a kind soul there to try and counter act it.

Seven year old Brandon has been picked on more times than he liked to admit; he understood what it meant to be belittled, to be weak. So when he saw David "The Goliath" Hansen pushing the helpless new kid to the ground, Brandon's inner super hero sprung into action. David had been held back twice and he was two whole heads and fifty pounds bigger, but he was a bully. And Brandon hated bullies.

New Kid lay on the ground staring up at the mammoth that was David. David owned the playground, he was its undisputed king. So when Brandon came bounding at top speed and rammed full force into David's side, knocking him off his feet, it took a few moments for the Goliath to realize what had happened. He stared up at the runt who dared to fight back against him. Who did he think he was? David was the playground king, and no one fights back against the playground king. Retaliation will not be tolerated.

David stood and in a few short moments, Brandon fell to the ground beside New Kid, bruised and beaten. What had Brandon thought to accomplish? He could do nothing as the Goliath ambled away, a smug smile resting on his lips before turning to hunt for his next victim. Brandon had lost, with nothing to show for his efforts.

"Hey." a small voice next to him said.

"What?" Brandon's was muffled as he pressed his face into the dirt, trying to hide the tears that welled in his eyes.

"Thank you."

"For what? Getting my butt kicked? Embarrassing myself?"

"No." answered New Kid, " Thanks for saving me. You're my hero now" Brandon looked up at the smiling face of New Kid then, and he felt something warm inside him. Brandon had been picked on more times than he'd like to admit. David owned the playground, he was its undisputed king. No one fought back against the king. At least, not until now.