Damian’s bright green eyes darted from side to side, carefully scanning the space before him. Then, tensing his muscles, he shot toward the metal fence, standing almost double his height, with spikes protruding from the top. Sprinting through the gate he breathed a sigh of relief. Today, he made it without any danger, as Brock and Lucas were nowhere to be seen. Sliding up to the brick walls of one of the many classrooms, Damian peeked around the corner, and pulled his head back instantly to avoid being spotted.

Brock and Lucas were there harassing Kevin. Grateful that they didn’t target him today, Damian turned away, the last thing he wanted was to get anywhere near two boys who loved to make his life as painful as possible. Both of them were easily double his weight, and much stronger that him, so if they caught him he would almost always take a beating. Thankfully, he was good at hiding, so they didn’t catch him often, but that didn’t stop them from harassing other people. Damian wished there was something he could do, but he was the smallest boy in the school, so everyone just seemed to ignore him, even the year sevens were taller than him. He’d tried telling a teacher, but Lucas could talk his way out of anything, so they never seemed to get into trouble. A sad smile spread across his face as he trudged off to his first class of the day.

I wish I could help, but I can’t even help myself.

Math was definitely the most difficult subject he studied at school, but his teacher, Mr Daniels, made things slightly more interesting, with the way he presented it. Mr Daniels was also the year advisor for Damian’s year, year eight. Damian liked that even though he was six foot and seemed intimidating he was really relaxed. He was the only teacher who had ever stopped to ask Damian how he was feeling, or what he’d been up too. He was also good looking. At least all the girls thought so, a couple of them definitely had a crush on him. Damian rolled his eyes at that thought.

Arriving early, Damian slipped into the classroom without being spotted, and pulled out his phone. He loved that fact that Mr. Daniels always forgot to lock the Math classroom door. He sat in the corner, passing the time by scrolling through TikTok. Shortly after, he heard the school bell ring, then the pounding of footsteps outside the door. Damian squeezed deeper into the corner of the room, his tiny body melting into the shadows.

I guess being small can sometimes be useful.

He smiled as the as the class filed into the room, totally oblivious to the small shadow in the corner. He merged unnoticed into the small mass of people and quickly found a seat as Mr Daniels marked the roll.

The class started and Damian tried his best to remain focused, but his ADHD made that near impossible, and after about ten minutes he had tuned out of what Mr Daniels was saying. He began to play with his pen, spinning it through his fingers. Keeping his hands busy helped him to focus, and he managed to listen to a couple of words his teacher was saying. As he focused back on the lesson, his pen slipped and flew from his fingers. He lunged to catch it, and he fell out of his chair, just managing to snatch it out of the air before it hit the floor. Damian looked up, freezing as if caught in that position, as he realized that all the eyes in the classroom were directed at him, and Mr. Daniels had stopped speaking. He awkwardly sat back into his chair, his blood rushing to his face, as Mr Daniels resumed speaking as if nothing had happened.

He should be used to this by now, things like this usually happened at least once a week, and it seemed like the harder he tried to stop it, the worse it got.

I just feel like I’m trash at everything. All I seem to do is make mistakes.

Frustration filled his brain, making it completely impossible to pay any attention to the lesson, as inwardly he was beating himself up. He ran out the door as soon as class finished, as he knew his Mr Daniels would want to speak to him.

The next class, English, was no better, but at least he made sure he had a seat in the back. He fell asleep almost as soon as the class started bored by the Mrs. Kobylinska’s monotonous tone.

Damian was jolted awake by a slap to the neck. He screamed out in shock.

Mrs. Kobylinska called out, “Who did that?”

In response there was nothing but utter silence, it was as if the sound was stolen away from the room. As every eye pointed at Damian, the teacher rolled her eyes in exasperation, and continued with the lesson, starting to drone on and on again. Damian looked around carefully to see who was responsible for the stinging pain on the back of his neck. Brock’s eyes met his, as if saying, “You thought you got away this morning didn’t you.” Damian turned back to the front, wondering what were the chances he would make it through the day without any more pain.

Finally, first period was over and Damian weaved through the crowds of students who seemed to tower over him, until he arrived at the library, where he spent lunch and recess in relative peace and quiet, playing games on his phone. The day dragged on, but finally the bell rang, and Damian grabbed his bag and ran towards the back gate, stopping at a distance he saw Brock standing there and instantly he knew that Lucas would be hanging around the back gate.

The pounding in his chest intensifying, he searched for a way out. There were only two unlocked gates in the school. Realizing there was only one thing he could try, he ran towards the side of the school. Checking carefully to make sure no teachers were watching, he ran towards the fence, his short little legs pumping as fast as possible. Placing one foot on the post, he launched his body up into the air, just like he had practiced when learning parkour. Fingertips grasping the top edge of the fence, he pulled himself up, and gingerly stepped in between the metal spikes. Balancing for a second, he saw that Lucas was staring his way. He jumped off, releasing his bag mid jump and landing straight into a roll, scooping his bag off the grass, he checked over his shoulder. Spotting Lucas running towards him, he took off like a bullet down the street, the wind rushing through his light brown hair.

Adrenaline coursed through his body as he ran at full speed for a couple of minutes, until he saw the familiar light brown bricks and black roof tiles of his home. Checking over his shoulder to ensure they’d given up, he slowed down to a walk crossing the street to his house. Stepping up onto the verandah, he yanked the keys out of his pocket, fumbling with them for a second before unlocking the door. The empty white walls holding no interest to him, he walked down the hallway to his room, and pushed the door open.

Wandering into his room, he searched his drawers for a clean singlet and shorts. Unable to find any, he found some on the floor that seemed okay, His search was interrupted as he glanced at the black metal sphere that his dad had engraved with a sketch of them together.

Somehow that was Dad’s idea of a birthday gift for his twelfth birthday. At least it’s not about to be broken anytime soon.

Coming back to reality he headed off to the bathroom for a shower.

As the warm water trickled down his skin, his mind drifted back to a better time …

Back before Dad died…

Tears formed in the corner of his eyes as the memory came rushing back.

Dad was an Oneirologist, a scientist who specializes in studying dreams, and he was working on some new tech, that was supposed to be revolutionary in the field of dreams. He had just left for Europe three days before, to meet with some other key researchers on the project, and had called them that morning to see how they were going. Damian remembered that day like it was yesterday.

The doorbell rang, and he ran to answer it, he opened the door and there stood two men in suits so black they seemed to absorb the life from the room. They asked if Mrs. Waller was home.

“Mum” he called out, “People are here to see you.”

His mum came running downstairs, and she looked at two men. Instantly sensing something was wrong, she asked what they wanted.

The shorter one spoke, he said, “there’s been an accident, Mrs. Waller… Your husband… he didn’t make it, the body is being flown back now.”

Damian’s heart stopped beating for a couple of seconds, “Dad, No way, There must be a mistake.”

The man looked at him with a sad smile “I’m sorry son, but DNA tests have confirmed it. Your father is no longer here on the earth.”

Damian heard his mother burst into sobs, and anger filled him, as he slammed the door shut in the men’s face and turned to his mother and hugged her. Tears streaming down their faces, as they realized all the family they now had was each other. Both Mum’s and Dad’s parents had died before Damian was born, and Dad had an older brother, but the last time they had seen him was when Damian was born… Now they were truly alone, with only each other.

Tears now streaming down his cheeks, he gazed into the bathroom mirror as he dried himself off. Standing at 140cm (4ft 7in) Damian stared at his tiny body

Even though I’m almost 14 I'm still the size of a 10yr old. My dad was tiny too…

Just thinking about Dad again brought a fresh set of tears to Damian’s eyes, but he blinked them back as his mind drifted back into his memories.

Dad teaching me to flip on their backyard trampoline. Playing soccer, cricket, and rugby together. The time we spent surfing at the beach… When he died it was like something broke inside of me. It broke mum even more though, she barely talks to me, and all she does is work, it’s like she’s trying just trying to distract herself from the fact he’s gone.

Music erupted from his phone, breaking his focus. He ran out of the bathroom and stopped his phone alarm, shocked by how much time had passed.

I need to leave now or I won’t make it to gym in time.

He quickly snatched some food from the fridge and raced out the door starting the brisk five minute walk to the gymnastics center. Damian was sick of walking everywhere, but at least it gave him time to think, about the most important thing on his mind right now.

Will Ayla be back from her holiday tonight?