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𝟓 || 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐁𝐀 𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 ||
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The curly haired boy kept looking up from his coloring book, nervousness not once leaving his veins as he observed his surroundings.
Takemichi sat at the table in the corner of the classroom, watching his new classmates run around, play games, and converse with one another. The soothing sound of the rain hitting the roof of the building was barely enough to distract the smaller boy from surveying the room, the grip on his colored crayon tightening every time a teacher or student got too close.
Nothing bad has happened so far. His classmates weren't clawing each other over toys, or using the arts and craft supplies as weapons. His teacher wasn't standing by her desk watching the chaos from afar, but was instead interacting with the kids, making them laugh and giggle as they played a board game Takemichi once saw at a garage sale.
Takemichi went back to coloring his dragon, the red crayon in his hand almost snapping with the hold he had on it.
He was tense—anxious even.
It was unnerving to the boy how calm his classroom was, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop his hand from shaking every time someone attempted to talk to him.
It was frustrating; the boy wanted nothing more than to get up from his secluded area and join in on the games the other students were playing, but he just couldn't.
He was scared.
Terrified.
Frightened.
What if they suddenly got mad at him and used those puzzle pieces to gouge his eyes out? Or shove marbles down his throat till he couldn't breathe? Or slam his head face first into a pile of legos? Or forcefully shove chess pieces into his nose until he was a bleeding mess? Or—
SNAP
Takemichi flinched. He looked down to stare at the broken crayon resting in his hand, dread settling in his stomach.
Uh oh...
Takemichi quickly hid the broken crayon under the table, hoping someone didn't catch him and tattle on him to the teacher. The dragon he was coloring was almost finished too—all he needed to fill in was the tail and the fire that surrounded the mystical creature.
