BULLIES

It was a busy night at Traxx Club, where Hudson works as a bartender. He works two shifts every night, just so he can keep up with his college fees and other expenses. The club was crowded with people.

Hudson Atonal is a 22-year-old guy from Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California, with his mom and little sister. He has blonde hair, blue eyes, and a diamond-shaped jawline. He attends California State University, Northridge where he studies Business administration. He is from a poor family background; his mother raised him alone as his father left when he was little. Every day is a struggle for him because he has to juggle his work and college lectures.

Hudson was done with his night shift; he checked out of the restaurant. As he walked out of the restaurant, three of his college classmates were heading in his direction. They were all rich kids from rich families; they were all in their early 20s; and they were adorned in designer brands.

They all knew that Hudson worked as a bartender, and a couple of them had made fun of him about it in college. Seeing them, Hudson lowered his eyes; he was skeptical about walking past them because he didn’t want any of them to notice him. He was about to walk past them in the hopes that they would not notice him. When one of the guys called out to him.

"Hudson! Is that you?" He halted and turned around to look at them.

"Oh it is you,”

"I can see you are still living a miserable life, ehh, bartender," one of the guys said rudely, staring at him with disgust in his eyes.

"If you can’t afford to go to college here, why don’t you go back to whatever filth you came from?" Another guy added rudely. It’s already hard for Hudson to work as a bartender; the last thing he doesn’t need is a couple of dickheads to rub his suffering in his face. He turned around and attempted to leave, but one of the guys was already standing behind him. They had surrounded him; the guys were very muscular compared to him, and even if he wanted to, he couldn’t fight and win against any of them.

"Please, can y’all get out of my way and let me go home?" Hudson asked calmly. Although he was annoyed, he didn’t want to show them that. 

‘Rich pricks like them get pleasure from tormenting others. So, the best way is to avoid them.’ He thought. 

"And go do what exactly? Cry yourself to sleep? You know what? Street urchins like you don’t deserve to be in college; why don’t you go beg for money at the side of the street?" The guy standing behind him stated bluntly. Hudson started boiling with a lot of anger and frustration.

"Hudson, your life must be shit; I wouldn’t want to be you," one of the guys added in a sarcastic tone. Suddenly, the guy behind Hudson pushed him hard, and he fell to the ground opposite the guy standing in front of him.

The guy in front of him spat on the floor next to him and bent down to look at him in the eyes and said.

"You know what, why don’t you lick my saliva from the ground, and I will give you five hundred dollars?" The guy had an evil smirk across his lips. They were all enjoying taunting Hudson. Hudson swiftly got up from the ground.

"You guys should leave me alone! I am not going to lick your spat from the ground!" He couldn’t contain his anger inside any longer. He attempted to walk away from them when one of them yanked his shirt from behind. 

"Where do you think you are going?" The guy asked in a rumbling tone. This was the last straw for Hudson; he had reached his boiling point. 

He turned around swiftly and punched the guy across the face, but the punch didn’t seem to do any damage because the guy didn’t even flinch. Before Hudson knew what was happening, one of the guys punched him hard in the stomach, and he went down on his knees and held his stomach with his hands.

Suddenly the guy Hudson punched in the face came over to him, held his head tightly, and punched him across the mouth. He fell backward and hit his head on the ground.

"You should have just licked the spat, and none of this would have happened," the guy said in a rumbling tone.

"You filthy bartender!" One of the guys screamed as they started kicking him across his stomach and back on the floor.

"Ahhhh!" He screamed in pain. As the guys saw that Hudson was no longer moving. They stopped kicking him, and one of them yelled. "Let’s get out here!" They all ran off at the speed of light.

Hudson gasped for air; he was out of breath and could barely move. He slowly stood up from the ground, breathing in and out slowly as his breathing pattern slowed down.

‘What did I do to deserve this? Is it because I am poor? I am tired of living like this; most of my college friends are from wealthy families.' He thought as tears started dripping down his face. He was tired of suffering and living miserably.

He tried taking a step forward, but he felt an excruciating pain in his stomach and stopped.

‘Those rich pricks kicked me hard in the gut’ he thought. A loud beeping sound came out of his pocket; it was his cellphone. He took it out and looked at the caller; it was his mom. He answered the call.

"Are you on your way home?" She asked in a worried tone. He tried to take a step forward when he collapsed on the ground, lost consciousness, and passed out cold. 

**********

Hudson opened his eyes. He was in a huge, dark room. There were fire stands hanging on the walls of the room.