Tom Marvolo Riddle was a lonely orphan only the young age of eight. Family, he did not have. Friends, he knew nothing of. He was alone in the world and every kid knew it, every teacher made it, and every adult scowled at it.
"Why does that little boy have to be so impolite?" They would say as he walked by without saying 'Excuse me.'
"Tom! Go sit by yourself! You know that you aren't to sit with the other children!" The teachers would shout as if he had some horrible disease.
"Ewwwww! Get away, Riddle! We don't want to be near you! We may catch freak-idus!" The children would taunt whenever he tried to sit with them.
He never knew why everyone hated him. All he knew was that he had nobody, that he was all alone. And that was a horrible thought for a little boy. He would often sit on the wall outside his schoolhouse to eat lunch so that he wouldn't be disturbed. No one knew where he went for a while until two very foolish boys found out and decided to go pick on him.
What could it hurt, right? Well, they would soon find out.
It was a hot summer day, only a few days before school let out in fact. And Tom hated the idea of it. Being trapped away in that old orphanage was his personal hell. School, as horrible and lonely as it was, was his solace from the orphanage. He would often stay after school to run around the schoolyard and to past the time.
Tom never wanted to go back to the orphanage, and he wouldn't if he had it his way. No one would make him. He would make his own decisions and he would stay at the schoolhouse all the time, without anyone to bother him.
He especially loved the lunch hour when he was able to sneak out and eat his oatmeal cookie in silence without anyone to pick on him. He was picked on a lot, more than every other kid there. It was because he was small and smart, they would say. It was their excuse. He was different, and they didn't like it. They didn't like it one bit.
So, it was this hot summer day that Roland and Taylor, the oldest boys in school, decided to go and pick on the runt. He was too small to defend himself, so it would be a piece of cake! Tom Marvolo Riddle was the perfect target.
Taylor was the one that made the first move. He walked right by Tom as if he was going to walk down the street to Ernie's Corner Shop, but paused for a millisecond to reach out and grab Tom's lunchbox that had been resting beside him.
Tom got to his feet instantly and made a grab for it, but Taylor, being a foot and several inches taller just waved it over his head and taunted him, "Ol' lil' Tommy all by himself! Will the poor baby cry?" Taylor laughed and threw the lunchbox up into the air. For one heart stopping moment, Tom thought that he had thrown it up in the air so that it could crash to the ground, but he quickly saw that it was headed to Roland who caught it expertly.
"Give it back!" ordered eight-year-old Tom Riddle in his little voice. "Give it back, now!" The raven head boy whined as he watched the older kids toss his lunchbox back and forth that he had saved up every penny he earned to buy. He made another sound of protest as the lunchbox was thrown up in the air, but the two older boys just laughed cruelly, truly enjoying their sick game of 'Monkey In The Middle'.
Tom made another fruitless jump to try to catch the lunchbox in midair and whimpered when he saw the lunchbox just miss the tip of Taylor's fingers. He covered his eyes before the box hit the ground, but he needn't see it to know what condition it was now. The sound of plastic landing against something hard was heard all through the playground and the two older boys cursed in surprise.
Tom knew they hadn't meant to break it, but they did because of their sick little game. The young boy felt a rage build up inside of him as he slowly lowered his now balled up fist and stared at the hundreds of pieces of broken plastic. He turned his glare on Roland and Taylor, and he was sure he didn't imagine the look of fright that came over their faces.
He soon realized why as well. Roland shouted, "I can't move!"
"Neither can I!" panicked Taylor. Tom suddenly felt his throat clench when he realized that it was all his doing, but he didn't feel ashamed. He felt power surging through him and for all he knew, it would be gone in only a few seconds.
He concentrated on the power he felt. He imagined the two boys rising up into the air. He glared at them fiercely willing it to happen, and as sure as the sky is blue the two boys began to rise. And then, with a mighty cry Tom threw them backwards with such force that the two boys hit the schoolhouse before stopping and falling down.
Tom knew from that moment on that he wasn't exactly normal. He practiced this ability and told no one of it. He vowed to perfect it, and when he did make everyone pay. Make everyone who had ever teased him, mocked him, or even looked at him the wrong way pay. It was this ambition that kept him striving, and told no one, always remembering that day. No one ever suspected that he had done it.
Tom knew he did it. The two boys knew he did it. But no one would ever figure that out. No one would know that the lone orphan was special, that one day Tom would be one of the most powerful wizards of all time, nor would anyone have guessed that the helpless boy who was picked on many of times in Primary school would use this power to kill thousands of people. No one, except Tom Marvolo Riddle.
