"'Fill a doll with rice' they said, 'you need something to act as the body' they said, 'he's too scared to ever do it' they said." Almost as if he was chanting, the young boy quoted his classmates as he robotically filled a doll with raw rice. He glanced at the clock, 2:54, 6 minutes to prepare.

Just yesterday, he'd been sitting on the school wall, peacefully eating his tuna sandwich and chatting generically about homework with Celeste, a pretty French girl with silver blonde hair and sparkling aqua eyes. He was just in the middle of being absorbed by her glistening smile and melodic voice when a sharp rock met the side of his head, nearly knocking him off the wall completely.

"Oy, loser." A muscly kid with dark curls calls out to the boy, "Oy," he repeated, picking up another stone, "loser!" he threw the stone more forcefully and yet again, it hit the boy on the side of the head.

"Stop it, Eric!" Celeste jumped up and placed herself in front of the cowering boy, her thick accent furiously calling out to the nearby boy, whose two friends stood behind laughing. "Leave him alone!"

"What, got to hide behind a girl now? Coward. Don't let a girl pick your fights!" Eric called out just as furiously to the boy behind her. "Come on, Celeste. You don't wanna hang with a wimp like him. I mean just look at him! He's got his head lowered and's sitting silently behind a pretty girl who's trying to protect him. He's too scared to even look at us!" The boy's face was hidden by his milky chocolate hair, his body shook but he bravely jumped from the wall and glared up at Eric.

"I'm not weak!" His voice rang out clear but Eric only raised his eyebrows and sneered.

"That so?" He asked teasingly. His voice turned menacing as he stepped towards Celeste and the boy who immediately cowered back in fear again. "Knew it. Your bark's worse than your bite. No way you'd ever actually stand up to us." A grin spread across Eric's face as he leaned in to Celeste. "Now come on, why don't you come play with us now?"

"Eric, say sorry, this isn't nice!" Celeste's reprimanding tone only made Eric scowl and shrug his shoulders as he turned to walk off, his lackeys following close behind. "Eric!" By now the boys were jostling with each other and whether or not they could hear her, the cry was ignored.

"It's fine." The young boy muttered, pulling himself up from behind her. "Really, it's fine." One arm lay across his body, gently holding the side of another which hung limply at his side. Celeste immediately turned to him, checking his face for tears as she ranted on about the others having no back bones and being the real cowards. "Really, it's fine." He whispered.

Gone again. After returning from PE, his clothes had disappeared once again. It happened every day; his clothes were stolen by Eric and his gang, only given back when everyone else was leaving. He refused to tell Celeste though as she was worried enough with them just coming to him in class or at break. Plus, if he told her every way he was picked on, he'd be relying on her too much and he wanted to be the one protecting her, not the other way round.

"Hey, loser." Eric's voice called out earlier than usual, the boy's angular face spun around to look for it as he sat up from his usual waiting seat. But he wasn't called for his clothes, simply more torturous teasing. It seemed Eric wanted to get Celeste to stop defending him. What am I supposed to do? She does it of her own accord… He apologised after pointing out the complications of that idea, which quickly resulted in a shove and glare. All 3 of the guys had cornered him and were chanting insults as if in a game of pass the parcel with names as the gift. The other classmates simply ignored it, pretending not to notice or smirking slightly at his humiliation. His body was shaking but it was different from usual. Eric's taunts had evolved, taken a more damaging stride and the boy felt a dragon welling up inside of him.

"Stop it!" He yelled. His voice silencing the hustle of the changing room. "I'm not a coward." Eric froze for a moment; such a strong voice from such a frail body was unexpected for everyone.

"Prove it." He smirked, otherwise calm features tainted only by a menacing gleam in the eyes. "If you're not a coward, then prove it." Eric's immediately confident reply had obviously set the boy off slightly, his body shrinking slightly from the bully's aura. "Come on everyone," Raising his arms high in welcome, Eric called to the shirtless boys around him, "Let's think of a dare for him!" The tremendous excitement this line caused for the entire room was astonishing.

"Create a dare?"
"Will he do it?"
"He's a coward, he can't do anything."
"What're you on about?"
"I'm sure he could do better than you, ya stupid lump of brick."
Mutters and jokes from around the room mixed together with shouts of ideas as the anticipation grew. Everyone wanted to think of the most entertaining or challenging dare. This was him after all; the weak freak that was always picked on, this would be the ultimate humiliation for a coward like him. The majority of dares were simple things and rejected; things like saying something in class or pulling faces at the principal seemed too boring to be 'the big dare'.

….

Then finally, it came up. "Hide and Seek!" Of course such a reply made many faces turn in confusion. That was a child's game, what of it? Why's it interesting enough to be placed as his dare? But Eric's face showed recognition and, for a split second, the boy thought he saw worry cross the bully's eyes. "No, not a simple game of hide and seek," the idea's voice replied indignantly, "Hide and Seek Alone." Suddenly more faces opened their eyes in surprise. He couldn't be serious? Between the few people who knew of the game, there was an uncomfortable murmur but eventually they persuaded themselves it'd be fine and laughed into agreement. This is what the boy will do! Most definitely! The few who understood the game explained the rules to the boy and the rest of the room. Despite the unsure glances, the class made it definite. The boy's face was pastel pale as the horror of the game sank in, they couldn't really be asking this.

"You'll do it though, right? Cause you're not a coward." The rowdiest of the class started pressuring him, twisting his words against him and a few threatening him if he didn't do it.

"Your parents are out on a trip too, aren't they? It's perfect!" He couldn't go back now, it was far too late to change his mind and admit he was terrified. He'd do it, no matter what.

"'To start, you need a doll.' 'Oh I bet that's easy for him to get' Hahaha. So funny you are." His monotone voice muttered as silent tears streamed down his cheek. Carefully placing the doll inside the bathtub in his bathroom, the grandfather clock in the living room began to ring. Three o'clock on the dot; "You're it. You're it. You're it." It wasn't stern, but it was all he could muster at the time. Swiftly moving to return to his seat on the floor; that was the first part done. Fill a doll with rice and place it inside the bathroom, start the game at 3 o'clock (that's when they move with the most ease), tell the doll sternly 3 times that it's it, return to your spot. Crouching down, he wrapped his arms tightly around his knees, hugging them to his chest and began to count.