Chapter 12: Don't Feel

"Tag, you're it!" a little girl laughed and ran around with her friends. Matteo approached the group.

"Ew, it's Matteo," a boy said.

"Run!" the girl said.

"I just wanted to play!" Matteo said.

"No one wants to play with you, freak," he bullied.

"Sorry," Matteo responded. He ran home. He was just nine years old, living in a small Italian village with his mother and father.

"Matteo, honey, what's wrong?" his mother said hugging him. "Is it the bullies again?"

Matteo nodded.

"Honey, I've told you, you're not to play with the other children."

"But, I just-," he was interrupted.

"Listen to your mother, son," his father said.

"You're different from the other kids. Special," she added.

"I don't wanna be special. I wanna play with them," Matteo whined.

"Well, you can't. You'll understand when you're older," she told him. Matteo ran back outside.

"Son, get back here, it's getting dark!" his father yelled. He didn't know where to go or what to do, he just wanted to run.

"What are we to do? He can't live like this," she said to her husband.

"He can't live any other way," he replied.

He ran to the river behind the village. That river was his get away when he needed love but couldn't find any. He fell asleep, and when the bullies found him, they decided to pull a prank on him. They smeared excrement that they found by a tree on his fingers and tickled his nose, making him smash it into his face.

"Oh, no! Run!" he said.

"Hey!" Matteo said, humiliated. "It's not funny!" A wave of fire emitted from Matteo, knocking over all the kids and directly striking the bully in the heart. Matteo looked at his bright flaming hands in awe.

"What is wrong with you?!" he yelled at Matteo. "You are so dead!"

"It- it was an accident," Matteo said as he backed away. He ran from the bully, but the bully was too scared to actually chase him. Matteo ran into a woman.

"Oh- s- sorry, ma'am."

"Slow down, there, sweetheart. What's wrong?"

Matteo hid his blazing hands behind his back.

"Nothing," he replied. Sparks began to spin around him as he got more nervous.

"Now, there's nothing to be afraid of, dear. I can help you," she said.

"How?"

"I can take away all the bullies, all the sadness, all the hate. I can make everything better. But you have to do one thing for me."

"What?" Matteo asked.

"There is a bracelet in your home. Do you know of this?" she asked. Matteo shook his head. "Well, if you look for it and bring it to me before sunrise, then I can help you."

"Really?" Matteo said, intrigued.

"Really. Run along, now."

Matteo ran home.

"There! There's the kid that beat up my boy!"

"And my little girl!"

"Wha?" he looked around in fear and confusion.

"Come here, you little brat!"

"It was an accident," he said not loud enough. His hands began burning and sparks flew around him. He ran as fast as he could back to his house and lost his prosecutors.

"Matteo, where have you been? What happened?" his mother interrogated. Matteo, with tears in his eyes, tried to hug his mother.

"Sweetheart," she started. His hands burnt his mother, making her scream and shove Matteo into the ground.

"Damn it, Matteo, be more careful!"

"I'm sorry!" he said. She had a look of regret and empathy.

"Matteo-," she started. Matteo ran to his room and shut the door.

"Just let him be," his father told her. She sat down and hid her face in her hands. He lied in his bed for hours thinking about what life would be like as a normal child. When his parents had retreated to their bed, he opened his door and scouted his home. He searched the cabinets, the pantry, stray satchels, and undersides of furniture, but found no bracelet. He put his head against the door to his parents' bedroom and heard snoring. He slowly and quietly opened the door and crept in. He looked under the bed, and there was a satchel sitting untouched. He reached for it and looked inside to find a looking glass, a dagger, and a bracelet. He took the bracelet, put back the satchel and returned to the river. After a while, the woman emerged from the shrubbery and approached him.

"Did you find it?" she asked. Matteo nodded. "Wonderful! Hand it here, boy."

He handed it to her and she slipped it into her satchel.

"Run home, boy. Get some sleep, and when you wake up, all your problems will have vanished."

Matteo obeyed. When he got home, his parents were waiting for him.

"Matteo, where the hell were you?" his father asked.

"I- I-," he stuttered.

"Tell us the truth. What did you do?" his mother commanded sternly.

"Nothing!" Matteo said.

"There was a bracelet under our bed! What happened to it, Matteo?" she yelled.

"She said she could help me!" he replied.

"You gave it away?!" his father said. "Why would you do that?! You-."

"Matteo, who did you give it to and where are they?!"

"I don't know!" Matteo started to cry.

"Listen, sweetheart, we are trying to protect you. You can't trust people like that. We're asking you this because we love you," his mother said.

"You don't love me! You think I'm a freak!" Matteo cried, and embers began to rise from the floor.

"Matteo-," his father was cut off.

"Leave me alone! I hate you!" Matteo ran away.

"Matteo!" his father yelled.

Matteo ran to the woods and cried himself to sleep. When he woke up, he felt bad for saying what he had said. They just wanted to protect him. Perhaps it was a bit extreme to think that they see him as freak. He headed home to apologize.

When he got to town, people were flocking something on the ground. Matteo moved closer to see that it was the bully that humiliated him. His hair had turned completely red. He was sweating profusely, and his face was blood red.

"Thomas! Thomas, speak to me!" a man said, holding him. The boy couldn't speak. His eyes widened, and he grew very still. Suddenly, flames began to ignite from his chest and consumed his body, making him vanish in seconds.

"Oh my god. Thomas!"

Matteo shook his head in disbelief before running to house.

"Mommy! Daddy!" he cried. He opened to door. There was a strange, altar-looking circle with satanic-looking symbols and markings. In the center were the disfigured bodies of Matteo's parents. He glanced for a moment, turned around, and stood petrified outside his house before leaving forever.