23 Glade 110
For a child his age the season after Frost must be the most anticipated one of the year. Frost had kept him indoors most of the time unless there was a reason to go out. Though going out to play with the boys was not exclusive of the cold season it was also something the kids would call quits once they hit their limits. With no such limitation come Glade, Shuai started to return home later and later everyday just to make up for all the fun times Frost forced him to miss out on and for him and the rest of his friends, it had been a good week or so but the world had to teach them the hard way; all good things would eventually come to an end. If that was the case why not start them off at an early age and eight? That was old enough for them to understand the unfairness they would have to face from then on.Shuai and his friends were not the only kids in Kalzasi, obviously, and the city being as big as it was also meant they were never ever going to meet every kid living there in their age bracket. Encounters good and bad will be missed throughout their lives and just like any right thinking adult would want, they too would want to wish to miss out on the bad encounters like Big Gwin. Like them he was barely even under the age of ten but he was already just as tall as children almost twice their age. This was all thanks to Big Gwin's father's great decision, great for Big Gwin and not the kids who had to suffer his presence of course, to marry a moratallen woman the merchant met in his travels. There was no question about it, Big Gwin's parents were truly in love which meant his family should be the best environment to nurture the child positively and ensure he grows up into a respectable individual.
This left the big question in the minds of all the children who were a witness to the events in their usual playground. How did Big Gwin at the turn of the year suddenly became such a big bully?
Maybe it was the simplest answer that could explain it, that Big Gwin finally realized the power he had come into which he could use against all the other kids. No one missed him as the merchant family always took a chance for a holiday in and out of the region whenever they had the opportunity; but the days of peace in his absence since the beginning of Glade? The one which all the kids enjoyed? That was gone now. Gone the moment Big Gwin came back and claimed the playground as his. The innocence of the children meant they agreed, only because they thought the playground was all of theirs and could not understand Big Gwin's claim of exclusivity until he started to knock around some of the kids who refused to obey some demands of his. They cried and everyone, including Shuai, just watched in confusion.
For days they did not even think of fighting back, especially after an example was made of one of the bigger boys among them who was unfortunately still not as big as Big Gwin. The confrontation ended quickly as Big Gwin eventually shoved the boy down and then sat on him for minutes. This was despite it not taking long for the boy to start crying and though many attempts to convince and persuade Big Gwin were made, normally in the lines of pointing out the crying boy or saying he was not being nice, Big Gwin seemed to revel in the attention. It was only when a group of adults started to close into the playground after being drawn in by the commotion to witness the incident that Big Gwin stopped and led all the other kids into convincing the adults that there was nothing wrong and the other boy just fell into the ground- Big Gwin was only being singled out because the other boy was was ashamed and by letting everyone else think Big Gwin was responsible for the incident the latter could preserve some face.
That said however well Big Gwin tried to conceal the truth, it came out to the parents eventually. but what could they actually do? Other than to speak to Big Gwin's parents about it so that they could get their kid in line, there was nothing they could do about it. However big Big Gwin was, adults should not be interfering with the affairs of the children. Now unless Big Gwin broke rules which protected him like injuring someone but as one might expect, none of the children were in a rush to volunteer. While some of the children who listened to their parents words well enough to take it to heart and find some creative solutions, they all ended up coming to the conclusion that no one was going to help them. If their older brothers and sisters, children as well in the eyes of the adults would not help their own siblings in their trials because it would reflect badly on them if word got out they were to harass someone younger than them, just who else was there to help them? The guard? Mommy and daddy used to say when there were bad men about they had to report it to the guard but the treatment they had from everyone thus far only left them sure that even the guards would be useless.
However things came to a head a little white later into the season. Big Gwin had bode his time to leave both the other children and even the adults lax into thinking that he had sorted out his own issues and was no longer a bully. Just like the first time he entered the playground and loudly proclaimed it as his own. The return of the tyrant who started off his regime by promising any other child who denied him what was his, any kid who tried to start something with him and any rats running to the adults would be swiftly punished and to remind the others of why they had no other choice but to obey him, he decided to have everyone play a game with him in the playground. After he got the children to form a big ring, he then explained the rules. Get into the ring with him and try to get him into the ground. That was how they could win and the winner would rule the playground. Lose and be prepared for a lot of pain. Of course there was also the choice to not enter the ring but doing so would be an admission they have agreed to be his servants.
A lot of the children including Shuai did not like that and everyone voiced out they were against the game and reasons they did not want to join until Big Gwin yelled for them to shut up and for the first kid to enter the ring. Shuai did not like the idea they were not going to be able to get out of this one just like how the ring of children was prepared to prevent any possibility of escape. How naive he was to not even realize the ring of children was to prevent any adults passing by from seeing the beatdown about to happen. While everyone could see through this just how big a bully Big Gwin could be, they also had the chance to see who were the braver kids in their group as one by one they stepped up for a chance to take down Big Gwin and end his tyrannical reign. Unfortunately for them Big Gwin's reign was supported by force which none of the other smaller children could beat. This realization was one of the reasons Shuai was not one of the early ones to try and beat Big Gwin at his own game, because he hoped for someone else's victory instead.
But all it did was increase his building fear as one by one he saw his friends beaten into the ground and getting a bruise or two for their troubles. And then, it was Shuai's turn. After watching all his friends before him he learned enough he was never going to beat Big Gwin's reach and the moment the bigger child got his hands on Shuai it would all be over. He did what any scared child in that position would. Run. But how devious was Big Gwin when Shuai in running rings around Big Gwin and could find no chance to escape; blocked off by the ring of kids and in a moment of desperation, he rushed Big Gwin and dived out of the larger child's hands going down and under the other and popped up on the other side. It seemed to work as Big Gwin could not find his latest victim for a whole bunch of seconds as much as he tried, with Shuai following closely behind him to remain out of view. This worked really well until some of the other children who finally found the scene of Big Gwin being made a fool of funny and laughed, something which infuriated him enough to pick up his speed and finally got Shuai in his hands. In a moment, it was all over with Shuai ending up worse off than the other losers... and he did not even get a blow in!
It was then Shuai's good friend could take no more and volunteered for next. Unlike the other kids he ran right at Big Gwin as soon as they started showing no fear and when Big Gwin struck, stepped back to dodge and grabbed the bigger kid's arm to hold him in place. Truly an inspiring moment for everyone watching. While the smaller kid in the fight took a few blows to try and pull Big Gwin down to no success all seemed lost until one of Big Gwin's biggest and most vocal detractors, also one of the first to go against him in the days game, yelled for all the children who had enough to take their chance. Understandably no one wanted to until without any pause after his speech, the leader rushed Big Gwin. Then another kid followed. Then another. Then Shuai and more. Big Gwin tried to escape finding he was at the disadvantage then, the undisputed leader of this rebellion yelled again for the other kids who have yet to jump in to hold their ground and push Big Gwin back towards the center turning his once dominance against him. The regime ends, today!
While not everyone got out unscathed, Big Gwin ended up having it the worst as he ended up confined to his home for seasons. The adults were left wondering how did the big kid end up turning into a giant cauliflower but the children unified in their excuse, even Shuai who only mirrored "we were playing then he fell into the ground. Hard. Honest. We've learned our lesson and make sure to play safer games now" meant even the adults who were concerned had to forget about getting to the bottom of it although, those already familiar with the events earlier in the season of Big Gwin appearing in the playground and bullying everyone else, allegedly, had a suspicion of what actually happened that day and if it was true there was nothing they wanted to do about it even if they could. Adults should not be interfering with the affairs of the children.
However for the children was it really over? The last thing Big Gwin said still haunted them, that there would always be someone bigger trying to take control so they should have just let him be their king.
