Challenge #02520-F330: Teach to Learn
You know the one student that's always alone? The one student that, for some reason, just seems unable to make any friends? Often they're bullied while everyone else turns a blind eye even when they ask for help. A student can turn one of many ways in this kind of situation. They can turn into a killer, they can harm themselves, they can bottle it up and explode later, or, for the unusual few, it can make them even gentler even when their heart's broken. School.. they graduated almost 20 earth years ago. But still, some nights, they woke up crying. The cruelty they endured in their youth had left a long, harsh, scar upon their heart, matching the many physical scars, like the burn marks that caused permanent stripes along the arms. The alarm went off, it was time to get to work, they had a mixed class of haven worlders and humans to teach. A gentle smile on the kind face, while the broken soul hid within the heart. -- Anon Guest
[AN: I get the feeling that this is very important to OP, so - Nonny, wherever you are, take heart. Those scars stop hurting so much, after a while. That, and we can all take steps to be certain more children don't gain the same scars.]
There's a certain feeling that comes from growing up in an era that introduces all the things you need after you're done needing them. Whilst you are clambering at the cracks you fell through, struggling to create coping mechanisms and falling afoul of every single unforeseen pit-trap... others who follow you walk calmly along on paving-stones laid by someone who never saw you there. It is, very loosely, frustrating.
Imagine fighting for a lifetime. Imagine struggling along a rocky and weed-strewn path, only to find that someone behind you has been making a better path. Yet you can never turn around, go back, and use the path that's been made because that way lies even worse ruin. Imagine the exhaustion. Imagine the frustration. Imagine the tears one could shed. Now imagine becoming a guide for all those who need that path, and would benefit from that guidance.
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