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History
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I remember one morning from when I was back in high school. At this time I would have been around 14 years old. We had just finished form meaning that the morning settling in and register had been dealt with and the first lesson had begun. The first lesson was design and technology, this translated to wood shop. I hated shop quite a bit as I have no ability when it comes to building things. To this day I have some weird lump of metal on my key ring that’s misshapen form attests to my cack handedness with tools. As it was early the majority of the delinquent scum I shared my class with had yet to show up. I was therefore relatively relaxed although I still had to be sure not to draw to much attention from my asshole shop teacher who hated children, probably because they all took the piss out of his speech impediment. I much preferred the hard subjects. Mostly because I was good at them and the goons I learned with didn’t have access to tools with which to menace one another and myself.
I had just managed to get all the stuff I needed to build that day together in a corner when I felt a hard steel edge brought up around my throat. The blade was long and cold, it felt sharp enough to do harm. I immediately cursed myself for not paying more attention. Working in a corner and facing away from the door and the rest of the room was a rookies error. I must have been tired. In any case I concluded that the blade was being held correctly meaning that if drawn across my throat it would have opened an artery and id be in deep shit also the hold was being applied correctly and would therefore be difficult to brake. Although my hands were free I could not see any kind of attack I could use which would have prevented my assailant from executing a killing manoeuvre.
In the second or two it took to consider these realities my attacker spoke. It turned out to be an acquaintance of mine who was not normally violent. He demanded money. I did not find this even remotely surprising or shocking. Do not misunderstand me, I had been surprised and this was quite frightening but the fact it was happening at all seemed quite normal. Hoping that he would be satisfied by capitulation I slowly reached into my pocket and withdrew the few pieces of silver I happened to have that day. This amounted to around 40 pence. I figured a chocolate bar was a small price to pay for my life although I considered it far more likely at this point that he would kill me for fun. I held the money out to my side and vaguely wondered where that misanthropic sod teacher was at.
The blade was withdrawn and the guy burst into laughter “I can’t believe you thought I’d kill you” he got out between giggles. The blade turned out to be a steel ruler. He held it out for inspection. It had felt sharp but I saw now that only the corner could have cut me. As he rolled about with laughter and some nearby students joined him I did not laugh, nor did I feel particularly embarrassed I simply rearranged my tools and moved a short way so that I could see where everyone was and so that I had a clear run of the door. From my experience mobs were liable to turn nasty even when entertained. I could not be seen from a cursory glance from outside either. Roaming enemies of mine who could frequently be found wandering the halls while they were meant to be in lesson would not see me unless they checked the room more closely. I selected a long heavy implement with a sharp end that I did not actually need and added it to my collection of tools.
I continued my work in silence.
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