“Say, that Wilhelm lad is very off....” “What is with his neck??” “I'm not going to talk to him. I don't like his energy” “His hair is red like the colour of my blood boiling from me seeing him” “Why was he chosen to play the princess? He looks like he should be playing the evil stepmother!

The words echoed through the boy's ears. The red-haired boy, Wilhelm, had no choice but to continue walking. He was carrying a dress, and his mind is focusing on one thing: auditions.

Just another day at school. And yet, better here than home, whatever it is.

Wilhelm never understood why the von Strauss clan took him in. For years, all he endured are plain brutalities. There was little love. And when exceptions happened, such as his brother Sigmund and cousin Hilda, they too received plain brutalities.

And yet, despite the brutalities, Wilhelm was allowed to attend the prestigious, upper-class Bifrost Academy —— allegedly blessed by Ymir himself, keyword allegedly.

”.....” Wilhelm stood in silence at the gates of Ymir Academy. His shark-shaped eyes and mournful eyebrows judged the exterior. It looked like the von Strauss home.

“Wim? What is it?” A blue-haired, fresh-faced, bespectacled young man stood besides him. Sigmund was excited to be educated in such an excellent school, but as soon as he saw Wilhelm in a face that disagrees with him, it became clear that Sigmund should be considerate with Wilhelm's feelings.

”...What? Nothing” Wilhelm looked at Sigmund's worrying face. He knew that Sigmund was excited to be in this school. “Stop worrying” Wilhelm continued, then changed his face into a stern look.

Wilhelm then stepped into the school. Sigmund sighs and smiled as he followed Wilhelm. Maybe this will make things better, Sigmund thought.

It was four years ago.

“Ah! Wilhelm! Come, come, it's your turn” A messy-haired middle aged man called. Wilhelm walked onto the stage of the school theatre.

“This is for Princess Christianne, Director Hartmann” the man's assistant said to him. “Interesting!” the man —– Director Hartmann —– continued. “Susanne recommended you for this role, let's see what you can do as the mournful Princess Christianne”

Wilhelm stepped into the most lit part of the stage. Both director Hartmann and his assistant Susanne can see Wilhelm clearly in his outfit and make-up. With a beautiful short red hair, white dress that held his body and clad in soft make-up, the young red-haired mournful-looking boy now looked like a snow white beauty.

“Is this too much, Director?” Susanne asked to Hartmann, after seeing how Wilhelm's make-up looked like on stage lights. “No. It looked just right” he responded, “This boy's features and paleness works well with Princess Christianne's fragility”

Fragile, that was the word that they described for the role of 'Princess Christianne'. But it is also the word that everyone used to describe Wilhelm.

“He looked exactly how I pictured Princess Christianne breaking down in her dungeon” Susanne continued,

“Alright, enough of this looks discussion. Let's see what you can do.” Hartmann said to Wilhelm, “As I've ordered, have you learned your lines for Scene 15?”

“Yes” Wilhelm responded.

“Great, let's start from the beginning” Hartmann continued.

Wilhelm then did his best approximation of a fragile princess mourning the death of her prince. As he was doing his audition, he thought of the word 'Fragile'.

The time was one year ago. As a yearly tradition, Ymir Academy holds “Merchant Day”, where each class forms groups of students to sell unique things. The grouping system was done to include those who couldn't create things, they can help the merchant

“Oi! Oi! This is all oranges, I need apples, lots of them!” A burly boy yelled at Wilhelm, who had just carried two boxes of oranges.

“You...told me to bring oranges” Wilhelm responded, with his face staying in wide-eyed blank stern-ness. The boy's face quickly shifted from annoyance into fear.

”....Oh, yeah, s-sorry...that was a sudden change” The boy apologized, possibly fearing for his safety upon seeing Wilhelm's blank stare. It looked like there's an air of disappointment, sadness, weep, and malevolence in one expression, “W-why don't you go to the cafeteria and ask Ms. Kirschenbaum? No one's at the cafeteria anyway....” the boy continued.

“Alright”, Wilhelm responded, while he walked calmly into the cafeteria. Then on his way to the main hallway, he was stopped.

“HAHAHA!”, a sporty-bodied boy laughed as he shoved Wilhelm into the wall. “Damn, this red boy's sturdy!” the boy shouted in annoyance, “You lied to me, asshole”, the boy said to his friend, also a sporty-bodied boy. The other boy seemed annoyed, until he noticed Wilhelm's bandaged neck.

“Look at his neck”, the other boy pointed. The boy smiled, and shoved Wilhelm to the ground while grabbing his hair.

For Wilhelm, this is one of the less painful things that one can do to him. And as such, he did not utter a single shout of pain. Father gives me worse beatings, this is nothing, Wilhelm thought. But this time, this act of small violence against him had Wilhelm felt threatened.

My neck, I can't let them grab it Wilhelm shouted to himself, then attempted to grab the boys' arms. But it was no use.

“Let's see what this edgy little pussy is hiding!!” the other boy exclaimed while opening the bandages.

Immediately, everything went silent. Wilhelm couldn't hear anything, not even his scream. For a few minutes, everything was nothing in Wilhelm's senses, until he bandaged his neck back. As he regained his senses, he stood up, and was horrified

The two boys was frozen in shock, and their bodies started to crack like statues. The sight of two human beings, cracking, was enough to send Wilhelm into a loud shout.

It was lucky that the school's principal was a Government-licensed magist that he could reverse the change. Miraculously, Wilhelm was not given any form of punishment.

But at home, it is a different story full of scars and pain. Such is life for Wilhelm von Strauss.

Wilhelm's performance for the audition was something that directors always refer to as “spellbinding”, even though it was painful for him to act while horrible memories of pain permeated his brain. I wasn't acting, I was angry, he mused to himself.

“Brilliant!” Hartmann exclaimed while clapping. Susanne's face turned into a smile full of gratitude, with her hands signaling the expression of “Yes! This worked!”

Wilhelm's face shifted into his normal cold face, but with tears running through his cheeks. But his fake tears weren't real tears. Pain had taught him to not cry, as tears won't uplift anything.

“You nailed her.” Hartmann praised to Wilhelm, “You perfectly portrayed her distress and mourning at the same time, as well as her wailing.....you are perfect. I didn't imagine Princess Christianne with a red hair, but now I see her with a beautiful red hair like yours”, he continued.

Wilhelm nodded in agreement, and he was permitted to leave. He could faintly hear Hartmann and Susanne coming into an agreement.

“We found Princess Christianne”

Now Wilhelm can play as a victim while living his life as one.

#writetober #OCs #WinstonSmith #WilhelmVonStrauss #LotusOperetta #edentrius #writing