I used to steal my poor classmate\u2019s lunch every day\u2026until I found out who was really rich.<\/p>\n
I was the terror of the school. That\u2019s not an exaggeration, it\u2019s a fact. When I walked through the hallways, the younger children would look down, and the teachers would pretend not to see certain things.<\/p>\n
My name is Sebastian. I\u2019m an only child. My father was an influential politician, one of those who appear on television smiling while talking about \u201cequal opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother owned a chain of luxury spas. We lived in a mansion so large that the silence echoed in the hallways.<\/p>\n
I had everything a boy my age could want: the most expensive sneakers, the latest iPhone, designer clothes, a credit card that seemed to have no limit.<\/p>\n
But I also had something that no one saw: a heavy, thick loneliness that accompanied me even when I was surrounded by people.<\/p>\n
In school, my power was based on fear. And like any coward with power, I needed a victim.<\/p>\n
Tom\u00e1s was that victim.<\/p>\n
Tom\u00e1s was the scholarship student. The one who was always at the back of the classroom. The one who wore the uniform inherited from some unknown cousin.<\/p>\n
He walked with his shoulders hunched and his eyes fixed on the ground, as if he were asking for forgiveness for existing.<\/p>\n
He always carried his lunch in a wrinkled brown paper bag, stained with oil that betrayed simple, repetitive meals.<\/p>\n
For me, it was a perfect target.<\/p>\n
Every day, during recess, I repeated the same \u201cprank.\u201d I would snatch the bag from his hands, climb onto a table, and shout so everyone could hear:<\/p>\n
\u2014Let\u2019s see what garbage the little prince from the favela brought today!<\/p>\n
Laughter erupted like fireworks. I lived for that sound. Tom\u00e1s never fought back. He didn\u2019t shout. He didn\u2019t push.<\/p>\n
He would just stand there, his eyes bright and red, silently pleading for it all to end quickly. I would take out his food\u2014sometimes a bruised banana, sometimes cold rice\u2014and throw it in the trash as if it were contaminated.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, I would go to the cafeteria and buy pizza, hamburgers, whatever I wanted, paying with my card without looking at the price.<\/p>\n
I never thought of that as cruelty. To me, it was entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I used to steal my poor classmate\u2019s lunch every day\u2026until I found out who was really rich. I was the terror of the school. That\u2019s not an… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n