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// Chapter one: In which we see a case of human cruelty 
// Story: From the Outside In 
// by DarkParable 
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	The sun shone brightly down over the world that day and the sky seemed all the bluer for it. There was nary a cloud in sight, and despite the warmth of the day, it was a pleasent one. The birds were winging, the children laughing, and the world seemed perfect. Perfect that is to everyone but the young man who was too busy having the shit beat outta him by those same laughing children. 


Crevan was his name, Crevan Daran. And Crevan was most often found at the bottom of his school’s social totem pole, and more often than not under the shoes of his fellow students simply because he was open about his interest in what the others, save the very youngest children at his school, saw as something only for babies and retards. Crevan was a Brony,and a rather devoted one. He spent hours after school, watching, rewatching, and rewatching again, reruns of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.One could almost go so far as to say that he was obsessed with the show.


Today was no different for him than any other day, right up until this particular beating. He’d been minding his own business, simply doodling a small picture of Derpy and Time Turner all snuggled up, when one of his more... Aggressive tormentors decided that he’d not done enough to ruin someone else’s day. “Hey there faggot, what cha drawing? More of that gay pony shit?” asked the older boy with a sneer that would have been more at home on a movie villain. Crevan was given no chance to answer before his notebook was snatched from his hands and he was startled from his music and art induced stupor. As he looked up, icy blue eyes a bit watery from the brightness of the sun, he caught sight of his bully ripping the note book in two. Sighing he wondered just how he’d explain this one to his mother.


He wasn’t really given much time to think either as a steel toed boot was sudden in rather forceful contact with his face. Crevan cried out in surprise and pain, his face feeling as if it had just exploded. His mouth was open when the second kick came, and it caught him right in the mouth, shattering several teeth and knocking more than a few down his throat. Choking, blinded with pain, and bleeding badly he tried to struggle to his feet.He never got there, though he was introduced to the dirt in a much more intimate fashion that he’d ever wished to be. By this point several of this cruel, sadistic, young man’s friends had gathered ‘round and were laughing their heads off at the pathetic struggles of the boy in the dirt. He was scarcely recognizable any more, his face was a ruined mess, crusted with dirt. Nose crushed flat, and teeth either broken jagged or just gone. Crevan could only whimper and cry softly, in so much pain he couldn’t see straight, let alone know just where the next blow would come from. And come they did, falling like rain upon him from seemingly everywhere. By the time they stopped Crevan could no longer move, and no longer wanted to at all. Everything hurt, simply everything. He thought he’d felt human cruelty before, but it was nothing compared to this, nothing at all.Wondering what he ever did to deserve this, he watched through his one still functioning eye as a cloud drifted over the sun, hiding it from view. He couldn’t help but feel that it was as if the sun itself couldn’t bare to see this any longer.


Crevan awoke some time later, and immediately wished he had not. His entire world consisted of naught but blinding pain. Pain that was slowly proving to be just a memory as he became more fully aware of his surroundings. He found himself in a hospital bed, both arms and legs in casts, the entire left side of his head wrapped in bandages, and an IV feeding a steady drip of something into him. Even if that mind numbing agony was gone his entire body was still one giant Crevan shaped bruise. 

He didn't have to wait long to find out just what had happened to him either, for no sooner had he began to get antsy a nurse came in to check on him. "Thank god kid... you gave everyone one hell of a scare." said the woman, who's name tag proclaimed her name to be Grace. Crevan tried to open his mouth to speak but found that impossible, and trying to do so only brought tears of pain to his eyes. Seeing his efforts Grace gently shushed him and smiled sadly. "Don't try and talk, we had to wire your jaw shut." The surprised and rather hurt look in his eyes was enough to make the woman sigh and pull up a small stool to sit at his bedside. "Just blink once for yes, and twice for no. Do you want me to tell you what all's wrong and how you got here?" He paused for a few moments before he blinked once, hesitantly. "Alright..."  she began "To begin with, there's the jaw. We'll start from the head and go down. Your left eye's fine, but there damage to the orbit. That's going to take a long time to heal. Your skull was fractured, but not too badly thankfully. You've got at least five spinal fractures, but nothing's severed so you should still have full motor function, but PT is going to be hell on earth for you. Your ribs are one and all cracked, both arms broken in about three places, your left hand was crushed completely. Honestly the only thing on you that wasn't broken much was your legs, just a few fractures here and there." 

Crevan could only stare. dumbfounded that this woman would tell him something like this in such a flat voice, as if it didn't bother her at all, He let out a long slow breath and waited for her to continue. "Your principal found you kiddo, Lucky he did. You died twice on the way here. Nearly lost you a third time on the table. Kid, you've got one hell of a guardian angel on your shoulder. Your parents should be here tomorrow, we had to send them home tonight. Sadly we can't allow over-nighters here, too small of a hospital. Seriously kid... You're lucky... All this happened a few months ago. Kind of surprised you even woke up" That broke Crevan then and there. That casual comment of time passing. Not only had he nearly been killed, no he had been... Twice, but months of his life were gone and he had a feeling that would turn into years. years spent in some hospital bed. and more in physical therapy. Crying quietly he turned his eye to the window, and through bleary eyes, watched as the moon rose, just bright enough for him to see it against all the light pollution of a city. He cried for hours, just watching the moon untill he fell asleep, and knew no more.