Mom… they… in the schoolyard… they pushed me… hit my head against the wall… and then hit me again… I… didn’t want you to get mad… I didn’t want to cause problems…

He closed his eyes again, as if ashamed of his own pain.

The mother sat completely still as a cold fury slowly rose within her — not at her son, but at those who had done this to him, and at a system where a child is afraid to speak up, just to “not cause trouble.”

She called an ambulance, then the school, then the parents of the boys responsible. And for the first time in many years, her voice was icy, firm, and unshakeable.