Erika, a sixteen-year-old from Cagliari, from bully victim to writer

Bullied from first grade to high school, forced to drop out, offended and isolated by the indifference of teachers and professors, Erika Orrù finds her revenge in writing. And now she smiles, from the back cover of her first book.

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bullying at school

Cornered from the start. From her first day of school, in first grade, Erika Orrù, a sixteen-year-old girl from Quartu Sant'Elena, in the Cagliari metropolitan area, had to deal with bullying firsthand. To the point of giving up, deciding not to go to school anymore. 

ALSO READ: One in two young people in Italy experiences bullying. But eight out of ten kids hurl insults online.

BULLYING AT SCHOOL

Targeted since the first day of elementary school, with phrases that, when uttered by boys and girls, send shivers down your spine. “Kill yourself,” “You’re a monster,” in a vortex of wickedness, suffering, and pain that, at just 6 years old, you can’t explain.
Good at school, kind, questions to her mother about the reasons for that hell lived in the indifference of teachers, first, and then teachers,

They pull her hair, isolate her, and don't play with her: Erika seems to have become, in the minds of many little monsters, a walking target. Things get worse in middle school, and then become unbearable during adolescence, in her first year of high school.

A girl with no worries, reserved, thoughtful, a little shy, who loves attending classes and studying, perhaps that's why they decided to target her. Which leads her, adding anger and frustration to the pain, to drop out of school. 

A defeat for Erika, who shuts herself away at home, eats little, and when she doesn't eat, suffers from panic attacks, and doesn't speak to anyone. Her world is entirely in silence, with only one friend acting as a parachute. And lots of books, reading, the Internet. Online, in fact, Erika stumbles upon a community of amateur readers and writers: there, she begins to pour her anger, her pain, her desperation into short stories. The series features two girls, Giada and Marika, who endure the same hell Erika has just gone through. Bullied, mocked, and ridiculed. But the outcome is tragic for one of them: Marika can't cope and ultimately commits suicide. Giada, however, survives, transforming her fear into courage.

TO KNOW MORE: How to defend yourself from cyberbullying. The first thing is not to hide the violence that occurs online.

HOW TO FIGHT BULLYING

Almost an autobiography, in short, where the pen, writing, and imagination become a lifeline. The short stories take shape, and the community pours in praise and compliments, as well as an idea—unthinkable for Erika, who can't even afford to go out for pizza—to publish a novel.
So, in her bedroom, she thinks of a title that could describe a story similar to hers, but without ever explicitly talking about bullying.She searches for a story that can express everything she's got inside, in every nuance, and begins to write the novel. It takes her a year to complete it, before sending it to various publishing houses, supported by her virtual friends in the community. This is how “ was born And they all lived damned unhappily.“, the story of a descent into pain and a rebirth. The protagonist is Aurora, a girl whose love is unrequited and whose heart is broken. And when Erika, one afternoon, receives a call from a publishing house interested in publishing her book, it all comes to fruition. Just like the plot of a novel with a happy ending.

Today, the book is in the catalogs, and Erika, now eighteen, has made new friends, talks more, and smiles from the back cover of her book. Her second book, a somewhat turbulent love story, has been published, and she's already thinking about her third and fourth. With clear ideas, a well-established career, and the desire to make up for lost time.

(Featured image from Rivista Donna // Photocredits Women's Magazine)

STORIES OF REDEMPTION:

 

 

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