Teachers noticed that a 9-year-old boy was digging in the ground every day and hiding something in a hole: everyone was horrified when they found out what he was burying 

For several days, the teachers had been watching the strange behavior of one of the students — 9-year-old Max — with curiosity. Every day after class, he would go to the back of the schoolyard, to a place where almost no one ever goes.

There, at the exact same spot, Max would kneel down and begin digging in the dirt with his bare hands — not caring about the dirt under his nails or the scratches on his skin. He would dig for about ten minutes, then gently place something in the hole, cover it with soil, and smooth it over like nothing had ever happened. Then he would leave.

At first, the teachers thought he was just playing. Kids can be strange, especially at that age. But Max did it with an eerie precision — every day, at the same time, in the same spot, with the same movements. It wasn’t a game.

One day, a primary school teacher couldn’t take it anymore. After the bell, she quietly followed Max, hiding behind the trees. As usual, Max went to the back of the yard, crouched down, dug up a small mound of soil, took a plastic bag out of his backpack and placed it in the hole. Then he buried it again and smoothed it out.

The teacher couldn’t hold back. She stepped out and called him:

— Max… What are you doing here?

The boy flinched. At first, he said nothing, looking at her with fear, as if he had been caught committing a crime. Then he whispered…

The teacher was horrified by what she heard  (Continued in the first comment )

— I’m hiding…

— Hiding what?

He was quiet for a moment, then pointed to the ground:

— Schoolbooks… I bring them here every day and bury them. So my dad won’t find them.

The teacher knelt beside him. He didn’t meet her eyes.

— Why don’t you want your dad to find them?

— He… he gets mean when he drinks. One time he ripped everything — the books, the notebooks. He told me not to study, but to mop the floors and cook. But I… I want to learn. I love school. And if he rips everything again, I won’t be able to.

The teacher couldn’t breathe. The boy sat there — thin, with scratched-up hands — and told her this like it was just another ordinary story, like he was saying it had rained yesterday.

She didn’t know what to say. She simply hugged Max and promised that he would never be alone again.