'Very hard decision to make': Tired of being bullied, teen Alex Mercer leaves N.L.

Alex Mercer says he was bullied relentlessly as a Grade 12 student at Carbonear Collegiate in N.L. The harassment was enough to keep him from going to school.

He'll no longer have to face those people. He's moved to Fort McMurray, Alta., away from what he says was constant abuse.

"I just got up and moved because I just didn't want to deal with the people down there," said Mercer.

"It was a very hard decision to make because I do have my select few friends back home. And I really do miss them."

The realities of Mercer's school life became public when his mother shared a video of her son being verbally harassed on social media. Speaking to CBC's On The Go in September, Mercer claimed that the school administration was failing to protect him.

I just want to get on my feet and just start living a life.- Alex Mercer

"I no longer felt safe in the school. I wasn't allowed anywhere so I decided I wasn't going to go back. If I wanted to go outside, I had to go out by the road because that was a safe spot for me," he said.

Mercer says things are improving now.

"Fort Mac is very accepting.... More people do get along, and it's just less fighting and more talking things through."

Leaving things behind

He isleaving some pieces of his life behind, but Mercer says he has friends in Fort McMurray, and althoughhe's yet to return to high school, he's settled into a job.

"I'm starting to get on the go again I just want to get on my feet and just start living a life."

When asked what he would say tohis hometown bullies, Mercer has only two words.

"Adios, amigos."

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