I'm sure we've all been bullied. Even the NTs among us.
But, at some point, the bullying stopped, or, at least, should have.
For me, it kind of ended in stages. I was bullied by a variety of people throughout middle school, and finally decided at the end of it, if they wanted a fight, they could have it. If they wanted to attack me in any way, I'd fight right back.
Now, I didn't have any takers, but that was enough to get the "normal" bullies, the average joe who attacked me because I was different, to stop.
The only person who I proactively sought out and attacked, a bully who would sling insults thoughout math class in 8th grade, also stopped. I did get suspended for 3 days, but it was very much worth it.
The "special" bullies, led by one person who was particularly angry at me, persisted until the end of 10th grade. I had a class with him in 10th grade, and his followers would join in. 11th grade onward, I was free. Too bad I was just ignored then, with no friends at all.
The most frustrating part of it was that, especially in 12th grade, my thoughts had turned extremely violent, and I wanted to get back at the people who bullied me so fiercely. However, there was no getting back, since I realized that almost all of them had changed and grown up; no longer the bullies that they once were.
The ringleader who had tormented me for so many years also wasn't the same. I didn't know whether or not he had matured, but he had a degenerative condition that had put him in crutches, and there would be no satisfaction at all in attacking him, so, I just did nothing. Then, my cousin murdered my aunt. That was really the breaking point. Between that and everything else, the anger had nowhere to go, and I just shut down for the next 6 years.
I didn't gain any friends until I put an end to the shutdown, but at the least, the bullying stopped at the end of 10th grade.
By the way, if I ever have kids, I'm going to teach them one thing above all else: If you're being bullied, fight back with EQUAL force. If they taunt, taunt back. If they hit, hit back. NEVER escalate, just respond.
If they gang up on you, well... that's the time to report it.
Simple response ended the vast majority of bullying targeted against me. The rest, well, there was no way getting around that.
Also, lot of what seems like bullying is normal social behavior. In this case, response can even be a type of bonding, and you may end up friends with these people. This part, has been learned only in hindsight.
If only I learned sooner...