Torture

"Don't touch me! Go eat sh*t from the fridge if you have to!"

It was 7 in the morning, a school day. An ordinary house.

A woman slapped a little girl out the master bedroom, and slammed the door in front of the little girl's face. The little girl stood still for a moment, then quietly moved away to the kitchen. She opened the fridge, only to see there's no edible food.

She closed the fridge.

She moved to a wall, and leaned on it. She wanted to cry, but she already had no more tears to spill. She went to her room, dressed up with whatever clean clothes she had left, packed up her school bag, took whatever cash she had left, and left the house.

She went into a deli store that was around the block, picked up two packs of plain croissants and paid her dollar to the cashier, who looked at her with so much scorn and disdain. She opened one pack, bit the croissant, and left the deli store. She was hungry, but she had no appetite for anything.

She placed the other croissant pack within her school bag, and started walking towards school.

It was a long walk under a cloudy day.

She arrived at her classroom. Her desk is not there.

Some children noticed her and started snickering. Some started berating and bashing her until she was outside her own classroom. The homeroom teacher walked by and witnessed this, eyes filled with cold light. "Your desk is missing again? Don't come back until you find it. And you disturbed everyone again. Just stand outside, and don't move."

Class started without her. She stood there eating her croissant.

Lunch time.

She was hungry, but the lunch lady gave her the smallest serving possible with disdain. "Sorry, I can't give you any more than that."

She walked away from the lunch line, and was tripped by some kid, who later berated her.

She looked at the lunch lady who was far away, only to find her smiling to a little boy. "You gotta grow up nice and strong kid! Eat more!"

She turned back. Her lunch is wasted.

She directly left the school, slipping past the security guard.

She walked through a sea of dead-eyed people, who never cared about her.

She arrived and entered the house, only to have the dead-eyed man berate her. "Little b*tch, you're home this early again!? You're wasting our f*cking time and money! Your teacher f*cking called you cut class again!! I wonder why we even adopted you in the first place!!"

There were cigarette packs and smoke all over the house, as well as alcohol. Only for them, but never for her.

She went to her room, closed the door shut, and laid down on the bed, preparing to sleep.

She is used to this torture, every single day, because nobody cared.

But today, she could no longer handle it. She entered a dream.

Night, starry sky. White moon hangs high.

She and a boy sat in a boat floating upon the vast ocean.

She looked down. "You've been with me for a long time now, but you still can't come out. I'm sad."

The boy looked down too. "I'm sad too, that I can't come out for you. I'm so useless."

She looked at him and smiled. "Don't say that. You're here with me now. Look up. The sky is so pretty!"

The boy turned around and saw the vast, beautiful, starry sky, instantly entranced.

She looked at the boy's back, calmly smiled.

"I'll tell you a small story, okay? A little kitten was walking down the streets. It was… really injured and hurt. It was punched and bitten by cats and dogs. People kicked and walked away from it. Nobody wanted to help it, until someone gave his hand. That kitten looked so happy, but it died… That person who gave his hand at that moment cried. He didn't know, the world was that cruel..."

She silently teared up, and started crying. She had to silently hold it, so he wouldn't know.

She looked up, and looked at the boy's back again, smiling. "Thank you so much, Sen, for being with me. Thank you."

She jumped off the boat, and plunged into the sea.

The waters crushed her tiny body, depriving her will to live.

...

Pain…

She had never felt this much pain before, under the waters. However, she welcomed it.

She didn't want Sen to know, how much she was suffering, because her body could not absorb an Artificial Insignia.

The waters had finally consumed her. Her spirit is gone to another world.

She was only six.