03

"Hey, you don't need to lock the door. If you keep it locked, you'll get caught by the school security, and most likely we'll get caught," Tiara said to Echo.

"Okay."

And Claia was finally left alone.

The girl winced in pain a few times and started crying again. The sound of her crying was quite loud.

While gathering strength and determination to get up, Claia first looked at the wounds on her body, then she used her tie to wipe away the blood.

After that Claia tried to stand up. This pain made it difficult for her to maintain her balance and the sound of her crying became increasingly ragged. Even so, she tried desperately to keep walking.

"Why..."

"Why me?"

Finally her feet made it out of the dark, dirty, cramped, and cigarette-smelling school warehouse. Claia looked around trying to find someone else to ask for help.

She couldn't find anyone. Besides, would the people she found be willing to help her voluntarily? In this school, she was completely alone.

Deep in her heart, Claia already had a plan.

Claia finally arrived at the edge of the field which was still very crowded. It seemed that children from several sports clubs were gathering.

Claia immediately became the center of attention. Including Ren. Ren narrowed his eyes when he saw Claia. Claia seemed to be walking with a limp and there was something different about her body. Her clothes also looked messy.

One of Ren's friends approached the boy, put his arm around his shoulders, and said in a half-whisper while occasionally glancing at Claia.

"Did you hear the news? That Tiara and the others hurt him again. Poor thing, huh? She's really limping."

Ren had heard a lot of gossip about Claia. No matter how tightly Tiara and her gang hid their behavior, someone would still find out.

Even so, it seemed like they all didn't realize it. Or maybe they didn't care, they continued to harass Claia.

Ren hoped that someone would help the girl or report Tiara and her friends' cruel behavior to the teacher. But no one seems to have done so.

Ren went back to hanging out with his friends and ignored Claia.

On the other hand, Claia didn't want to look at Ren any longer. Her heart gradually darkened as she walked towards home. She didn't care about anything anymore.

Arriving at the parking lot, Claia again had to stare at her broken bike. She was sure that was what Tiara and her friend were doing. Finally, she decided to go home on foot without carrying the fragments of her bike.

After about ten minutes Claia finally arrived home. As soon as Claia entered the house, she immediately found her mother, Inka, slicing onions for cooking.

"Claia, you're back-"

"Honey!" Claia's mother shouted in panic when she saw Claia's condition. She ran to the back and called her husband.

Claia looked so calm. Her eyes no longer shed tears. Her expression was barely visible.

She looked like a cold, flat girl. She took off the shoes held in her right hand. She also threw her bag carelessly. After carrying nothing else, Claia went into her room and locked the door.

Inka immediately returned to the front with her husband.  They immediately moved to the front of her son's room.

"Claia! Are you in there? Open the door now! How come it's locked?" Inka snapped.

Inka tried to open the door to her daughter's room, but it didn't work. She didn't understand why it was locked. Her daughter should have been crying, asking to be treated, and telling her about what happened to her.

"Claia! Open the door!" It was her father's turn to shout.

"Claia, why is your body like this? Open the door, child. Mama wants to see. Tell me what happened to you. Open the door!" Inka shouted.

"I know it wasn't an accident. You didn't take your bike. What happened to you, Claia?" Inka shouted. She began to cry.

Inside the room, Claia was still lying on the bed. She stared blankly at the floor. She didn't even listen to her parents' screams. Then she slowly approached the nightstand and opened her desk drawer.  She took some medicine or maybe...poison.

One of Tiara's friends, a senior, gave this poison to Claia saying, "You might need this."

His tone was ominous.

"It's poison, maybe you want to kill yourself," he said and smiled slyly.

Claia should have thrown it away. She felt a deep resentment when the poison was given to her. She was furious.

Yet, it was strange that she kept it when she thought of throwing it away. Because, on the other hand, she also often thought about killing herself.

"I don't need to go this far," Claia thought.

Her hands trembled slightly. Then with a quick movement, she drank the poison in her hand.

After drinking it, Claia seemed to realize what she was doing. Her eyes glazed over again and she began to lie down and pull up the blanket. She cried even harder.

"Why? Why?" Claia sobbed.

Meanwhile, at the front of the room, Claia's father was trying to break down the door to his daughter's room because they didn't have the duplicate key.

Meanwhile, Inka continued to scream for Claia. Claia continued to cry, her cries getting louder. She no longer cared about the cuts and bruises on her body. She was in pain. Her wounds were untreated.

On the other hand, Claia was very sad thinking that this was most likely her separation from her parents. She also regretted having taken the poison.

However, she also thought of the cruelty Tiara and her friends had inflicted on her. She couldn't fight them, couldn't make them stop hurting her, and she couldn't do anything no matter how often she tried her best in the end she couldn't take it anymore and gave up.

Claia just wanted to live a quiet life like when she was a child, she just wanted to be free, she didn't want to be humiliated, she didn't want her photos shared, and she wanted to live longer.

"Claia! Please open the door, not like this Claia!"

As the pain all over her body began, Claia began to lose consciousness due to the dizziness in her head.

"Mama, Papa, forgive me. Claia is so stupid. Claia should have been braver."