The house no longer felt like a home.
It felt like a memory that refused to leave.
Lin Xia sat on the edge of her bed, still in her school uniform, her damp hair clinging to her neck. The clock ticked loudly on the wall, each second stretching longer than the last.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
She hadn’t moved in hours.
Not since the ambulance left.
Not since the neighbors stopped whispering outside her door.
Not since they covered her mother’s body.
Her hands rested on her lap, unmoving. Her eyes were dry—too dry.
It was strange.
She thought she would cry forever.
But now… there was nothing.
Just silence.
A hollow, endless silence.
Her gaze slowly shifted to the table across the room.
The letter was still there.
Folded.
Waiting.
She didn’t want to read it again.
But she couldn’t ignore it either.
After a long moment, she stood up.
Each step felt distant, like she wasn’t fully inside her own body.
She picked it up.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she unfolded it.
Xia… I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.
Her grip tightened.
I tried my best, but the world is not kind to people like us.
Her breathing slowed.
Don’t blame yourself. None of this is your fault.
Her eyes darkened.
Not her fault?
Then whose?
Images flashed through her mind—
Zhao Meilin’s smile.
The laughter.
The slap.
The humiliation.
Her mother’s worried eyes.
The unpaid bills.
The quiet suffering.
Her fingers crumpled the paper slightly.
Live well, Xia. Don’t let this world change you.
A pause.
Then—
A quiet, bitter laugh escaped her lips.
“Too late…”
Her voice barely rose above a whisper.
Because the world had already changed her.
It had carved something new inside her.
Something sharp.
Something patient.
Something that didn’t forgive.
She folded the letter carefully this time.
Not gently.
But deliberately.
Like sealing away the last piece of who she used to be.
The next morning came too quickly.
Sunlight crept into the room, soft and indifferent.
Lin Xia stood in front of the mirror.
Her reflection stared back at her.
Same face.
Same eyes.
But not the same person.
She reached up and brushed her hair back slowly.
“If I stay like this…” she murmured, “I’ll disappear.”
Her voice was steady.
Clear.
Resolved.
“No one remembers the weak.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
“Then I won’t be weak anymore.”
She turned away from the mirror.
Her decision had already been made.
School.
That place again.
The place where everything started.
And where everything would end.
When Lin Xia stepped through the school gates, no one noticed anything different.
Why would they?
She was still invisible.
Still insignificant.
Still the same girl they ignored yesterday.
But that was fine.
In fact—
That was perfect.
Because this time…
She wasn’t here to survive.
She was here to destroy.
And no one—
Not even Zhao Meilin—
Saw it coming.
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