(Xueyin's POV)
The hallway echoed with laughter — not the kind that warms your heart, but the cruel, mocking kind that sticks to your skin like cold rain.
I kept my eyes down, clutching my books tightly to my chest as I walked toward my class. Maybe if I walked fast enough, they wouldn't notice me today. Maybe I'd just disappear into the crowd.
But I was never that lucky.
"Hey, ghost girl!" a voice called out. My steps faltered.
A foot kicked my bag from behind. My books fell to the ground, pages fluttering across the floor like trapped butterflies.
Laughter followed.
"Oops, sorry. Guess you're just too clumsy," another girl sneered, stepping over my notebook.
I bent down, gathering my things, pretending their voices didn't matter. Pretending I didn't feel my heart breaking a little more every day.
They bullied me because I was quiet. Because I didn't fit into their perfect, loud, glittery world. Because I wore simple clothes and sat alone at lunch. Because I was... me.
No one helped. No teacher said anything. I was invisible to everyone except the ones who wanted to hurt me.
Sometimes, I wondered if being invisible would be better than this.
That day, the sky was gray — the kind of gray that seeps into your bones. I walked to the rooftop during lunch, hugging my sweater tightly around me as the wind whispered around my ears.
This was my favorite place. No one came up here. It was quiet. Peaceful.
Safe.
I closed my eyes and let the silence calm my thoughts. But deep down, I felt it — the cracks forming in my soul, the pressure building.
I didn't want to die. I just wanted the pain to stop.
The next morning, news spread like wildfire.
Xueyin had fallen from the school rooftop.
There were whispers. "Was it suicide?" "Did someone push her?" "She was always weird anyway."
No one from school saw the body. No photos. No funeral. Just a quiet message from the school, sent home to every student:
> "We regret to inform you that Xueyin, a student of Class 2-A, passed away due to an unfortunate accident. We request everyone to respect the family's privacy."
That was it.
She was gone.
Just like that.
Or so they thought.