Chapter 46: Summer Is Gone

I turned to look. The first to hatch from the shell wasn’t a chicken, but a hand bone — a white hand bone. It stretched straight toward the sky, and then —

The hand bone collapsed, falling to the ground, but strangely, the white bone on the ground began to grow, coiling into a bone nest.

It was a nest made of dozens of hand bones. Beneath the nest, several arms grew, lifting the nest and slowly crawling forward.

“Hungry… so hungry…”

“Heehee…”

“Wuwu… don’t eat me… I’m… I’m sorry…”

Sharp giggles and wails emanated from within the eggshells, finally breaking through amidst the many repeated chants.

The eggshells melted, turning into pieces of white bone. Finally, a curled-up skeleton with its arms crossed over its knees formed on the nest. “Hungry… sacred fetus… eat it… heehee…”

It raised its head, suddenly locking eyes with me, opening its hollow white bone jaw.

I was so scared that I immediately shrank into Lu Xiu’s embrace.

‘Don’t look at me.’

‘Don’t look at me.’

“No… we have to find a place to hide!”

Lu Xiu gave up on breaking through and instead ran toward the teaching building behind us while holding me.

I closed my eyes, covered my ears, and curled up in Lu Xiu’s embrace, trying to find a sliver of peace and warmth.

*Kaka*

*Tada*

*Bang*

Finally, the sound of a door closing rang out. The world fell into silence.

In my ears, there was only Lu Xiu’s heartbeat and my own faint breathing.

After listening like that for a while, I slowly opened my eyes.

‘It’s so dark…’

‘I can’t see anything…’

‘No… I’m so scared…’

I grabbed Lu Xiu’s clothes, but I couldn’t see him.

“Lu Xiu… Lu Xiu…” I called out softly, wanting to confirm his existence.

“Shh.”

I stopped talking, but I was still so scared…

I was so scared because I couldn’t see anything…

‘No… don’t hurt me…’

【’I didn’t… I didn’t…’】

【’It was her! She’s the one who broke the vase!’】

‘I didn’t break the vase…’

‘I really didn’t…’

“I didn’t… it wasn’t me…” I grit my teeth hard, but warm tears streamed out uncontrollably, soaking Lu Xiu’s clothes.

It was that silent space again.

Darkness, cold, and pain…

“Wuwu… so hungry… sorry…”

Outside, from far to near, came that mournful, ghostly howl.

It pressed closer step by step until it arrived nearby. Finally, it stopped at the door.

“It’s Suisui’s fault… Suisui, Suisui — “

‘No, don’t call me…’

‘I’m not Suisui…’

“Suisui… where are you? Are you hungry? Come and eat me…”

“Heeheehee!”

Just then, the lock on the door suddenly made a sound —

*Click*

“Reflect on yourself here! I’ll let you out when you know what you did wrong!”

“Hello? President Wang? Ah… you mean your child? Look at me, I almost forgot. I’ll be there right away, don’t worry — “

The sound of the teacher’s high heels gradually faded away down the hallway, leaving me with only this pitch-black confinement room and that small window that didn’t let in a single ray of light.

“Teacher… I didn’t… it wasn’t me…”

I pounded on the thick door, but the only response was a dull echo.

No one heard my cries.

No one… cared about me.

“It wasn’t me… I didn’t break the vase…”

But no matter how I tried to clear my name, no matter how I argued, people’s fingers always pointed at me.

“It’s her! It’s her! I saw her break the vase with my own eyes.”

“That’s right, that’s right, I saw it too!”

“She never talks, and she doesn’t get along with anyone else. She just wants to frame someone else.”

Shoving, silence, and accusations.

Finally, the tall figure standing before me spoke, “So? You say it wasn’t you, then who was it? Everyone says it was you. Could it be that something is wrong with all of their eyes?”

“Are you going to keep making excuses?”

Yes… no one, no one spoke up for me.

The silent ones didn’t dare to step forward because the next gun was searching for prey in the darkness.

The framers cast off their blame, twisting the facts and welding themselves to the gun barrel as the next bullet to be fired.

And the hunter enjoyed the hunt, enjoying the frantic pleasure of holding the butcher’s knife.

And I was the prey.

“Suisui, do you like this new backpack?”

“I love it!”

“Then you must be a good student, okay? Be obedient.”

“Mhm! Suisui will be obedient!”

‘Mother, I was obedient.’

‘But why did no one like me?’

‘Was I… was I really the one who was wrong?’

I held my knees and buried my face deep inside, shrinking into a tiny ball in the corner by the door.

***

Time ticked away past 12:00 PM.

The blazing sun, the afterglow, and the sunset.

The world performed its brilliance on the window outside, but it had nothing to do with me.

*Gurgle — *

My stomach was hungry.

*Tick, tock — *

The pendulum in the confinement room ticked away.

Outside the window, the summer cicadas shrieked, howling and suffering, as if trying to scream out the thirst and anxiety of the entire summer.

One cry after another.

*Ring — !*

The bell woke me from my confusion.

What time was it?

I didn’t know.

But I was so hungry and so cold.

I didn’t want to be locked in here anymore.

I wanted to get out.

‘It’s so dark here, I’m so scared…’

‘Sorry, Teacher, I know I was wrong. Can you please let Suisui out…’

‘I won’t do it again.’

‘Teacher, I was wrong…’

I wanted to speak, but I had no strength.

My stomach hurt so much…

‘Mother… Suisui misses you so much…’

“Hahaha! Bye-bye, see you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow!”

Outside were the happy farewells of my classmates.

They were running toward their warm homes, toward hot meals.

I bit my lip hard and used all my strength to pound on the iron door.

*Tada — tada — *

It was pitifully weak.

No one heard it.

No matter how much I pounded.

I was trapped here, trapped in this small, pitch-black box.

Forgotten by the world.

*Shree — shree — *

The sound of cicadas grew louder, yet they seemed further away, as if coming from another world.

I wanted to breathe, but it was so stifling.

Finally, I couldn’t hold on any longer. My body went limp, and I collapsed onto the floor.

The ground was so cold.

So much dust.

I couldn’t see anything.

Only the small window of the confinement room threw down a small, framed patch of light.

It didn’t light up the room; it didn’t light up anything at all.

I crawled toward it, reaching out a hand, wanting to grab that little bit of light.

But when I looked up, I saw the small, unripened fruit hanging on the branch.

*Shree — shree — *

“Suisui, do you want to eat an apple?”

“An apple? What’s that?”

“It’s this red fruit. Mother knows you like it, so I bought it specifically for you.”

“Yay, yay! I want to eat it, heehee.”

“Then it’s a deal. As long as Suisui is obedient, Mother will buy an apple for you every day, okay?”

“Okay.”

‘Apple…’

‘Mother, I’m so hungry. I want to eat an apple.’

*Shree — *

“Hahaha — Mother, when Suisui grows up, she’s going to be a great chef! I’ll make apple pie for Mother every day!”

“Really? Then our Suisui will be the best chef in the whole world!”

“Heehee!”

*Shree — *

‘Mother.’

‘Suisui… Suisui really isn’t a bad kid…’

*Shree — ah — *

The cicadas used up their lives to let out that last sharp cry.

All the pain, all the hunger, and all the grievances and longing,

Along with that defense that never had the chance to be spoken, and the promise of that red apple,

Were forever, and ever, frozen in —

That brilliant midsummer that would never come again.