'The desperation of humans has no end.'
'They will cling to anything just to prove they once existed in this world.'
The thought drifted through my mind as I sat through history class. Ancient paintings and worn pieces of art covered the walls, each one carefully displayed. A few students were busy scribbling notes, their eyes full of focus, as if these things truly mattered.
I leaned back slightly, glancing at the frames again.
'Most of these are probably fake.'
There was no way a private school owned by some politician could afford real pieces like these. Still...
'They're all different, every single one. But they share one thing.'
My gaze lingered on a faded painting in the corner. 'They keep the artist alive.'
People always said it like it was some kind of truth carved into stone.
'The day you're forgotten that's the day you truly die.'
Class ended, and I stepped out into the hallway. Noise hit me instantly—students chatting, laughing, snapping pictures, recording videos.
I exhaled quietly and walked past them without slowing down.
'As for me... I'm just a girl without a history.'
My steps echoed softly against the floor.
'My parents didn't leave anything behind that says who they were.'
A faint bitterness crept in.
'If it weren't for the law that sends abandoned infants to orphanages. I probably would've died before I even learned how to speak.'
The thought didn't sting anymore. It was just there. I pushed open the bathroom door and stepped inside. Surprisingly it was empty.
For a moment, I just stood there, staring at my reflection in the mirror.
'I hate this face.'
My pitch-black hair clung slightly to my cheeks, and those unnatural red eyes stared right back at me.
They were always the first thing people noticed. And the only thing they needed.
Suddenly a memory pushed its way into my mind. I was still a child. A few boys had walked up to me while I was standing alone. At first, they didn't say anything. They just stared. Their eyes stayed fixed on mine. Then one of them pointed.
"Hey look at her eyes."
Another boy leaned closer, his voice dropping into a whisper that wasn't quiet enough. "They're red."
"She's a demon!" one of them suddenly shouted, stepping back.
"Yeah, look at her! She's so scary!" another added, his face twisting with fear.
"Let's run, or she'll eat us!"
They laughed, but their feet had already started moving, backing away from me.
I didn't move. I just stood there, watching them leave. Without noticing, a tear slowly gathered at the corner of my eye, blurring my vision. I didn't even understand why it hurt so much. I just stood there frozen.
"Azrea? What happened?"
A voice broke through, and a teacher hurried over. She knelt in front of me, her brows pulling together before she gently lifted me into her arms.
I grabbed onto her sleeve tightly, my fingers curling into the fabric.
"T-They said..." My voice shook, catching in my throat. "They said I'm a demon, that my eyes are scary."
The words came out messy, breaking between breaths, but I forced them out anyway. For a moment, she didn't say anything.
Then she sighed. It was quiet and soft. But I heard it clearly.
"Well..." she murmured under her breath, her voice low and almost hesitant. "They're not wrong are they?"
Everything inside me went still. My fingers loosened their grip on her clothes. I looked up at her, but no words came out.
My mouth opened slightly, but nothing followed. I couldn't say anything.
'Devil's child.'
Even now, people still believed in that kind of nonsense. I turned on the tap and splashed water onto my face, not caring as my hair got soaked along with it. Droplets slid down my skin, cold and grounding.
After a few seconds, I shut the water off and wiped my hands carelessly against my skirt before walking out.
'I should be grateful.'
The orphanage had sent me to this school. A private one, no less.
'But what's the point?'
My grip tightened slightly as I walked.
'There's no one here I can call family.'
'Even if I tried, they wouldn't accept me the same way.'
It was always like this. Always the same ending.
'I'm just stuck in a loop of being rejected.'
'That's what I am, after all... a rejected child.'
As I turned the corner, someone familiar came into view. Aliz Uruhi. Top of the class. Probably the future top student of the entire school if things stayed the same.
She stood out effortlessly—soft pink hair, perfectly dyed, and those warm brown eyes that drew people in without trying.
Beautiful and noticeable. Everything I wasn't. But I didn't care. I raised my voice, cutting through the noise around us.
"Hey, Aliz."
She stopped mid-step. Slowly, she turned toward me, confusion flickering across her face.
Then she recognized me. Her expression stiffened. Her head lowered, and fear settled into her features.
I walked straight up to her and stopped right in front of her. Up close, it was even clearer—her shoulders trembling, her breathing uneven.
Everyone reacted like this when I'm around them.
"Give me your history notebook. I haven't finished mine yet."
My voice came out low and cold, leaving no space for argument. She hesitated, lifting her head slightly she spoke with a shaking voice.
"O-oh, A-Azrea... I don't have-"
Before she could finish, I raised my hand and rested it lightly on her shoulder. She froze. Her eyes widened, fear deepening instantly.
'It's not that hard. Just say no.'
'Tell me you won't give it or you will go complain to a teacher.'
But she didn't. Her hand slowly moved into her bag, fingers fumbling as she pulled out a notebook with a green cover.
She held it out toward me, her arm shaking. I let out a quiet sigh, snatched it from her hand without hesitation, and turned away.
I headed toward the stairs, flipping the notebook once in my hand.
'Your choices always have consequences.'
'If you don't fight back then nothing changes.'
'You'll stay the same forever.'
A faint, bitter thought settled in.
'That's something I learned the hard way.'
I reached the classroom door, slid it open, and stepped inside. And same as always. No one looked at me. Conversations carried on like I wasn't even there.
I didn't mind because this was better. I walked toward my seat, but the moment I got close, I stopped.
The surface of my desk was scratched up badly, like someone had dragged something sharp across it again and again. Right in the middle, carved deep enough to stand out clearly, were the words—
"Azrea Deville, you suck. Go die."
I stared at it in silence. 'So it's her.'
I recognized the handwriting instantly. Slowly, I turned my head. There she was. A girl with dyed red hair and brown eyes, sitting comfortably with a few others, laughing and talking.
'Sakira, so you finally gave up too, huh?'
She used to approach me. Again and again. Talking and smiling, trying to get close. She actually believed something could change in me.
She said she wanted to help me. Said she could make me a better person. A quiet scoff rose in my chest.
'Too bad for you. I'm already too twisted.'
'There's no fixing something like this anymore.'
My hand clenched into a fist at my side. Maybe it was time. If I let this slide, others would follow.
'I should deal with it properly.'
I turned my body toward her, ready to step forward—At that exact moment, the classroom door slid open again.
Aliz walked in. Her head was slightly lowered, her expression dull. I barely spared her a glance before stepping forward.
Then suddenly—the floor lit up. A strange pattern spread beneath our feet, lines twisting and connecting, forming something I couldn't understand.
My eyes widened. Around me, the chatter died instantly. Everyone looked down, confusion spreading across their faces.
"What the—?"
"What the hell is this?!"
Before anyone could react—a sharp sound tore through the air. It was too quick. Like something slicing through everything at once.
My vision suddenly dropped. Lower and lower. The world tilted strangely until all I could see was the floor right in front of me.
Then—Thud. Thud. Thud.
Heavy sounds echoed one after another.
'What... just happened?'
I couldn't feel anything. Not my arms. Not my legs. A deep red spread across my vision. My sight trembled as I tried to move, to understand—and then I saw it.
My body was standing there. Headless. Blood was spraying out wildly, staining everything around it.
Not just mine. All around me, bodies collapsed the same way. Headless. The entire classroom turned into a nightmare of falling corpses and splashing blood.
'Wh—what the h—'
The thought never finished. And everything went dark.