It was late afternoon and Kibum found himself sitting in the living room, with several of his school books spread out before him on the floor. In his lap was a notebook that he was jotting down answers, busy catching up on all his assignments that his teachers had been sending for the past two months. A soft melody filled the air and he glanced at the old clock hanging on the wall; it was three o’ clock. He sighed softly and shook his head tiredly and turned his attention back to his work knowing that any minute Tiffany was going to come storming through the door and start yelling at him for not going to school. It wasn’t that he’d skipped again because he didn’t want to do the school work (he actually found it enjoyable, distracting his mind from other things), but because he didn’t feel ready to be around people yet.

He found it rather disheartening that people his own age could be so two-faced and cold hearted. Remembering back a few months ago when he’d gone back to school after the funeral, it hadn’t been easy. Fellow students would part in the hallways when he walked by, turning their shoulders coldly and giving him snide looks as they turned to whisper to their friends false rumors. During class when the teacher was writing on the board, the students sitting in the back of the class would throw paper balls at them with words such as murderer or go kill yourself would be written. The students were mean, but the teachers and staff were just plain cruel. While his classmates resorted to spreading rumors and harmless bullying, the adults would purposely go out of their way to make Kibum’s life miserable. The lunch ladies refused to let him buy the school lunches, telling him to eat out of the trash if he was hungry. The teachers would hold him after class just to express how they felt about him, and none of it was sympathy.

Kibum highly doubt that everyone had changed too much since then, and because of what he’d done in the bathroom, he knew that they would just treat him worse than before for being weak. So no, school just wasn’t going to happen yet. But at least I’m doing the work that Tiffany brings me so I don’t fall behind. If I keep this up until I graduate I can get a scholarship and go to college and move away from this place, he thought nimbly. But even with that thought, it still didn’t change anything. He was only a sophomore, there was still two more years to go. Two long years of living in a town where everyone thought him to be a murderer and mistreated him. Stuck in an empty house all alone with no power, food, water; Kibum didn’t know if he could stay there for two more years.

Of course, he wasn’t stupid. Kibum knew that surviving alone could be done. Two weeks after coming back from the hospital and the special visitor, Kibum had a deep thought about his life. He decided that staying in the house wasn’t any good, that he would need to get a job and get one of those cheap, crappy apartments on the edge of town. It seemed like a good idea and gave him an optimistic look, but that all changed when he’d spent the week going through town applying for jobs.

“I’ll never hire someone like you.”

“This is a children’s book store! I can’t put my customers in danger by being near you!”

“You want a job at a knife shop? Why, so you can get discounts on weapons to kill your future victims?”

“I wouldn’t pay you one penny even if you did all the work in the store!”

It was futile to do anything in this town.

Sighing to himself, Kibum pushed the notebook off his lap; just thinking about all that had ruined his concentration. But it didn’t matter anyway, because all of a sudden the front door swung open, crashing into the wall, and then slammed closed. Kibum braced himself as angry footsteps stomped into the living room, revealing a very pissed off looking Tiffany.

“! I was waiting all damn day just for sixth hour to see you in biology! But were you there? No the you weren’t! I almost started crying because I was so heartbroken!” She screeched, picking up one of the couch pillows and smacking him over the head with it.

“Agh! Stop it, Tiffany! God, why are you so freaking crazy?” Kibum growled, grabbing her wrists to make her stop.<