Tiffany rushed her way home the second she was dismissed, silently cursing the campus guard in her head.

~

     Once she had finally calmed down from her hysteria she had lay down under the cotton tree, hoping to catch some shuteye and rest her sore body before classes started once more.

     She was rudely awoken from her slumber by a shout of, “Yah! Just what do you think you’re doing, skipping classes?! Why, I should have you reported to the headmaster for such reckless behavior!”

     The girl immediately shot up at the mention of the headmaster. Visits to Headmaster Im’s office nearly always ended with a call home, and Tiffany wasn’t willing to take that risk. She frantically shook her head, trying to use her eyes to communicate with the guard. The guard merely scoffed at her in annoyance.

     “What, you don’t want to see the headmaster?” Tiffany nodded slightly. “Aish, why don’t you speak?!” Tiffany let out a silent sigh, unsure of how to tell the guard she couldn’t speak. She hadn’t used her voice in years; not because she couldn’t speak, but rather because she wouldn’t speak. The only living being to have heard her voice in the past decade was her older sister, and even she had never heard a coherent sentence come from the girl’s mouth – only shouts of pain and muffled cries.

    After many failed attempts at coaxing Tiffany into speaking the guard passed her a detention slip and went on his way, warning her that he wouldn’t hesitate to send her to Headmaster Im if anything like this occurred again. Tiffany had then rushed off to her class, relieved that she had escaped that dreaded phone call yet terrified at what would happen if Michelle found out she had served a detention.

     The second classes were dismissed Tiffany rushed to the detention hall, desperately hoping to get this over with as fast as possible so that she would still have time to make it home, cook dinner and clean up the house before Michelle arrived. She winced at the thought of what she had to clean today as memories of the previous night flooded her. She clenched her eyes shut and shook her head furiously, doing her best to forget about what had happened. Ignoring the students around her she laid her head down on the old, dirtied table and waited for the hour to pass by.

~

     Tiffany cautiously entered the run-down apartment, the harsh scent of decomposing produce, alcohol and blood washing over her immediately. She sighed silently as she hurriedly rushed through the living space, relieved that Michelle was not yet home but also drea