Mi Young struggled to stand up, but as soon as she found her two feet, she tumbled down again. Tears streamed down her face as she looked down at her bruised body. She could see the damage her aunty had done, but she had given up on her appearance. No one would ever love her, so she saw no point in impressing anyone. She sat up against the wall in complete darkness, tears continued to flow as she sobbed to herself. Mi Young had no one in this world.

‘Why didn’t you just die? Why didn’t you just die? Why didn’t you just die?’ Her auntie’s harsh words repeated in her head like a broken record. *Why can’t I just die? Why didn’t I die with my parents?*

Mi Young lay down on her back as the pain continued to shoot through her body. *32, 32 this time. Aunty must have been feeling nice.* 32, the number of times her aunty had kicked her in that short amount of time. 32 bruises to take over the old ones. This number was low compared to others. Usually the number would be around 50 – 60.

Mi Young dragged herself to her room, opening the door with all her might before crawling in and closing the door. She a small torch, shining it towards her body to inspect the damage. Indeed, bruises were beginning to form all over her body. Mi Young sighed as she turned off the torch, the darkness enclosing around her once again. Within a few minutes, Mi Young fell asleep unconsciously mumbling “Please, stop, don’t hurt me”

~~~

Mi Young woke up to the sunlight shining in her eyes. *Time for school* She stood up, only to come tumbling down for the hundredth time. She could see fully in the sunlight, the bruises now clear and defined. *Mmmm, less that before. Maybe aunty is starting to become nice.*

It took all of Mi Young’s strength to stand up as she dragged her feet to her ‘wardrobe’. It wasn’t close to a wardrobe at all, the only clothes she owned was her uniform and a set of plain worn out jeans and t-shirt. The uniform was mangled beyond recognition; the pristine white material was now a murky shade of brown from being thrown onto the floor so many times. Mi Young grabbed her bag and head out of the house, withstanding the pain the whole hour it took her to get to school.

When Mi Young got to school, the gates were closed tightly. *Eh route number 2 it is then* Mi Young walked around the school border, stopping at a part of the fence which was lower than the others. She clung onto the fence, dragging herself up with all her might. The pain was unbearable and she needed to stop every now and then to relax the pain. She finally reached the other side and jumped off, landing in an awkward position and twisting her ankle in the process.

Mi Young let out a small yelp as she grabbed her ankle; it was red and swollen. She sighed as she stood up on her ‘good’ leg. She hopped as fast as she could to class, the pain was unbearable and she found herself collapsing a few times on her way there. Mi Young opened the door of the classroom quietly, trying to sneak in without the teacher noticing.

“KANG MI YOUNG! LATE!” The teacher said as he put another detention slip in front of Mi Young’s face. The class bursted into laughter as Mi Young walked in silence to her seat. One of the students dared to stick their leg out, sending Mi Young flying through the air before landing harshly on her backside. The class began laughing once again.

“Ewww, look at her clothes, doesn’t she have any hygiene?” *No, I just don’t have any money*

“Look at all those bruises, I bet she was being violent with another guy yesterday.” *No, it was my aunty*

“She’s pathetic; does she even have any pride?” *No, you took it away from me”

“Maybe her parents ditched her for a better child” *No, they died in a car accident*

Mi Young continued to answer the harsh questions in her head as the students pointed and laughed at her.

“Why is she even here? It’s not like anyone will ever like her.” A guy added as he hi fived another boy. The class laughed like he was the funniest person on earth and whispered to each other. Mi Young stood up slowly, the pain in her ankle causing her in collapse in a heap. The class laughed even louder. She dragged herself to her table, sliding up into her seat in the process. Class begun like nothing had happened, and she found herself falling asleep due to the sleepless night the day before.

Mi Young found herself with another detention slip. *Double detention today, I wonder if aunty will still be nice to me today.* After completing the double detention, she dragged her helpless body out of the classroom. Today, Mi Young decided to take a different route home, to see if this route would be any longer than the other. This decision, would only lead her to more suffering.