Because it allowed Maya a wonderful sight from the town walls, she accepted the plank. It felt like being on top of the world. That particular spot on the wall in front of their room window became their secret spot that they could only visit in the time window before the night watchmen patrols started.

Since, the plank stood hidden beside Maya’s room wardrobe. Unfortunately, they couldn’t leave the cumbersome thing outside since it would get them immediately caught by guards patrolling the wall, or worse even, serve as an invitation for nightly fiends that may scale the walls.

Although Maya didn’t feel brave enough to climb down the wall and explore the surroundings or that stream she heard, she did make a promise to try it at some point. It seems doing mischief was the fastest way to get to Elena’s heart, so she couldn’t deny it outright.

However, it was giving her another worry. Maya remembered her promise to the Headmistress that she would alert her if Elena was ever about to stray off her path. Before, Maya had wondered what in the world could ever make students break the rules and wander outside of the walls, but now she understood that curiosity was a powerful thing.

The walls once seemed so tall and impossible to overcome, but now, as an air mage, the only scary thing was that it would mean breaching the line that symbolized safety inside and danger outside—the invisible boundary of rules. Maya never felt it as palpable as standing at the top of the walls, the very line that was set in those rules, and gazed to the other side.

The forest seemed so peaceful and serene. She couldn’t imagine all hell breaking loose if she strayed slightly beyond this point and saw it up close.

There was also trust between her and her guardian. Maya didn’t want to imagine the disappointment of the Headmistress learning about, not only Elena breaking the rules, but Maya accompanying her.

“Maya!”

Mauling over her conundrum between catering to Elena, whom she wished to become closer with, or the Headmistress, whom she respected and appreciated for many things she had done for Maya, despite Leo’s late warning, she wasn’t paying attention to the path in front of her and had bumped into a person.

“Watch out! There’s a killer on the loose!”

A hand firmly grabbed Maya’s shoulder and Pricilla was suddenly right in her face with Hailey right beside her.

Maya immediately got an adrenaline rush, as she would every time she crossed paths with those two as their harassment, snide comments and spreading of malicious rumours became a common occurrence. To make things worse, Maya glanced around herself and realized they were alone in the academy hallway. This was the worst streak of bad luck for Maya.

The newest rumours about herself, Maya overheard today, were quite vile and twisted. It concerned the death of a student. More specifically, people started whispering that Maya herself was responsible for poor Stella’s death.

To Maya and Leo it was absurd and horrifying she was said to have killed a girl she only briefly talked to on a couple of occasions, however, to other people, she was being known as an envious attention seeker who was attempting to steal her roommate’s boyfriend. It didn’t sound impossible that, for whatever reason, Maya had forced Stella to meet with her late at night only to never show up. As innocent Stella felt pressured, she ended up alone outside at night and became prey for vampires.

Suddenly, Maya felt the cold liquid trickling down her shirt and the sound of dripping echoed on the floor. Hailey had spilt her chocolate milk all over her.

“Oops,” Hailey said with a smirk, revelling in the satisfaction of her offhand act.

Soaked in the sticky liquid, seeing her white uniform shirt being ruined, Maya trembled. She’d been pushed around and endured a barrage of insults, but this was a sudden spike in aggression.

Was it not enough for them that she had completed the homework they demanded? What had she done to deserve such humiliation? The unanswered questions hung heavily in her mind as she faced the unexpected assault.

“Those damn little…” Leo helplessly gritted his teeth.

“Oh, dear. Hailey, how unfortunate. Did your hand slip from fear? Well, good thing we have a cleaning lady right in front of us. Cleaning the academy’s your job, Maya, right?”

Pricilla’s malicious words cornered Maya.

“You should get to the cleaning.”

Maya felt her cheeks stinging from tears. Staring at the two girls with hurt and confusion.

“You don’t want to? You’ll have to do it later anyway, so why not do it now before more people step in it and get hurt…”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Maya’s anguish intensified as she caught a glimpse of Adam passing nearby in the courtyard. Although he was on the outside, for a fleeting moment, it seemed as if he looked at them. Perhaps he only looked at his own reflection.

He passed through without reacting to the distressing sight. Maya’s heart sank. It was embarrassing if he saw her being bullied, but it was infinitely worse if he witnessed it and chose to ignore it. Did he believe the vile rumours, and did he no longer wish to associate with her?

The girls, deciding it was better to continue their torment away from the prying eyes of others, forcibly led Maya into a nearby broom closet.

As her only support at this moment, Leo couldn’t sit back without trying to intervene. Darting toward Pricilla and Hailey, he tried to grab them and pull them back, only for his incorporeal form to pass through matter, denying his presence.

“I can’t stand by and watch this,” Leo muttered with a growl.

Maya could only glance at Leo who was frustrated and furious at his own inability to help.

“I’m sorry, Maya. I wish I could do more,” he whimpered.

In the end, the door closed ominously behind them. The air within was stagnant, carrying a musty scent of old wood and forgotten cleaning supplies. The narrow space felt oppressive, its walls seeming to inch closer with every breath. It was dark and clammy, with the only source of light being a small dusty window set above their heads.

The confined space felt suffocating as Maya braced herself for what was to come, uncertain of how much lower her tormentors were willing to go. It was becoming apparent they did not lead her in here to get cleaning supplies.

“I must say, the shit colour does suit you,” they snickered.

“W-why… Why are you doing this!?” Maya struggled to find her voice.

“Why you ask?”

“I—I did what you wanted…” Maya tried to argue.

“Oh, did you think we wouldn’t know?”

“She must think we are stupid, or something?”

“We were so nice to you and gave you the chance to make it up to us… And what do you do? You turn around and get year rep on our ass?!”

‘Kasper? I never went to Kasper.’

Not understanding what they were talking about, Maya was further agitated by Leo’s curses directed at Kasper, blaming him for Maya’s misfortune.

“You thought you could play innocent, do our homework and then go behind our backs?! Do you think this is unfair? You deserve this!”

“Yeah! Do you like being a whore? Sucking up to everyone without choosing a side?” Pricilla grinned and pulled out her phone and pointed it at Maya. “Well, show it on camera then!”

Hailey, catching her intentions, smirked. “Take off your shirt. It’s dirty!”

Maya was suddenly grabbed and yanked around. Her yelp was accompanied by the disheartening sound of her shirt tearing and buttons scattering on the cold floor like droplets of her shattered dignity. Cruel and heartless laughter echoed in the narrow space as her tormentors revelled in her humiliation.

Pricilla was eagerly taking pictures as if wishing to preserve a memorable moment. Maya, vulnerable and defenceless against the violation of her privacy, felt the cold air against her exposed skin.

“What a childish bra. The chocolate milk suits you.”

With desperation etched across her face, Maya instinctively tried to cover herself in an attempt to shield her modesty in the face of this degrading assault. The weight of mortification pressed down on her. Bitter tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the chocolate milk that had been callously spilt over her.

It came so suddenly. Maya’s unfortunate meek personality did not allow her to take action, and before she knew it, she was isolated, humiliated, had her shirt torn and soaked in drink while Maya was still left questioning how she ended up there.

She never imagined those two girls were cruel enough to go this far. This went beyond their anger about their friend. Now they were cackling like vengeful spirits at someone’s misfortune they caused. Maya’s words may have influenced the fate of their friend, but she never revelled in her misfortune. They took it too far.

Witnessing the malicious delight Pricilla and Hailey took in another person’s suffering, Maya’s perspective shifted. She had been bitterly regretting not getting a chance to apologize to the poor girl who ended up in the slums, but the cruel fate she was now suffering was filling her with indignation. Was not wanting to deceive authority on their behalf truly worth this punishment?

The guilt that was crushing her suddenly evaporated. These girls were not seeking justice; they were indulging in cruelty for its own sake.

‘I shouldn’t feel sorry for these girls. They do not have a shrink of conscience.’

In that confined broom closet, Maya began finding a sense of reclaimed dignity within herself. Her circumstances still weren’t great, but at least she let go of the burden of guilt.

Hailey, suddenly not liking the look in Maya’s eyes, sneered.

“You will keep your mouth shut from now on, or everyone will see these,” she threatened, brandishing her phone with the damning photos.

They were right about that. Until now, all they could was put pressure on Maya’s guilt. Since their behaviour went outside of those bounds, Maya finally saw it for what it was—pure unadulterated bullying.

But now they got pictures Maya would never want to get out to hold over her. Was this it for her? Will she spend the rest of her school days as a slave to these wicked girls? There was just no solution Maya could think of to rectify the situation.

Maya quietly sobbed as Pricilla and Hailey laughed at her miserable expressions on the phone screen.

“Headmistress’s favourite whore…”

Suddenly hearing a quiet click of the door, the two girls froze, their echoing laughter dissipating.

“I thought you locked it.”

“I did.”

They whispered among themselves as the door opened and let through a figure obscured by the bright light from the outside. The air suddenly felt like it dropped in temperature.