6 Like a Sac of Rice (1/2)

Li Xiuying slowly got up. She used the fence to support her weight whilst she steadied her feet.

Li Xiuying took one last look at the fence.

Li Xiuying had discovered this fence when she was 12 years old. Li Yu Yan was having a birthday party. It was loud and noisy and there was no where she could find peace.

Li Xiuying left her room and went to the back garden. It had rained the previous evening so no one was outside.

A voice from behind suddenly shouted ”Hey orphan, what are you doing here?”

She turned and saw Li Yu Yan, with her group of followers.

Li Yu Yan gently scolded: ”Li Na, be nice to Li Xiuying she's our cousin, she just lost her parents and she had nowhere else to go. No other family members were willing to look after her either, but because daddy is so king he decided to take her in.” Li Yu Yan was just added fuel to the fire.

After the other girls heard what Li Yu Yan said they started shouting insults at her to.

”No one wanted you.”

”You're a charity case”

”You should be grateful for having such a wonderful uncle, you orphan.”

”I bet God felt sorry that your parents had a child like you, so he took them away so they wouldn't have to suffer anymore.”

Group of girls burst into laughter: ”Ahahahah”

Li Xiuying had tears rolling down her cheeks. ”You're wrong mommy and daddy loved me the most! They would never leave me if they had a choice.”

Group of girls: ”Hahahah”

Li Xiuying turned and fled from the jeering and malice. She couldn't see where she was going due to her tears blurring her vision. The other girls ran behind her laughing and throwing more insults at her.

Some of the girls didn't think this was enough and started throwing food at her too.

Li Xiuying found herself stumbling into the rose bushes. She saw the small width of space and kept crawling. She was crawling away from the taunts and jeering. She was crawling away from the painful reminders that her parents were no longer with her. That she would have to navigate through the world on her own.

Li Xiuying tears continued to fall. She eventually saw a part of the fence that was broken. She sat in front of the gap for hours wanting to run away. She wanted to escape from it all. But in the end she thought better of it and returned covered in scratches, blood and mud to her desolate room.

...

Li Xiuying took her hoody out of her rucksack. She turned it inside out and wiped her face on it. Then she turned it out again and put it on.