Cao Jiajia wandered outside aimlessly, like a lost soul.
She didn't start trudging home until the sky was completely dark.
Pedestrians hurried along the road as the streetlights switched on one by one.
She kept her head down, her fingers clutching her backpack strap tightly.
Her home was like a battlefield these days.
Her parents started fighting the moment they saw each other. No one cared if she was there, and no one asked how she was doing.
The dining table was piled high with unwashed dishes, and wrinkled clothes were tossed on the sofa.
Every time they finished arguing, something else in the house would be broken.
What was worse, the school she attended was awful, and no one cared how badly her grades were slipping.
The teachers didn't even glance at her during roll call.
The classmates around her changed one after another.
No one wanted to sit next to her because she always carried an air of silence and coldness.
