Chapter 1

Even if you feel the world is hostile to you, giving you fear, weakness, destruction, there is still something that will raise you up from that feeling ...

This morning was different from usual. Her feelings said so.

               She doesn’t know what made her feel that way, it's just that, when she woke up from the nightmare that accompanied her every night, something strange attacked her heart. As usual, she sat first on the bed, stared flat and blankly at the blanket that covered part of her body, then closed her eyes.

               Recalling all the nightmares she had, both in denotation and connotation.

               Then, her heart beat twice as fast as usual, so she had to squeeze her chest firmly. Something is going wrong, she said it out loud in her heart. It's just that, no matter how hard she thought about what was wrong this morning, she couldn't find it.

               Then, she gave up.

               The girl with long, thin hair and shiny black color now got out of the bed. As if being dragged away, she walked towards the bathroom and closed the door with a slam. Under the shower, the girl thought again.

               What is wrong? What's different today? Will something bad happen? Will she ... die? If so, then she is looking forward to it.

               After getting her whole body wet, except for her hair because she's wearing a plastic hair covering, the girl comes out. She picked up her school uniforms that were hanging in the closet, wearing them one by one in order. First a long sleeve shirt with black and red stripes, combined with a black knee-length pleated skirt. Then, a tie with matching color with her skirt and a white socks along the calf.

               Next, she walked towards the dresser. She glanced at her pale white face. Everyone said that her pale face reminded them of the vampires in the Twilight series. But, she didn't care. All those people were doing was indeed whispering behind her back, but with a voice like that, even when she was quite far away, she could still hear them.

               Using the thinnest possible powder, she now combed her thin black hair which was getting longer and longer. Now, the girl stood up. Her appearance was neat, as usual. And then, the girl took the cellphone that was being charged, put it in her school skirt pocket, then put on her sling bag.

               After checking her room one more time, she took the key that was stuck in the lock and walked out. She closed the door then locked it. When she turned around, someone from the next room was also locking his door.

               "Ah," murmured the person in front of his room door when he finished locking the door. The tall man with glasses framing his firm and sharp eyes now nodded slightly. Greeting the girl who was standing next to him. "Morning. Sorry, I didn't have the chance to introduce myself yesterday. I'm the new occupant of this room since last night."

               The girl was silent. Staring flat and blankly at the tall, bespectacled guy. She had to admit, that guy had a very strong aura. An aura that can attract the admiration of the girls out there. However, she would not be trapped in that aura. She's not the same as the other girls. She is just a human who doesn't even deserve to live any longer.

               "Morning," the girl replied after a few seconds had passed. As if she didn't care about the guy's explanation, she then walked past him and went downstairs. Since five years ago, when she was just in the first grade of junior high school, she had lived in this mixed boarding house.

               After the pale-faced girl with a flat and empty gaze earlier leave, the guy who had just occupied the room next to her stared at the door of the girl's room. His smile grew even slightly. A smile that can't be interpreted its meaning. His eyes were smiling too. Now, the guy’s arms crossed and he is leaning one of his shoulder against the door of his own room.

               "Hmm ...," he muttered in a certain tone.

###

Black clouds have been shadowing the earth since morning.

               A strong wind blew from time to time, blowing away the brown leaves and throwing them to the earth. Inside the school grounds, the new semester ceremony had begun. Starting today, she, Khanza Syahila, occupies the highest place in the school. Third grade. Her last year in high school. But, all made no difference to this eighteen year old girl.

               Everything remains the same. Empty, empty, dark.

               Currently, Khanza is sitting in a tree in the backyard of the school. It's not that high, but if Khanza falls, it will still cause several wounds, though not fatal. Khanza was lazy to attend the ceremony because she really had nothing to listen to. Most likely, the principal will only talk about the same things.

               Khanza also has no friends. All of her classmates from first to second grade did try to approach her, but Khanza withdrew. She doesn't need friends. She doesn't need anyone. She just wants to be alone. Lock herself in her imaginary world. Far away from the real world, disappeared from the cruel world according to her.

               The wind blew again, playing with her long hair. Khanza tucked her hair behind her ear, then stared at the black clouds with her usual blank gaze. Her heart was throbbing with pain. Again, her nightmares made her afraid and sick. Her eyes started to heat up, but she held back from crying.

               Aah ... how long does she have to endure? Can't she just give up? She was tired ... she was very tired. She wants to rest. If necessary, forever.

               "Ah...."

               The murmurs shattered Khanza's reverie. The girl looked down and her eyes were rounded when she met the owner of the stern and sharp bead she had met before leaving for school. Even behind the frames of the glasses, Khanza could tell that those sharp and sharp eyes did give off a very strong aura.

               "You ..." Before Khanza could continue her sentence, her balance was shaky because she was looking down too much. The wind was blowing hard once again, making Khanza unable to defend herself and finally resigned to fall down. The girl didn't even scream, didn't close her eyes. It was as if she was looking forward to this very much. Where her body will hit the hardness of the earth and her life will end.

               What Khanza forgot now is that there was a guy who was standing right underneath, when she was sitting on the tree. The guy just smiled and held out his hands, as if he was ready to welcome Khanza. Then, Khanza's body fell on top of the guy's body and both of them lay on the ground, accompanied by leaves, with Khanza positioned on top of the guy's body.

               "Problem student, huh?" asked the bespectacled guy with a smirk.

               Khanza immediately got up and became alert. The sharpness and firmness of the guy's eyes now made him look dangerous. Also that slanted smile that seemed intimidating.

               "Why are you here?" Khanza asked back, not answering the guy's question beforehand.

               A few seconds passed. The atmosphere is quite awkward and tense. The guy rose from the ground, cleaned his black trousers and also adjusted his glasses. Then, he walked over to Khanza who was still standing straight. Khanza is now forced to look up so that her eyes can meet the eyes of the guy in front of her.

               Then, Khanza retreated quickly, like a bee sting, as the guy held out a hand. Khanza clenched her hands at her sides, staring at the person with a cold gaze, which the guy replied with a raised eyebrow.

               "Let me introduce myself." The guy cleared his throat for a while, although he still felt strange about Khanza's behavior. “Because it's outside of class hours, I don't need to be polite in front of you. I'm Kenzo Bratama. The occupants of the boarding house next to your boarding room, as well as the new teacher at this school. I teach English, as well as homeroom teacher for social class 2."

               Khanza click her tongue and grinned as she looked away. Seeing Khanza's attitude, Kenzo Bratama gave another lopsided smile and crossed his arms.

               "Looks like im your homeroom teacher, right ..." Kenzo deliberately cut off

the sentence so that he would lure Khanza to stare at him. And, Khanza did glance at him. "Khanza Syahila?"

               Just when Khanza wanted to ask, where did the new teacher and homeroom teacher and the occupant of the boarding house next door know her name, Kenzo Bratama had already pointed to the pocket of Khanza's school uniform shirt.

               It's the school uniform badge with her name written on it that makes the guy know her name.