Alishia's life

Sometimes life isn’t fair. Sometimes it’s cruel—for no reason at all.

The sun hit Alishia’s face—a chilling warmth, like the light of a distant star, another world.

She could never reach that world, no matter how far she chased it. All she felt was the rough bench beneath her hands, her fingers clutching it as if it could hold her in place.

She hated this bench. She didn’t want to sit here every day, waiting for something that would never come.

Always the same sun. The same warmth. The same bench, day after day.

Some people didn’t know how good they had it, to see the faces of their loved ones every single day, to hear their laughter, to feel their warmth as if it were endless. They didn’t know how cold solitude could be, how living a whole life without warmth froze one to the core.

It was like an unending winter, and Alishia was frozen to the bone. She would have given anything to feel what those people felt—even for a single minute, even for a single heartbeat.

It tore her apart… that she would never have that life.

“Hey.” The familiar girl’s voice called from behind, sending a chill down Alishia’s spine. She quickly lowered her head, staring at her hands to avoid meeting the girl’s gaze. It was Ronja. She had a way of turning Alishia’s life into a living hell, seeming to take pleasure in tormenting her—no matter how much she enjoyed causing pain.

Ronja let out a sharp whistle to get Alishia’s attention. When she looked up, Ronja was already in front of her, looking down with a wide, cruel grin. Her hair framed her face, and her dark eyes glinted, locking onto Alishia and burning straight into her soul.

“Freak. Are you deaf now?”

Ronja chuckled, a sound full of amusement and malice. Then a large boy’s arm settled over Alishia’s shoulder. Another boy appeared on the other side, completing the circle.

Akio and Haruto had joined them as well. They never missed a chance to make her feel small. 

For a fleeting moment, she had hoped it wouldn’t be all of them. Especially Ronja ,her punches hurt the most. Still, she wasn’t stupid; she knew they all would be here.

“Nice bag you got there,” Haruto said playfully, slowly removing his arm from her shoulder and reaching for her bag.

Alishia instinctively tried to reach for it, but Ronja shoved her back onto the bench. They all let out quiet, mocking laughs. It cut deeper than anything, making her feel trapped, like a bird without wings. Swallowing her anger made her feel even more sick, like she was about to throw up.

“I don’t know, man,” Akio added, bending down toward her with a sneer. “Looks like she fished it out of the trash behind that filthy, parentless house. Probably the same place she gets her food from.”

“I bet she gets her clothes from there too,” another girl—Kim—appeared, laughing. She grabbed Alishia’s ripped shirt and made a disgusted noise. “I’ve seen homeless people wearing better stuff than this trash!”

Dumb idiots, Alishia thought, wishing to just disappear. Her heart hammered, but she forced herself to stay standing, even as anger burned hot in her chest. She refused to show any emotion, so they couldn’t make her feel even smaller than she already did.

,,What do you want?” she finally asked them, her voice barely steady.

Ronja looked almost too happy about it. ,,What do you think? Our money, of course.''

Before Alishia could react, Ronja grabbed her and shoved her down. She hit the hard stone, her forehead striking it painfully, and warmth spilled as blood seeped from the fresh wound.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here,” Luca said, already shaking her backpack. Its contents spilled across the ground, scattering at their feet.

“Well, look at that.”

Luca held up Alishia’s iPhone—the one she had bought secondhand, scratched and slightly broken. To anyone else, it was nothing but old junk. To her, it was her first way of getting out of the orphanage. She had spent months saving for it, collecting deposit bottles, skipping meal, even asking strangers for bus money just to keep every last yen to herself.

Luca let it slip from his fingers, his gaze fixed on her. The phone hit the ground with a dull crack.

Then he kicked her other things across the pavement—schoolbooks, clothes, scattered coins. Everything she owned was crushed and dragged through the dirt like it meant nothing.

Rage tore through Alishia, hot and sharp, tangled with helplessness. They stomped over her belongings without a second thought. To them, it was all garbage. To her, it was everything.

They didn’t care how hard she had worked—or what a thirteen-year-old had endured just to earn what they got as pocket money.

“Thats all?”  Ronja asked, disappointed. “We told you to bring at least 10 800 Yen.”

Ronja stepped on her head, making her groan painfully.
“Get off me!” Alishia spoke up angrily, struggling to free herself.

“Shut the fuck up,” Luca growled, his voice sharp and cold. He carelessly tossed the empty backpack onto the ground. Alishia’s heart raced, a mix of rage and helplessness knotting in her chest. She wanted to say something, to fight back, but fear clamped her throat shut.

“Where is our damn money?” Luca demanded again, his eyes flashing with impatience and threat. Alishia swallowed hard, too scared to answer. Every glance, every movement they made caused her to tremble.

“I bet she spent it all on that trashy phone,” Kim sneered, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “She doesn’t even have enough money to buy herself some soap.”

Alishia felt her cheeks heat up, shame and fear mixing with anger, forming a tight knot in her chest. She wanted to disappear, to vanish somewhere far away where no one could find her. But she could only look away, focusing on something else—like she always did when she wanted to be invisible.

Ronja pressed harder on her head, blood dripping down onto the ground. The pain throbbed, but worse that she could not fight back—the suffocating pressure, the feeling of being trapped. Alishia felt her body shake beneath the weight.

“So you really wanna tell me that you bought this old iPhone instead of giving the money to us like WE said?” Ronja leaned down, her foot still pressing against Alishia’s head. Every word burned like fire into her flesh. Alishia wanted to scream, to pull away, but she could only wait and hope the moment would pass faster.

,,Oh, you will pay for this'' Haruto suddenly said moving in Alishia's direction.

Just as he wanted to grab her , Ronja grabbed him violently and stopped him.

“I’m so tired of you,” Ronja hissed, sharp as broken glass, still looking down on her ,not paying any attention to Haruto. Her three lackeys froze, eyes wide, exchanging uncertain glances.

“Every. Single. Day… the same bullshit.” Ronja stepped closer, each footfall deliberate. The pressure on Alishia’s head lifted—but her gaze, oh, her gaze, was worse: cold, piercing, unrelenting, just a breath away.

“Aren’t you tired of always being the dummy?” Ronja sneered, yanking Alishia’s hair back, exposing her forehead. Alishia flinched, terror clawing through her chest, and froze, every muscle locked. Instinct screamed to run, but her body betrayed her.

“It must be exhausting,” Ronja whispered, voice low and lethal, brushing ice-cold words against Alishia’s ear.

Alishia shivered violently. Her chest tightened; each heartbeat throbbed like a drum of doom. Ronja leaned in, pressing down, a predator in control, and Alishia felt every nerve in her body scream in helpless terror. She was trapped, completely vulnerable.

“But do you know what’s worse?” Ronja’s lips curled, a shadow of a smile making her eyes glint dangerously. She calmly and gently brushed Alishia’s hair out of her face getting blood on her hands, like a predator inspecting its prey, leaning closer, her warm breath ghosting against Alishia’s frozen skin.

“Chasing after you… every single day… because you can’t even follow a simple instruction.”

Ronja’s dark eyes drilled into hers, sharp as knives. Time slowed. Alishia could feel it—each second stretched, thick and suffocating. Her lungs tightened, every nerve screaming in panic. She felt less than human… more Like her toy she breaks for her own amusement.

Cold sweat ran down her spine, her limbs trembling uncontrollably. Fear was alive, pressing, omnipresent. She didn’t want to seem weak, didn’t want to show how afraid she was, but her body betrayed her, trembling all over. One simple touch from Ronja was enough to feel like she was sufforcating, like a sharp blade in her skin just above her heart and it could be pressed down at any moment.

Then something darker flickered in Ronja’s eyes—a dangerous, playful cruelty.

“Maybe… I need to show you,” Ronja whispered, letting the words linger, slow and poisonous looking directly into Alishia's eyes, “just how bad it can really get for you.”