Starless Night

Part I

Anko was shivering with fear. Her mother sat beside her. The teacher, oblivious to the tension brewing up between the mother and daughter, went on singing praises for Anko, about how she was an excellent student and that she shouldn't get upset over getting second position instead of her usual first in the mid terms. Anko was salivating viciously. Her eyes were about to bulge out. She could only speculate what her mother would do her once she gets home after school. Their session ended, and they walked out of the classroom. Anko's mother was a pretty woman, with straight jet black hair tied in a neat ponytail, but was rather intimidating, largely owing to her piercing gaze that looked like they could see through anyone. They reached the plaza. 

It was noisy, with all the students and their parents filling the space, browsing different books at the book fair, which is set up on every Parent Teacher Meeting at Greenfield High, the school Anko went to. Anko managed to get some words out of her mouth: "I'm sorry.. mother. I- I'll try harder next time." It was at this very moment that Anko's mother snapped. She said, not in a very loud voice, but loud enough to get the attention of people nearby her. "YOU'RE SORRY?! YOU GET SUCH NAUSEATING MARKS IN YOUR TESTS AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND SAY 'SORRY' ?!!" her voice rising in volume with every word she spoke. By the time she finished everyone's attention was fixated on the commotion going on. Anko, when scared couldn't mouth her words properly and as a result, she stuttered. "I-I-I m s-s-sorry-".

*VFX* SMACK!!

Suddenly the plaza, full with chitter chatter of the students fell completely silent. It was as if time itself had stopped, Anko felt. Her glasses were lying on the floor, quite a handsome distance from where she stood. Her cheeks developed a reddish pink tinge, which gradually developed into a fine crimson cut and blood began to ooze out of it, slowly.  Anko's Mother had slapped her daughter in the face, hard enough to send her glasses flying to the marble beneath her feet, and also giving her a clean cut with her wedding ring on Anko's cheekbone. "You better prepare yourself for when you get home today evening." She said to Anko and left towards the exit. She noticed Anko's spectacles lying on the floor, and she non-chalantly stepped on them with her heels. The glass lens cracked, and the noise of glass shattering echoed in the silent plaza.

A minute had passed, the adults around were dumbfounded as to how coldhearted and cruel a parent could be. As for the students, they got the answer to the question that had plagued them the most for all these years: 'Why is it that Anko, the student with top grades in every exam, never smiles?'. Anko, stepped forward to get her broken glasses from the floor. The impact of the hit she her mother gave her caused Anko's bangs to drop, which concealed her eyes. She picked up her glasses, put them in her bag slowly. Tears were building up in her eyes and she was trying her hardest to hold them back. Anko bit her lips. Her head down, she started walking. Where was she gonna go? She didn't know herself. She just wanted to go somewhere that was not this place, some place where she could be by herself.