The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful

One

 Contains extreme bullying measures, self-harm themes and graphical depictions of violence.

Proceed at your own risk.

~*~

"Mutualism refers to the relationship between two organisms whereby each individual benefits from the activity of the other individual. When either individual is absent, the other individual experience serious negative repercussions, and may even die." The biology teacher's voice rang out loudly and clearly, as though he was a singing cicada.

The warm glow of the setting sun filtered into the classroom, casting its light on half the classroom, whilst the other half remained shrouded in darkness. Eliza sat on the boundary that divided the dark from the light. The bright sunlight caused her to squint, her long, black eyelashes offering little help in blocking the sunlight.

A shadow loomed over her. It was the form teacher. Two police officers trailed behind him.

Silence descended upon the entire classroom.

"Eliza Henderson," The form teacher stood before her, a warm smile plastered over his usually stern face. "Could you come out for a minute?"

Eliza looked towards the two police officers, her face paling slightly. She took a quick glance at the empty seat in front of her, and slowly put her mechanical pencil down. When she rose from her seat, she tugged at the skirt that had been stuck to her legs.

The gaze of the biology teacher, along with those of the entire class, followed her out of the classroom; and when their eyes could no longer see her, their ears followed her, the hair on their ears standing upright in their effort to hear what little news they could.

The form teacher patted Eliza's skinny shoulders, and attempted to comfort her, "Don't be anxious, they're just going to ask you a few questions."

One officer had an extremely stern expression on his face, whilst the other young police officer wore a gentle smile on his face.

Eliza nodded her head, and silently followed the form teacher to his office. Having taken a few steps, the form teacher suddenly turned his head back into the classroom, chiding the students who were bursting with curiosity, "Concentrate!"

Upon arriving at the form teacher's office, Eliza sat down, the cold air from the air conditioner crawling into her skin......

The form teacher looked at Eliza and asked calmly, "Eliza, you do know why these two police officers are here today, don't you?"

"I......kn......know." Eliza had a habit of stuttering despite not being anxious in the least. Although her face was terribly pale, it was because she was born with naturally pale skin.

The young police officer took sympathy on Eliza, and asked, "You know we're here because Chloe committed suicide by jumping off the school building?

Eliza nodded her head, her black eyes staring unblinkingly at him.

"You ought to know why we chose to ask you, and not anyone else, right?"

"That day I......I was...... was on clean...... clean-up duty."

"That day, Chloe, you, and two other classmates were responsible for cleaning up the classroom together. After the four of you had completed the duty of cleaning up the classroom, the two students left, leaving you and Chloe in the classroom."

Eliza nodded her head.

"You mentioned that you left before Chloe did?"

Eliza nodded her head once more.