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墨書 Inktalez
By the time school ended in the afternoon, I unconsciously glanced at that empty seat again, but the person still hadn’t arrived.
Maybe they were sick, I thought to myself. Being sick didn’t seem too bad; if they had a fever, they could just sleep it off and stay home from school without having to turn in any assignments. Unfortunately, even if I were sick, there was no one at home who could write me a leave note...
The next day in class, I made a point to pay attention, and that seat remained empty.
It was quite rare for someone to miss two consecutive days of school during this tense senior year. I wondered if our busy English teacher would call attendance and reveal who hadn’t shown up.
To my surprise, throughout the morning classes, the teachers seemed to have coordinated their efforts, as none of them called out names. They acted as if they didn’t even see the vacant spot.
Looking at the empty seat made an inexplicable sense of unease swell within me, like a dark cloud looming overhead, with an eerie atmosphere spreading around us.
“Xiao Liang, have you noticed that Lingzi hasn’t been here for two days?” On the way home after school, A Zhao suddenly asked me in a mysterious tone.
“Who? Who hasn’t come?” I looked at A Zhao in confusion and stopped walking.
“Lingzi! Lingzi!” A Zhao stared at me with a strange expression and repeated it again.
“What are you saying… I can’t hear you.” I gazed at A Zhao’s moving lips in bewilderment, completely puzzled.
It was so strange; why couldn’t I suddenly hear what A Zhao was saying? It wasn’t that I couldn’t hear anything at all, but whenever A Zhao mentioned that name, it felt as if someone had suddenly covered my ears, leaving me in silence.
What was that name? From the context of the sentence, it must be a person’s name.
“A Zhao, can you speak a little louder?” A Zhao's face turned bright red as he gathered all his strength and shouted, word by word, “Lingzi... Lingzi... Lingzi...”
But I still couldn't hear him—not a single word. This was the first time I had ever failed to hear A Zhao speak.
However, watching the shape of A Zhao's mouth as he called out repeatedly, I seemed to grasp the meaning of that word.
Lingzi—the girl that A Zhao and I had once both loved, pursued together, and then both faced rejection from.
Why couldn't I hear that name? My connection with her was only a painful memory.
Could it be that she held some special significance for me? Fear slithered up my spine like a venomous snake, and a cold sweat broke out on my back.
“Ling... zi...” In my panic, I couldn't even utter that word. The more I tried, the tighter my heart felt as if it were being squeezed, pounding rapidly in my chest—thumping painfully.
“Xiao Liang, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” A Zhao stepped forward with concern etched on his face.
“I... I'm fine. I’ll head home first.” I abruptly left A Zhao behind and ran towards home, my footsteps frantic, stirring up a gust of wind.
Once home, I slammed the door shut and pressed my back against it, cautiously peeking through the crack to confirm that A Zhao hadn’t followed. Yet my heart still raced violently—thump, thump, thump—as if it might leap out of my throat at any moment.
I occasionally wanted to stop and eavesdrop on conversations around me but found that no one cared about her disappearance. The girls were always chatting about celebrity gossip or the latest idol dramas.
There was still no news about Lingzi, as if she had vanished into thin air.
Not only could I not hear the word "Lingzi," but as time went on, I found myself unable to hear even entire sentences related to her.
A Zhao seemed to have completely given up on discussing anything about her with me.
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