The little girl felt that laughter was somehow even harder to bear than the pain.
So she stopped crying out in pain.
And she certainly didn't cry.
Her older sister was gone.
There was no one left to stand in front of her, hands on her hips, and scold the people who bullied her.
No one would carefully coax her with candy anymore.
Suddenly, she felt sad again.
But, Sister, soon she would be able to avenge her.
She would be able to do something for her sister, too.
She couldn't help the corners of her mouth lifting into a small smile.
"Ah, she's smiling?!"
"What's she smiling about?"
"What's there to laugh about?"
The boys chattered among themselves.
"Hey, candy!"
One boy spotted the candy on the ground and immediately went to pick it up.
The other boys hurried over to grab some, too.
The little girl lunged toward the candy on the ground. "That candy was given to me by Uncle!"
"You're not allowed to take it."
But her little body couldn't possibly block all the candy. The boys were still quick enough to pick up several pieces.
Seeing the boys proudly showing off the candy in their hands, she looked frantic and shouted, "Give it back!"
Her childish voice nearly cracked. "Give me back my candy!"
The boys were all startled by the little girl's sudden outburst.
The only other time she had shouted like this was when they'd said she had caused her sister's death. She'd looked especially fierce then, and after she'd scratched one of their faces, they hadn't touched that sore spot again.
This was the first time in so long that they'd heard the little girl shout like that again.
"Give it back, give it back..."
The little girl lunged at