Unable to Prove It
"I won't bring up the shadow in front of other people again..."
Child's Mom frowned slightly.
"You promised Mom and Dad."
"Did you forget so soon?"
The mushroom-haired little girl froze.
Ah...
A few seconds later, the mushroom-haired little girl shook her head.
"I didn't forget."
The mushroom-haired little girl looked a little aggrieved.
"I didn't say anything."
She hadn't told anyone else about the shadow.
"It was them..."
"They said I was lying..."
What happened at the time had caught the mushroom-haired little girl completely off guard, leaving her at a loss.
She remembered her promise to Mom and Dad.
But...
She hadn't been the one to bring up the shadow...
The others had brought it up first.
She...
What was she supposed to do?
Child's Mom furrowed her brows.
"They..."
"Were they your classmates?"
"..."
The mushroom-haired little girl didn't say anything.
She only nodded.
Child's Mom and Child's Dad looked at each other.
"What did they say?"
Child's Mom continued asking.
"They said you..."
Child's Mom recalled what the girl had just said.
"Were lying, right?"
The mushroom-haired little girl pressed her lips together tightly.
"They..."
"They said... I was..."
The mushroom-haired little girl struggled to get the words out.
"A bad kid."
When the last three words came out, it was as if some kind of defense inside the mushroom-haired little girl had crumbled.
Big tears rolled down her cheeks.
"They didn't welcome me."
The mushroom-haired little girl's voice was muffled, thick with sobs. "The teacher told them to welcome me back to kindergarten..."
Because she hadn't gone to kindergarten yesterday... She'd been home sick...
Whenever a child missed kindergarten and then returned, the teacher would have the other children welcome them back.
Everyone always played along.