Work Text:
The time displayed next to the song, on the car's radio station, showed the hour 9. They're just one hour late. Heejin's fault of course, and Hyunjin won't shy away from throwing her in the wolves's fangs once they'll arrive at Jinsoul's place. The blonde girl was giving by her parents the vacant house to use it as she pleased. Resulting in Jinsoul calling the 11 of them to a small party--that consisted in watching movies and restricting the youngest from drinking.
Though they lived fairly near by, they decided to get in pairs to Jinsoul's. Jungeun with Yerim, Sooyoung driving for Jiwoo, Chaewon and Hyejoo, despite Hyejoo's constant annoyance with the older girl and..anyone who dared to take her private time with Chaewon, really. And Haseul with her younger sister, Yeojin and Kahei. While Hyunjin offered to borrow her father's car just to impress Heejin ( though, she'd never admit such thing ) with her new aquired skills--having passed her driver licence test with no efforts.
Now here they were, driving through this "lifeless" forest, as Heejin described it--unaware that in just a matter of minutes their night was going to shift in the darkest way possible.
The radio gradually stopped from working, making Hyunjin take her eyes from the road for a second, to look back at it, displeased with the way the sound was becoming more and more distorted. Heejin was watching its light fight from being off and on and then back off, as well.
"Slap it" Hyunjin simply said.
"What?" She realizes now that, though Heejin was watching the same thing, her mind was elsewhere. She explained further:
"Slap it once, maybe it will work. This is an old car, nothing could possibly break more than it has already"
Heejin raised her hand to do as she's been told just as Hyunjin hit what they could only assume it was a rock, making them jump slightly in their seats. Heejin threw Hyunjin an annoyed look, to which Hyunjin responded with an conciliatory "Sorry" without taking her eyes from the road.
The second time Heejin attempted to try and make the radio work again--the silence full of nothingless between the already so creepy black foress illuminated only by the two headlights of the car (and a focused but quiet Hyunjin) scaring her more than she would like to admit--she stopped midway. Hand in the air, ears focused to their maximum capability.
"What's that sound?" She asked, almost surprised with how composed her voice sounded.
"What sound? I don't hear anything, Heejin"
"No, shh. Listen carefully" she said, unmoving from that point further in hope that it'll help her hear better.
It sounded like rocks were being thrown at them but nothing was actually hitting them. Her heart clenched, feeling uneasy with the confusion, her senses activating all at once in sign of precaution.
Something was coming.
Heejin threw her eyes on Hyunjin for a second, then, turned around in the seat to look behind them, behing the car. The feeling that they were being chased not stopping even one second.
She narrowed her eyes, the darkness making it impossible to see. Then it clicked.
Rain.
Heavy rain, motivated to catch them from behind. She has never seen an actual raining session start quite like that.
Now she understands why the sound was so strange, it was such a powerful storm that, once caught in it, Heejin thought it will bend the roof of the car and break the windscreen.
Hyunjin visibly had trouble driving through it. Heejin could see how hard her hands were griping the steering wheel.
"Hyunjin, stop" she told the other girl. And in a minute, the car was stopping and Hyunjin was turning around, facing her. With a face that screamed "Now what?".
"I'm scared" Heejin addmited.
"Of?"
"The storm. We're in the middle of nowhere. Do you know how easy it is for us to be struck by lightning?"
Hyunjin sighed, letting her head fall back on the seat chair, closing her eyes.
Heejin observed her for a second, allowing her eyes to regard Hyunjin's hand that was in the middle of them, aching to take it, knowing it would offer the much needed comfort. However, she sighed through her nose, casting away the thought. Instead, she looked around lazily, trying not to think about the sounds and the fact that they were stranded on an empty road. And most importantly, trying no to let her mind wander in the darkest corners, fueled by fear, avoiding every image with some kind of creature the world didn't even know existed, jumping in front of them and eating them alive.
Now, Heejin believed that either her eyes were either fooling with her or she was seeing something in front of them. She towered over Hyunjin carefully and turned the highs beam lights on.
What?
"Hyunjin?" she put her hand on Hyunjin's shoulder, shaking the girl slowly.
"Mhm?"
"There's a..house in front of us"
"A what?" Hyunjin said as she opened her eyes, sounding even more surprised than Heejin herself.
"A house" Heejin explained the obvious while they both stared at it with slightly open mouths. "Should we?"
"Yeah, i think so..It looks abandoned and no lightning will strike you there"
-----
Without questioning the mad position of the house, conviently placed right in front of them, in the middle of the road, Hyunjin drove as close as possible to the front door, so they could run inside without getting too wet. She did instruct Heejin to take her jacket from the backseat and put in on herself. Joking about being waterproof when Heejin asked "What about you?".
And so they ran inside, with Heejin screaming and covering her ears when a huge thunderstorm broke down proudly, as if it would tell them "Yes, fear me!".
Hyunjin arrived first, pushing the door open forcefully. She had no time to be fully disgusted by the sensation she felt when her palm touched the putred, soaked and scratched wood, but her subconcious mind did take it all in. Sending Hyunjin a brief thought that she wouldn't be surprised if worms were to crawl out from within the holes of the door.
She left Heejin pass and entered the house herself, not bothering with closing the door behind her. Luckily the wind made itself useful by shutting it. The gesture was not appreciated by the girls, who jumped at the loud sound.
They exchanged looks, both breaking into embarrassed small smiles.
They decided to use their phones as flashlights.
"How much battery do you have?" Hyunjin asked.
"88%. You?"
"93. We're good. It will last us until the storm ends"
Heejin let her eyes assimilate her surroundings, the frequent lightning illuminating the what looked like a living room, from time to time. While Hyunjin already stepped to her right side, taking the dirty brown--that surely was black once--coat, patting the dust away from it and throwing it over her shoulders.
"I look like Abraham Lincoln, if he were a vampire hunter" she laughed, looking down at the oversized piece of clothing, extending her arms for amusement.
Heejin doesn't seem to share her humor, commenting: "God, put that down, Hyunjin. It looks like it's a thousand years old."
"That's what makes it cool!"
"Aren't you scared?" Heejin asked, her right hand coming to carres her left forearm. She looked so vulnerable in that moment, doubful with the decision they took--of entering the house--that Hyunjin pushed away the first thing that came to mind--the feeling of being proud for not fearing anything--and came to her side, after getting the coat off her shoulders and putting it back to its place, saying:
"Heejin, it's just us here, there are no lights on, we haven't seen anyone. I know that's your nature, of worrying a lot but that's why i'm always here. To calm you down" Hyunjin threw her left arm over Heejin shoulders, kissing the side of her head, softly.
"I need to pee" Heejin whispered, making Hyunjin chuckle.
"Come then, let's find you a bathroom"
Taking Heejin's hand and using the other to hold the phone that lighed their path, Hyunjin walked in the middle of the living room, exploring with her eyes the place, trying to find a door, any door. Hyunjin wondered why isn't there one, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. The place was filled with furniture covered by white--well, now yellow--sheets, some of them having kind of weird looking figures but Hyunjin wasn't going to care about them.
Unlike Heejin, who let go of her hand, walking slowly--unsurely--to the figure that used the very end wall to support itself, bending down slowly--but not before looking back at Hyunjin with an expression that screamed "Aren't you going to stop me?" to which the later just walked closer to her--gripping the sheet and throwing it quickly away. Revealing a man, a skelleton more precisely. Neither Heejin or Hyunjin moved for a second, the realization hitting only after its skull fell off its neckbones and rolled down, close to their legs. Heejin yelled, turning around and burying herself in Hyunjin's arms.
Hyunjin wasn't easily scared but she'd admit that the imagery was coming close to her limits of composion. But she had to be the brave one, since she could certainly feel Heejin trembling. It was always like that with them two. Heejin would get in some trouble and no matter how minor they were, the girl would freak out in the most dramatic ways while Hyunjin would remain calm, trying to think of ways to solve the problem. It's worked well for them so far, they will get through tonight, too.
"It's an old house, he was probably some homeless man trying to find shelter and well.." Hyunjin whispered into Heejin's hair.
"This isn't recent, Heekkie, you have nothing to be afraid about. He looks just like the one we had in our Biology class, don't you think?"
Heejin looked back at it, nodding a second later. Earning a small laugh from Hyunjin.
"Look" Heejin pointed to their left. Although they did not find a normal door, in the corner of the room there could be seen some stairs. A big closet sitting right in front of them, masking them.
"Good job, Heek. Now, help me move it aside"
-----
After several minutes of stuggling, they managed to move the closet out of the way. Hyunjin let Heejin go first, the girl using her own phone for light, and followed close behind.
She concluded that her intuition helped her once again when Heejin stepped on a more putrid stair, her foot going straight through it, causing Heejin to fall on her back. Luckily, Hyunjin was right behind her and caught her immediately.
"I got you" She smiled against Heejin's ear with a sense of pride in her voice.
"This place is close to falling down" Heejin commented, annoyed, as she took her leg ouside of the new made hole and climbed further.
Once gotten to the first floor, a long hallway was presenting itself to them. It seemed too long for the size of the house. The darkness smiling back at them from the other end. It was frightening. Heejin was regretting coming there. They started walking slowly, each step echoed with a loud creak. On both sides, on the wall, were attached paintings. They all were scratched. Big, big scratches that looked like they were done by giant claws. While it terrified Heejin, it was making Hyunjin curious about what went down in this place. Everything was dusty, just like downstairs, their throats were aching, begging for water or any liquid that would make the dryness go away.
With Heejin being preoccupied with the paintings, trying to figure what the images were supposed to be, Hyunjin noticed an entrance to her left.
And in a second she's been dragged inside, managing only to let out a yell signed with Heejin's name.
The smaller girl turned around quickly, panic settling in. She grabbed the doorknob and when she realized that the door was definitely not going to open, Heejin started hitting it with her fists. Tears forming in her eyes, few escaping down her face.
No. No. No. No. No. No.
Hyunjin!
After a handful of moments full of absolute terror, where her heart felt like it died within her body numerous times due to the fear of Hyunjin being in danger, the door opened.
Heejin raised her head up, staring right at the villainous smile Hyunjin was giving her. In a normal occasion, she would've loved to see it, fully displayed for her. But now it annoyed her.
"Sorry, Jeon Heejin, i had to" Hyunjin laughed.
"You asshole! You don't do that, not here" She hit Hyunjin on the shoulder harder than intended while the other girl--without losing her smile--stepped foward and hugged her.
Hearing a little sniff coming from Heejin caused Hyunjin's heart to break just a little.
Maybe i went too far this time.
"Okay, i'm sorry Heek, you're right. I shouldn't do that here, this place is scary enough for you"
"I forgive you" Heejin voiced after another small sniff. "But we need to find that bathroom cause i almost peed myself a minute ago and i can't handle it much longer"
"Oh wait a second, i think i saw a lantern in this room i've been. Let me get it"
-----
After taking one of the matches that were spread out on the old coffee table, rubbing the match once, quickly, on one of the table's legs, causing it to set on fire, Hyunjin lighted up the gas lantern.
Turns out the bathroom was hidind behind the second entrance that was on the hallway.
"Go inside, i'll wait here" Hyunjin told her.
Heejin nodded. "It smells alwful here" she commented from the other side.
Hyunjin let out a small chuckle but truth to be told, everywhere it smelled awful. Almost like..death. If she knew what death smells like.
"I'm done but it won't let me flush the toilet"
"Leave it like that"
"Disgusting" she heard Heejin say to herself. She also heard a scream fall from her mouth a second later and Hyunjin wasted no time to get inside the bathroom.
"What happened?"
"The water...is black. I'm sorry, i wanted to see if it had water, to wash my hands and it came out like this"
Hyunjin sighed, turning the water down after noticing that the dark liquid wasn't going anywhere but remaining in the sink.
"Okay, how about we make a promise right here" Hyunjin started, holding out her pinky finger. "No more screaming. Understood?"
"Understood" Heejin said, intertwining Hyunjin's finger with hers and giving the taller girl an amused smile.
The air in the small bathroom shifted suddenly, causing Heejin's baby hairs from the back of her neck to stand up straight and the rest of her body to get tense while her mind was drowning into the anxious feeling that they were being watched. That there was someone else there with them.
The place felt colder but the air that was getting inside of their lungs felt warmer with each breath they took. The shift hasn't failed to make even Hyunjin feel claustrophobic, the taller girl retraiting her hand, gently, from Heejin's and hurrying to open the door that closed itself at some point.
Instead of returning to the hallway, they stepped inside of another room.
"What the fuck?" Hyunjin mumbled as her shirt sleeve was dragged down by Heejin's shaky fingers.
"Hyun, what's happening? Where's the corridor?"
"I don't know, Heek, i think we're hallucinating?"
"Maybe we crossed this one already before going to bathroom but we didn't notice?"
"I guess that could be it.." Although, very unsure, Hyunjin chose to agree with Heejin in order to avoid worrying the other girl too much. She makes a mental note to be more observant and take closer notice of what they do since there is forming, now, an impression within herself that there's something wrong. Her guts and senses are screaming at her to get the hell out of there but if Hyunjin followed her instincts every time, she would have confessed to Heejin already. Yet here we are. So, as usual, whatever the sensation is implying is removed from Hyunjin's mind.
This new room is larger than the one upstairs, with bigger windows where the lightning has much more space to flash inside ocassionally.
A piano that looks like it's been on this Earth for far longer than Hyunjin and Heejin have, is decaying in the corner. While other objects are taking Heejin's attention, Hyunjin makes her way to the piano, placing down the lantern, on top of it, and sitting down herself on the dusty chair, not caring that it would dirty her black jeans.
Before she could place her fingers on the keys, Heejin's voice coming from behind her made Hyunjin slightly jump.
"Hyun, this is not the time and place to play piano. Do you know how scary that would be?"
Hyunjin pouted at her. "Only for a bit, Heek, i wanna see how it sounds. Please?"
"Fine, but choose a happy song" Heejin sighed.
And so she did, the dust on the keys felt weird under her fingertips at first. She played something simple, something she was confident she still remembered how to play.
They both expected the atmosphere in the house to worsen upon there being added piano notes on top of everything but it was..calming, more than anything.
Though, that did not last for long. The moment Hyunjin hit the middle C, something started moving, surprising the both of them. The wall ahead, well...a part of it, tore itself and moved away, leaving a portion in a shape of a door.
Hyunjin stood up, her hand coming in contact with Heejin's instinctively. Neither of them made any other moves, their feet acting like they were glued to the ground. They were waiting, anticipating, like the quiet before the storm, to see if something else was going to happen.
After several quiet moments... nothing did.
"You opened a passage?" Heejin whispered and although it sounded like a question, Hyunjin knew she was just confirming it for herself.
"I think so.." Hyunjin muttered.
The girls got closer. Hyunjin held up her lantern, looking confused. Heejin mirroring her expression. On the other side was complete darkness. Not normal darkness, since the light couln't get pass through.
Heejin raised her hand, the tips of her fingers touching it slowly.
It moved.
It moved in the way the ocean's waves do, it made Heejin retreat her hand quickly. It didn't stick to her fingers but seeing something so..unnatural, a vertical wall of...black water--the same as the one from the bathroom--made her stomach twitch in disgust. Disgust combined with panic.
"I feel sick" she said, not taking her eyes off it.
It looked like the alien substances they would see in movies.
"Let's get the fuck out of here, Heejin" Hyunjin's voice finally broke through the sinister athmosphere. She's tried to stay calm but now she'd rather be in the car than spend another second inside of this house that seems like it's full of secrets. All dark.
"Oh good, you found it" A voice behind them spoke.
They both yelled, turning around at the same time. An entity was standing, now, in front of them. No features could be seen, only the shape of the body.
Hyunjin wasted no time in taking Heejin's hand, looking quickly to where the door was, and dragging a terrified Heejin in the direction of it. They both ran out of that cursed place. They were back on the hallway now, their legs moving in sync. They ran downstairs, but not before taking a look back.
The entity was following them.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Hyunjin repeated when they reached the living room and the exit door wasn't allowing them to get out.
Heejin was dead quiet, her eyes widened, her heart beating so rapidly that if felt like it was hitting her chest from inside.
She doesn't know what's after them but she's aware it can't be something good. Her body does again that thing she hates, paralyzes in the spot when she's afraid.
This is it. She thinks.
But is it not. Because a second later, Hyunjin is running with her again, hand in hand, and Heejin's legs fortunately seem to listen to Hyunjin.
The taller girl pulls them closer to the stairs. Heejin's pulse increasing, if that's even possible, now that they're going back for some reason. She knows not to question Hyunjin, and even if she wanted to, Heejin doesn't know if she can move her tongue.
Hyunjin opens the closet they moved our of the way a while ago, enters it and takes Heejin with her.
As big as the closet seemed, inside it was rather small.
Heejin had her back pressed onto Hyunjin's front, one of Hyunjin's hands on her stomach, holding her in place, while the other was over her mouth.
"Bite it, if you need to" Hyunjin whispers into her ear.
I don't need to do that.
But the perception changed as quickly as the wind when she saw the figure coming down the stairs, stepping into the living room. She wanted to scream, cry, collapse. Hyunjin felt it and tightened her grip on Heejin's mouth, making Heejin part her lips and take one finger between her teeth. She'll worry about Hyunjin's hand tomorrow. If there's even a tomorrow.
The shape moved around slowly, somehow looking bored, arms swinging loosely around his body. Hyunjin and Heejin watched him through the little holes of the wardrobe.
He stopped moving at some point and so did their breaths.
Then, in a second, he turned around and opened his arms--the closet's doors flew open at his signal, revealing two frightened girls.
There was nowhere to run, they were stuck.
Hyunjin stepped in front and pushed Heejin behind her, ready to protect her with her life.
"I'm sure she appreciates the gesture but there would be no need for that" the... ghost adressed Hyunjin, holding up his arms to show he means no harm. Hyunjin furrowed her eyebrows, and he took that as a sign to explain something, anything, of what is happening.
"I am not going to hurt you but i am forced to ask you for your help. My name is Evander and this is my house" His voice was calm, pleasant to listen to.
Heejin's head raised from behind Hyunjin, to look at him.
"You have nothing to fear, actually, you do but not coming from me."
"Then what else? Are there others like you?" Hyunjin asked.
"Not here, i'm the only tortured soul here. However, the things you have to fear are the demons wandering through these woods. "
"Demons?" Heejin's shaky voice echoed through the place.
"Half-demons to be precise. They want something of mine"
"What do they want?" Hyunjin pursued the conversation by enquiring.
"My power"
"And what do you need us for?"
"The portal you opened earlier. In there lays my power, but only humans can enter it. So therefore i'm forced to wait and wait, until someone comes and grants it back to me. The demons..they can enter as well. But, seeing as i'm bound to this house, i can change parts of it and create illusions to confuse them. They mustn't find the portal. This action takes a lot of my energy so i appologize for not showing myself as more than just a shadow."
"I don't trust you" Hyunjin told him, feeling Heejin punch her softly into the ribs.
"Don't tell him that" she whispered to Hyunjin.
"Please, i am begging"
Before taking time to think about it, the front door is hit open by a leg, a massive creature standing in the middle of it. A demon.
The room falls dead quiet for a second. A second being enough for Heejin and Hyunjin to notice that the demon can't see. He has holes filled with shadows in the place where his eyes should be. His horns look like they've been cut a good proportion of them. His skin glows in red in the upper side of the body, where he's not wearing anything. On him, only a pair of maroon pants ripped to the edges, exposing his gross feet.
In his left hand hung a dead deer. In his right, a machete.
"Run" Evander says and Hyunjin doesn't let the sound reach Heejin's ears before she takes her hand and runs them back, up the stairs.
Heejin is sure she's in an actual nightmare when she hears the scream that he lets out. It's enough to horrify every single part of her. A scream that could only come from the deepest bits of Hell.
The other sound must've been the dead deer falling to the ground, followed by his loud footsteps.
He was coming after them.
Now this is it. This is how they die.
She dared to look back, the hallway was getting longer and longer by the second. Hyunjin turns around too and watches as he runs towards them. Exasperated that there wasn't any door to open yet, and despite the dangers of it, she takes Heejin and glues the both of them to the wall. Holding her finger to her mouth, for Heejin to be quiet.
He runs past them, his machete leaving a trace on the ground.
And suddenly an entrance forms in front of them and they hurry inside.
Hyunjin looks around desperate for the piano, for the portal, for anything.
But there's nothing. Just her racing heart and a small Heejin that's on the verge of crying.
"We're going to die here" Heejin tells her with a breaking voice.
"We're not!" she whisper-shouts, going a hand through her hair.
"Evander!" Hyunjin yells but not too loud.
"My apologies girls, keeping the illusions require a lot of me." Evander speaks from behind them.
"You! If we take that bloody thing out of the portal, can you stop him?"
"Yes"
"Then give me the portal, goddamn it"
"It's in the other room, i can't move it. I can only hide it"
Before Hyunjin could swear again out of frustration, he broke into the room.
Hyunjin gulps, carefully turning around. Heejin was meeting her eyes from across the room. Her eyes were full of tears and Hyunjin had never felt more hopeless. He was close to Heejin, too close.
All of Hyunjin's hope was put into the fact that if she wasn't making any sound, he couldn't possibly know she was there. What Hyunjin hadn't anticipated was that he has a sense of smell.
So, sniffing around two times, he left out a shriek and caught Heejin's hand.
"Run, Heejin!" Hyunjin yelled, grabbing a chair and coming with a loud scream in his direction, hitting him directly in the head.
He let go of Heejin but his huge claws got somehow into her hand, cutting deep, so deep that they almost broke to the other side, ripping out the skin. She grabbed her own arm, trying to resist the pain but to no success. It made her dizzy, she fell next to a cupboard.
In the meantime Hyunjin was running around, trying to distract him by throwing different objects far away from Heejin, with him hitting almost every piece of furniture with his machete.
"Hey you! Here!" Evander shouted from the hallway, insisting until he decided to follow him.
Heejin was trying her best to keep her eyes open, feeling like she's a second away from fainting. Her arm wasn't looking too good. She had little cuts as a child and the blood did not smell like anything, but now? Now the liquid that was making its way out of her arm with intensity, had such a strong and disgusting smell that it was turning Heejin's stomach upside down. She started coughing, with her throat tightening in attempt to hold in place the need of puking. It hurt and all she wanted to do was let out the repulsive feeling from her insides.
But Hyunjin was in front of her, kneeled down, biting into a piece of clothing--her own blouse--to help her rip it apart more easily. After succeeding, she gently took Heejin's arm, though hurrying at the same time, and tied the material around tightly (ignoring Heejin's hissing of pain) to prevent the girl from losing even more blood.
It feels like she wasn't fully aware before this very moment. She believes it's the lucidity before death. A few mere seconds that could escaladate to minutes, in which you take all of your surroundings for the last time. She doesn't want to focus on the sounds--the rain that had finally stopped from its rage, the squeaking of the two or three rats that were running in between the walls, the wind fighting with the already so broken windows, desperate to get inside, the loud thumps of his steps coming closer and closer; absolutely doesn't want to think about the smells and odors that were coming in layers; doesn't want to focus on the images either, only Hyunjin. Not the pool of blood around them that was becoming a permanent spot on the floor and surely not on the darkness. Nothing but Hyunjin.
"I need to tell you something" Heejin started as Hyunjin was still inspecting her arm. "I don't think we're going to get out of here alive...or at least i am not and i've wanted to tell you this for years but i've always been afraid. Kim Hyunjin... I am in love with you, i've always been"
"I'm not saying it back" Hyunjin responded, not taking her eyes off the knot.
She had imagined this moment plenty of times before. In her imagination, Hyunjin would often feel the same, but she's always knew that the reality would be different. Heejin wishes it was just under different circumstances. Maybe on one of those nights where it's just the two of them and Hyunjin shows her vulnerable side that only Heejin had the pleasure to meet at times. Maybe with them having another fight in Heejin's room where Hyunjin is winning, again. Standing proud on top of her stomach and holding her hands in place, laughing at a frustrated Heejin. Anywhere but here, really. It's her own fault... for whining about the lightning and thunder.
Heejin closed her own, sighing. "That's okay, i made my peace with it a long time ago"
"It's not that i don't feel the same, it's that we'll get out of here, together, and i'll tell you then that i do"
Hyunjin smiled, meeting her eyes. She pressed her lips against Heejin's forehead and whispered for her to stay put.
Getting out of the room, she looked to the right and to the left and when she didn't see anything, she ran to the first door, the closest to the stairs, leaving out the biggest sigh of relief when she noticed the old piano standing proud in his corner, like it was waiting for her.
Hyunjin wasted no time and pressed the key that opened the path to the "power".
The black water was still freaking her out but she had to do this.
"For Heejin" she said before taking a big mouth of air and jumping into it.
The girl didn't know what to expect but there she was, floating in what she could surely call the most beautiful scenery she has ever had the pleasure to witness with her own two eyes. The place felt infinite, it resembled the outer space so much: black with little shiny dots and stars.
In the middle, was waiting for her an orb of light. Hyunjin swam towards it. Expecting it to burn her palms the moment she touched it, but instead it just felt warm. It was like holding a light bulb.
Moving her free hand and legs, she swimmed rapidly back, realizing only after she got out that she could breathe in there.
Running back on the corridor, Hyunjin could hear his steps. She looked up and reached for one of those ripped paintings, throwing it as far as she could, shivering when she heard his scream.
Once gotten back to Heejin, she bent down next to her. Hyunjin's heart collapsed when she noticed that Heejin wasn't moving.
"Heek?" she whispered, shaking the girl.
A tear burnt her cheek as it was falling down.
"Please, Heejin, wake up" Hyunjin pleaded, knocking her forhead to Heejin's cold one.
This was only her fault. If she had accepted Jungeun's proposal to along with her and Yerim this wouldn't have happened. Stupid, stupid Hyunjin. Always wanting to look cool. Always wanting to impress but never to be her genuine self.
Look where that got you!
"Did you take it?" A voice behind her spoke.
She turned around, angered.
"GIve her back to me and you'll get your precious orb."
"Give it to me first if you want me to bring her back"
She still felt like she couldn't trust Evander.
"You're going to fuck off the moment i give this back to you and i'll be left without anything!" she shouted as more tears were rolling down her face.
The demon must've heard her and in the next second, he was there with them, standimg in the doorway ready to attack.
"Hyunjin, now!" Evander implored.
Hyunjin threw him the orb and the last thing she sees before she collapses next to Heejin is the room going white the moment it touched his hands.
------
First thing Hyunjin saw when she opened her eyes, were Heejin's beautiful brown ones already looking at her. The sun was carresing her face, exposing her soft baby cheeks and the rest of her surreal features.
"Heejin" she whispered relieved, trying to stand up but the seabelt kept her in place. Only then she took a notice of where they were.
"We're safe" the smaller girl smiled at her, taking her hand.
It was morning. No house was in front of them. They were in the car. Their phones showed lots of missed calls from the girls. It wasn't raining anymore. It was a weird kind of peaceful.
"What an awful dream that was" Hyunjin murmured.
"I don't think it was a dream" Heejin interrupted, making Hyunjin look back at her with wide eyes, leaning foward and taking Heejin's arm to look at it.
"It's fine...I-, I'm fine" Heejin reassured her. The cuts weren't there.
"Then it was a dream" she concluded.
"But how could we have both dreamt about the same thing?"
"That, i don't know but Heejin" She took a deep breath, remembering all the terror she felt last night, when the events that may or may not have occured convinced her that she had lost Heejin, the pain still vivid into her chest. It made her realize that she couldn't hide anymore. Her heart belongs to Heejin and she had every right to know and to hear it.
Not wanting another second without those words remaining unspoken, she squeezed Heejin's hand and looked into her eyes, smiling.
"In our dream...I promised to tell you something"