The path I’m trying to go back is a maze
The wind that brushes against my cheeks
I open my arms up above It doesn’t matter
I need an angel’s hand 

– Soldier –

Taemin came out from the bathroom and leaned against the wall trying to regain his full consciousness. He was happy since he nailed the contract to build his dance academy. It was always his dream to have one. Though he was young and many told him that he should be dancing instead of opening a business; that he didn’t have the entrepreneur blood running on his veins, he didn’t care. If he had his academy, if he could surround himself with the best teachers and teach at the same time he would get better and learn more.

Yes, he was ambitious but he also knew that hard work was the only way to reach his dreams. He walked in the corridor, his hand sliding on the cold wall, helping him walk without falling.

He was never good with alcohol and that night he was drunk like he was never in his entire life, yet he felt like he was the king of the world.

Great Mistake!

A few hours later he woke up in total darkness.

He opened and closed his eyes wondering what happened since he didn’t have many memories of it. He wasn’t drunk anymore and yet something was clouding his mind.

He wanted to sit and he could move his body if he wanted but somehow it didn’t feel like his body at all. Taemin touched his torso and was surprised at the temperature of his skin. He was burning but he was sure he didn’t have a fever.

Where was he anyway?!

He opened his mouth to speak but no sound came. He panicked and that was when the memories came back to him: the flashing light and the pool of blood growing in the middle of the ground around him.

Taemin opened his mouth to scream, his nails scratching the skin of his throat because still, no sound came out.

It was a fact. He was dead!

Anna paid the taxi driver and held her travel case while she saw the taxi leaving, a trail of dust left behind by the tires while it disappeared in the distance.

She turned around to face her new home and looked at it with hopeful eyes.

That wasn’t exactly what she expected, what her aunt told her about.

It was supposed to be an antique western house, a work of art like her uncle, the man who married her aunt five years ago used to call.

To her, it was more like a rundown house being eaten by termites and with probably too many holes in the roof that let the rain fall inside.

She smiled though, being her positive self.

Well not quite.

Her past positive self.

The truth was that she was running away. After her best friend and almost boyfriend died one year ago she fell into depression and lost her job as a social worker. 

Helping people was always what she wanted to do but after he died, after losing her best friend she lost her ground.

It wasn’t as if she was going to marry him. Yes they were living together and she pictured living all her life with him but she always knew that what she felt for him was more than a fraternal love than the real thing. He knew it and still, he stayed by her side.

He did so that she wasn’t able to accept his death even after one year.

Thankfully her uncle suggested for her to stay with them for a few months, away from the busy Seoul and live with them in their old house in the middle of the forest.

They didn’t have many neighbors but Anna could spot a similar house down the road near a cliff.

That was a strange place to live too.

“You are here!” Her aunt screamed coming out from the front door and running to Anna with open arms.

She was her only living family, her mother’s sister and Anna hugged her back, trying to master her best smile.

She saw her uncle coming down the stairs and she bowed at him. He grabbed her bag and Anna followed after the couple inside the house.

It was funny. She hoped that spending time away from her apartment, the one she sold because there were many memories of her boyfriend there, was going to take that heavy weight away from her heart. However once she stepped inside the house and let her eyes wander on the old pictures on the wall to the old stairs leading to the second floor and then finishing on the old piano that she could see on the living room on her right, it was as if something took hold of her, squeezing her heart.

“Do you want to eat anything?” Her aunt asked gently while Anna’s uncle climbed the stairs with her bag.

“Thank you I’m famished!” Anna accepted walking after her aunt, her eyes still wandering to the lonely piano as if there was something about it that attracted her.