EIGHTEEN
 

“I love you.”

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

“JOOOOOY!!!!!”
 

She's over there.

 

Lying unconsciously,

Stream of blood reddening the floor,

 

Because of her teacher,

 

...Joy.

 

Mr. Park, Wendy, Yeri and Hyun, rushed over the second she crashed that floor with a loud thud, covered in blood.

 

Seulgi dropped her gun, wobbling. She backed away in shock.

 

Everything she wished for had finally achieved, but not quite like this. Everything she wanted had accomplished, then why was she the one feeling hurt?

 

Why did she feel like she’s the one that got shot?

 

She looked at that cheerful girl who’s now in his father's arms. Who’s now in the arms of the one who killed her own father.

 

He did not kill him

 

An unknown voice echoed inside of her

Weird.
 

Her heart was also crushed ​​to see Jaehwa cried.

 

As if elegy had transferred to everyone’s there.
 

...including herself.

 

Mr. Park burst into tears as he held his unmoving daughter,

 

“My girl, my baby girl...” he hugged her tighter as if his hold wasn’t able to warm her. “...don’t leave me.”

 

“My baby, baby please wake up. Please...”
 

“...please, Sooyoung-ah.”
 

“Call 119! Call the ambulance!” Wendy shouted.
 

She took off her jacket and covered Joy’s wound. Her efforts were worthless when blood still leaking from it. In her despair, she started shouting to anyone’s there.

“Call them!!!”

“Irene has called the paramedics, they're on their way.”

 

Yeri tried to soothe Wendy who seemed to lose her control.

 

“Just do it again, tell them to come fast. She won’t stop bleeding!”

 

“Okay, okay.” Yeri went back, asking Irene to make a call one more time.

 

“Dammit Joy, get a hold of yourself. You're stronger than this!” She wrapped her jacket around Joy, tying her wound. “Uncle, uncle-”
 

Wendy tried to call Mr. Park, selfishly hoping that he’d able to calm her down. Selfishly hoping, he’d at least say that everything’s gonna be fine,

 

...that Joy’s gonna be fine.

 

But her hope was crushed when she saw him hugging his daughter as tightly as he could, howling. That's when Wendy realized there was nothing else to ease her. That's when she knew,

 

...that everything is not going to be just fine.

 

Her frustration escalated. Her cry was gnawing in throat. Extremely painful,

 

So she let go of it, in a way she that knew,

 

Shouting.

 

“Where are they?! Tell them to get here fast!” She huffed for a moment,

 

“JUST GET HERE FAST, MORONS!”



 

***


 

“Please move away, Miss.”

 

Wendy noticed that some people were carrying a stretcher in front of her, asking her to not get in the way.

 

“Excuse me, sir. We're going to take her.” The same guy spoke to Mr. Park, but the man did not even flinch. So they forced him to let her go.

 

The Paramedics put her into a stretcher,

 

“No sign of obstruction in the airways,” one of them shouted conditions that he found, “...vital signs checked. Blood pressure weaken, her heart rate and respiratory rate are incalculable.”

 

“She lost a lot of blood, prepare for transfusion. Be aware of hypovolemic shock.” One that seemed to lead, instructed each one of them, “...ready? On the count of 3. One, two, three!”

 

They lifted the stretcher and pushed it to the waiting ambulance.
 

One of the paramedics approached Mr. Park, “Sir, come with us. You're injured.”

 

Mr. Park didn’t reply at all. Just like what Seulgi had hoped,

 

...that his soul would be dead.

 

“Sir, please come with us.” That guy was still trying when unexpectedly got pushed away.

 

“Don’t step on it!!!”
 

His eyes were fixed on the pool of blood in front. The same blood that also flowed in his veins,

 

His daughter’s.

“My baby girl-”

 

Wendy followed Joy’s stretcher to the ambulance where Yeri had been sitting in, waiting.

 

“Only one, Miss.”

 

“She’s my friend, I have to go with her!”

 

“I do understand, but your other friend is already there to take care of her. Only one at a time, that's the rule. I'm sorry, Miss.” Their leader calmly explained it to Wendy.
 

But she couldn’t accept it,

 

“Just let me in, just let me in!”
 

Wendy fought against the paramedics who tried to hold her. They looked troubled facing her action.

 

Yeri approached them, “I'll make sure to take care of her. Just loosen up a little and take care of Mr. Park.” she tried to calm Wendy down, “...everything will be fine.”

 

The Canadian flinched at those words.
 

The words she had been wanting to hear. The words that she hoped able to ease her worries. But the magic in those words seemed to disappear when the reality unstoppably crashed onto her,

...that everything would not be just fine.

 

She nodded.

 

Not for those words, but for her to accept the truth, although it might break her into pieces.

 

Her stare went with the ambulance that’s getting away from her. The ambulance that carrying her bloody friend, with Yeri's words stuck in mind.

 

“...don’t leave me.”
 

Mr. Park lowered on both hands as a support. Still staring at the pool of blood on that dusty floor.

 

Immediately, she ran toward the old man, pressing his injured shoulder,

“Uncle, uncle, listen to me. She's gonna, she's gonna be-”

Just what was she doing?

She couldn’t able to spill the word. She couldn’t bear lying to her heart. How could she tell such a lie when her own heart denied the truth?

 

“Uncle...” Wendy was still trying, -still trying- to at least wake him from his suffocating nightmare. “Look at me, Uncle.”
 

His eyes moved from that pool of blood. But that movement was even more startling her. When those eyes were gazing at her, but he wasn’t really there. Just an empty stare, no more sparks that usually adorned them.

 

Those eyes had also died.
 

Irene approached the two,
 

“I’m really sorry and please, please forgive her. Everything will be fine.”

 

Those words again, Wendy was getting tired of them. She got tired of those lies,

 

“Why does everyone keep saying that everything's gonna be fine?!” She let her frustration out, confronting a dumbfounded Irene, “I'm sick of hearing it. Who are you trying to fool?!”

 

“I'm sorry. I was just trying to-”

 

“Just- just stop trying, alright?” Her anger was gnawing at her. She unknowingly spilled her frustration on the wrong girl,

 

“EVERYTHING IS NOT GONNA BE JUST FINE!”

 

Irene was shocked by the scream. She took a few steps back while nodding, as sign that she understood.

Wendy went back to hold Mr. Park when her eyes accidentally caught the figure standing in a corner, staring at the same puddle as the man next to her.

 

The scene irked her growing rage.

 

She ran off to that girl in a flash,

 

Tackling her.

 

Endless punches as if it’d never be able to ease her anger.

“What were you thinking?!” Wendy shouted her frustration as she grabbed Seulgi by the collar, forced her to sit.

“Did you not see her eyes? Did you not see her sincerity?” Wendy panted, before she continued,

“...couldn’t you hear her heart?”

Wendy yanked the professor, not giving her any chance to attack at all, even though the one being hit had no intention in attacking.

 

Just let it be.

 

“It was beating for you!”

 

Another punch crashed Seulgi's face. Her ripped lip was dripping out blood. But that pain alone still wasn’t enough.

 

Irene approached them, trying to stop Wendy. Bad news for her, the Canadian wasn’t really herself right now. Something had break through her, and it dragged Irene wrong as her body was thrown forcefully to the floor.

 

Wendy let the rage embraced her sanity. All she needed right now was someone to be blamed. All she needed now was someone to vent out her frustration. What she needed was,

 

…a revenge.

 

“That’s enough...” Irene tried to take a hold of Wendy's hand that about to beat Seulgi again. “...she's already wasted.”

 

Wendy awoke for a moment and looked at the woman below her who’s now covered by blood and bruises on her face.
 

Her gaze was also empty.

 

A pinch stung her heart seeing that tragic sight. Then her eyes went to the blood that stained her shirt,

 

Her bestfriend’s.

 

And denial had taken her back.

 

She constantly hit Seulgi again, ignoring Irene who begged for forgiveness,

 

“My friend is ing dead!” Breathless, Wendy stared at Seulgi viciously. “...and this ing deserves this!”

 

Seulgi coughed. Blood were flowing out of when Wendy stomped her knee strongly on her stomach. She felt like all her insides were scattered at once. Seulgi tried to crawl out of Wendy's grip, but her strength had drained out.

 

Irene begged, again, “Please, stop.”

 

“Stop it, Seungwan.”

 

The Canadian stopped at once.

 

She turned around to see Mr. Park. The man was still kneeling before that pool of blood. His dead stare straight at Wendy. In that emptiness,

 

...he cried.

 

No sobs were heard. He didn’t move a flinch. Only tears that flew out dampening his wrinkled cheeks as a dispensation of the pain he felt.

 

The pain was so terribly aching to the point he himself could no longer feel it.

 

In his emptiness, again, he said,

 

“Stop it.”

 

It was only a whisper, yet able to defeat thousands of voices that raging her. The words were subtle, yet able to overcome the scream in her heart that shouted for revenge.

 

She understood.
 

In a blow, she tossed Seulgi to the floor for one last time. The helpless girl immediately crawled, reaching for a near wall, trying to lean in order to ease the pain that was eating her. In order to ease the pain that suppressed her chest. The bleed-less pain, but yet, the most painful one.