Ever since Sumi was just a baby she has heard whispers. Low murmurs from the trees, tiny messages that the wind delivers her and soft hums from the flowers. She has spent countless hours trying to decipher them, but never quite able to. They sound like words, but at the same time they don’t. They’re a mix match of sounds that weave together into songs and poems.

The chatter of her schoolmates falls behind as she sneaks around the school and exits through the forbidden back gate that is usually left unlocked. She pulls it open ever so slightly and slips past it with a single glance thrown back. The school is on the edge of town and this way leads away from the town to the agriculture fields where most of the townspeople work. Her father and her moved here when Sumi was only five. That’s when the whispers became louder and the songs the nature sung began to stick to her mind, to the point where she started humming them unconsciously. Her father often asked her what she was singing, but Sumi always only shrugged mischievously.

Sumi always brings her homework to her favorite place after school. Living in the countryside, you don’t have to go far from school to end up in the nearest field. But Sumi ventures further and further into the lively nature. She passes a field or two, greeting neighbours and other town people on her way. After the dirt road branches off into two, she takes the left one. This one is rarely used by anyone else and leads into a forest. Sumi embraces the cool breeze that surrounds her in a pleasant hug on this hot summer’s day on the way. She can already hear the orchestra that awaits past this silent forest which only listens in awe to their friends. The music is still soft, but Sumi fastens her pace either way.

(music)

Behind the trees it’s bright. The branches shield the cool forest from the warmth of the Sun, but once Sumi steps out into the open she feels a pleasant chill run down her body at the temperature change. This place never fails to catch her breath. The dirt road disappears into the long grass, overtaken by the nature after people stopped coming. Now the nature plays a lonely orchestra just for Sumi. The music is now louder and Sumi can properly hear the violins that play when wind pushes past the long grass. It creates a choreographed dance into the field, where wildflowers bloom and grasshoppers sing.

The blue sky spreads into eternity in front of Sumi as she takes long eager steps into the long grass. The few clouds scattered over the blue canvas hum a low tune resembling trumpets and it adds depth into the high pitched hum of the multi colored flowers. The blue appears in lonely dots all over the place, but the yellow and white bunch together to their own. Red jumps out of the green undergrowth, screaming passion while pink sways in between the others in a pleasant manner. And the violets wave shyly from behind the pinks whenever the pink allows them to come to sight. Sumi smiles warmly at all of them, still taking strides over the grass. Once the soft twinkles of a piano come into play, Sumi starts running. Her schoolbag flies behind her carelessly. And the orchestra of sounds strengthens.

A long winding river comes into sight from behind the long grass  on top of one of the bumps in the ground. Sumi stops on top of the bump and catches her breath. The sunlight barely filters through the water and it looks like millions of diamonds reflecting the light back. Here the grass is the greenest and the longest. Here the flowers sing the loudest and here the concert sounds the most beautiful. Sumi skips over to the bank of the slowly moving river and seats herself there. A bee buzzes in the flower next to her, but she lets it be. She starts humming along.

There’s no words, but Sumi would remember the tune even in her sleep. The bee quiets down and the wind softens once Sumi’s voice grows more confident. A serene atmosphere settles into the waves of the river and for a moment it appears almost still. A butterfly settles on a flower across the river, resting its wings for a deserved moment. Suddenly it springs back up again and flies off with spirals. The bee buzzes off, the wind resumes speed and the river becomes restless. A cloud passes by the Sun and a sudden coolness to the air appears. Flowers slowly turn away from the Sun and the field quiets down only halfway through the song.

Sumi quiets down midway as well, glancing around at the odd sight. Only a low hum is left behind. It has no variety to it, it is dull and unforgiving to one’s ears. Sumi has never heard anything like it before. She grows curious and stands up. Across the river, a figure stands still. Dressed in black it looks human, but the aura surrounding it is nothing like Sumi has seen before. The man’s skin is pale, his shadow dark and hair a matching shade to his dark clothes that hang over his body like holding him down to the ground. Sumi isn’t sure how to react, but when the wind changes direction suddenly pushing against Sumi in a way that has her hair flying back and her losing balance, she figures she should run.

She twists back around to go back where she came from and leaps forward. The flowers turn away the closer she gets and the blades of grass bend under her with ease. A soft chant from the forest ahead urges her to come faster, and right then and there she doesn’t realize that she understands for the first time what they’re telling her.

“Come, come, child, before he can take you.

Sweet child of the wild, your time is not yet due.”

The wind pushes her forward once again unexpectedly, but it only results in her tumbling down onto the grass. She hisses at the feeling in her bare knees and the palms of her hands, but the grass tickles her in such a way that wills her to get back up. She gets back on her feet and hears a soft ‘don’t look back yet, there is still the threat’ but she can’t help herself.

She makes the mistake of looking back, and she sees the figure again, but closer. It whispers to the wind soundlessly and the wind struggles against its nature, but there’s nothing it can do. The message gets delivered either way. An eery silence surrounds the otherwise lively field when clear words echo in Sumi’s ears.

“There’s nowhere to run, child of life.”

(lullaby) A soft voice starts singing, the song sounds familiar. It echoes in the otherwise soundless field. The wind is gone, the flowers no longer sway. The blades of grass feel unpleasant against Sumi’s skin and the clouds hang low, still blocking the Sun. Sumi can no longer hear the river and once she looks back at the forest she came from she lets out a soft sound of panic. The dirt road that once came through the trees is gone. The trees look tall and intimidating, uninviting.

There’s a cold hand on her shoulder and she spins around so fast she becomes dizzy. She never recovers from it, her vision only blurs further and eventually she feels heavy and closes her eyes. The lullaby still plays around her, almost like spinning around her. Too late does Sumi realize it’s her own voice.

Sumi awakens in a slowly rocking rowing boat. It creaks under her as she straightens up, bleary-eyed and confused. She sits up slowly, an odd ache around her muscles reminding her of what had occurred. She twists around in the boat, but there’s no one there with her. She stares back at where she came from, but she only sees endless wildflower fields and the same river snaking out of sight. She crawls over to the edge of the boat carefully, the boat rocking under her weight. When she looks down at the water, she sees her reflection on its surface. It shines out panic and fear, the ripples in the water distorting it however they like. She’s too scared to touch, so she withdraws back to the center of the boat.

She looks around for anything to row with, but it’s empty. The boat moves forward in a steady slow pace, so she surrounds herself with her arms. The nature here is so silent, it terrifies her. Everything about the setting is unfamiliar and unsettling. She buries her face in her knees and stays there. She feels tears spring up at the frustration she feels at the pit of her stomach. Her hands feel weak and there’s no comfort in the way the boat rocks either. When she goes fishing with his grandpa, it’s always calm and nice. The boat always rocks in such a way that could bring her to sleep instantly if she wanted. This boat feels cold against touch.

It seems like forever, that the ride goes on, but all too suddenly, the boat scrapes against something and stills with a jerk. Sumi looks up with a red puffy face and meets up with a low riverbank. It’s rocky and one of the rocks caught the boat in place. For a moment, Sumi is afraid of getting off, but when she looks further, she catches sight of a red wooden house. There’s smoke coming out of its small metal chimney and Sumi raises up to her feet with relief.

She takes off her shoes, and jumps on one of the rocks, still hesitant on stepping in the uninviting water. Sumi bets it would be terribly cold. She reaches for the second rock, and succeeds. She hops on one of the smaller ones to get to the rock further away. Once Sumi reaches the ground she turns around at the creak the boat makes. It detaches itself from the ground and floats back where it came from. Sumi almost wants it to come back, but she knows it was not designed that way. Sumi only has an one-way ticket and the boat is only doing what it’s supposed to.

(music)

So Sumi turns around and slips her shoes back on. The house is further away than she thought, and she sees the Sun starting to dip down from behind the clouds. She doesn’t want to be here when the night arrives, she’s sure, so she starts trekking towards the house in a determined manner. It bathes in a warm light and the cold air is starting to get to Sumi, so she bets the house will be nice and warm. It looks so welcoming and tempting that Sumi can’t help but to break out into a run halfway through. The field is quiet, but she can see the tall trees in the distance where a forest begins. They feel almost taunting, but Sumi stays on the track to what she assumes is safety. Once she gets closer she hears a familiar humming. The house is surrounded by tall, beautiful, vivid sunflowers. They call for Sumi in a lovely way, chattering amongst themselves in excitement.

“Come, child, hurry,

we have been waiting in worry!”

There’s a short wooden fence around the house, but the gate is left slightly open. She pushes it open and stares at the small wooden door. There’s a blurry yellow tinted circular window in the middle of it and she can see slight movement behind it. She doesn’t forget to close the gate after herself and once she does the door unlocks and flies ajar.

“Will you stop doing that? Sit down, she’ll be here soon”, comes softly from the inside. Sumi takes steps closer.

“I’m just so excited to finally meet her! Did you hear her sing today?”, a boy’s voice trickles from the open door and Sumi can hear them better now.

“Oh shush, it’s because of you that she’s here, where she isn’t supposed to be. You shouldn’t be excited”, a warm woman’s voice argues and the conversation ends suddenly.

Sumi touches the doorframe and peeks inside timidly. The inside is bigger than it looked from the outside, and there’s a pleasant smell of vanilla and lavender floating in the air. The house is filled with wooden furniture, with beautiful artwork hanging on the walls and flowers garnishing every corner. The walls are painted in soft yellow and the floors are covered in colorful rugs. There’s miscellaneous decorative items in every nook and cranny of the place, and when Sumi steps inside, she sees the huge long table in the corner of the room, where people stare back at her in awe and poorly hidden excitement.

A sweet looking lady is holding a half finished knitwork of some kind, the boy across from her is holding the ball of yarn, but both of them are focused on her. There’s a boy at the kitchen sink holding a pot, but not doing anything to it as his interest is more on Sumi as well. Four other boys are playing a card game at the other end of the table, but only one of them is taking a peek at the other’s cards before smiling brightly at Sumi.

“Welcome, oh do take a seat darling, would you mind some tea? Jin, sweetie please?”, the lady speaks and Sumi barely has time to respond before one of the card players stands up to assumably brew some tea for her.

Sumi takes hesitating steps towards the end of the table where there is a single empty chair. She sits on it quietly and eyes the people around her curiously. The one at the kitchen sink lands the pot into the it, wiping his wet hands against his black pants and steps forward towards the other end of the table. The lady smiles tenderly at her and the other boys before resuming knitting.

“We’ve been waiting for you for a long time now, you know?”, the lady speaks and the boy holding the ball of yarn nods eagerly. One of the card players, the one sitting to Sumi’s right side holds out a hand.

“My name is Namjoon”, he speaks in a voice that sounds so familiar. His hair is a soft pink that reminds Sumi of the swaying flowers in the field. He’s dressed in all off-white cotton clothes and his skin creates a nice contrast against them. Sumi stares for a long while, wondering how such a beautiful boy was to exist before extending her hand out and shaking his. “I’m Sumi”, she answers back as kindly as she can. The boy positively beams, leaning a bit closer.

“Do you perhaps-”

“Taehyung! My name is Taehyung and I should be the one to be recognized first!”, the boy holding the yarn interrupts and holds up his other hand, waving it wildly. His hair is a mix between ash, gray and silver, but he’s dressed in a white shirt and black shorts that end mid-thigh. The shirt hangs over his collarbones carelessly and his hair looks like it’s been fluffed by the wind. His smile is contagious and his skin is almost glowing warmly. The lady tsks disapprovingly at him and eyes the ball of yarn with concern, but once Taehyung lowers his hand, she smiles again. Sumi waves back, slightly confused, but the way he acts is so familiar and reassuring that she’s not worried.

“No, you should be the one that she remembers last. It’s your fault after all”, the dishwasher boy speaks and Taehyung scowls at him, but also kind of looks like a sorry puppy.

“I’m Hoseok and I’m pretty sure I’m your favorite”, he speaks proudly and most of the boys shake their heads. I furrow my eyebrows at his statement and examine him more carefully. His hair is dark blue, but depending on the way the light hits it, it seems like there are silver strands mixed in as well. His hair is longer than the others and it looks as smooth as the surface of a pool of water, with the occasional ripples of berserk strands. He does remind Sumi of something she likes a lot, but before she can make the connection, someone joins in again.