I emerged from that sleep, from that world, with a great gasp as I lurched up from Gahyeon’s bed.  Everything seemed so dark suddenly in comparison to Yuzhou’s presence, and all the fear that she had held at bay came flooding back to me.  I felt like I was drowning in fear, and my body convulsed as it heaved in breaths one by one.  Tears I did not remember shedding streamed down my cheeks as I finally caught my breath.

            My heart was still racing when I realized Gahyeon was not beside me.  I noticed the pale sunlight pouring through the bedroom window and wondered how long I had slept.

            “Gahyeon!” I frantically called her name as I stumbled out of bed.  As my right foot hit the floor, it slipped out from under me and the sharpest pain shot up from my ankle.  The pain was so great, I could barely make a sound at first.  My mouth hung open as my hands helplessly hovered over my ankle. 

            “Gahyeon…”  As I slowly pushed myself up from the ground, I continued to call her name with the faint voice I could muster.  The sharp pain slowly faded into a dull throbbing, and I could limp my way out of the room.  Halting at the top of the staircase, I called her name as loud as I could, wondering deep in my heart if they had all left this world while I was asleep.

            “Jiu?”  Gahyeon came from the kitchen and ran to the foot of the stairs holding a teacup in her hands.  She looked up at me with concern and quickly climbed the stairs.  “Are you okay?” Why are you standing like that?  Are you hurt?”

            I grabbed her arm and shook my head.  “I’m fine.  I think I just sprained my ankle.  Are you okay?”

            “Me?  Of course,” she grinned.  “I think I slept for ten hours last night.  I feel great.”

            I forced a small smile.  “Gahyeon, what time is it?”

            “Um…I think it’s about noon.”  She looked down at my ankle and frowned.  “Jiu, you should sit down and ice your ankle.”

            “You’re right,” I agreed quickly, looking back down the stairs.  “But I want to check on the others first.  Do you know where they are?”

            “Yoohyeon and Dami are exploring in the backyard I think,” she explained, taking a sup from her teacup.  “I just made some tea.  Do you want some, Jiu?”

            “Maybe in a little bit,” I assured hurriedly.  “I’ll be back.  Let me go see how Yoohyeon and Dami are.”

            “Okay.”  She took a few reluctant steps into her room.  I could feel her watching me as I limped down the stairs, but I had to make sure the others were okay.

            I went through the kitchen to the back door and stepped out into the backyard.  It was a beautiful place I always enjoyed.  An ancient tree loomed over most of it, providing shade for the pretty metal furniture spread out across the lawn.  But having seen Yuzhou’s world, it all looked so pale and lifeless.  It was like a barren field with no potential or meaning.  My fear dissipated ever so slightly as I noticed a flurry of blue butterflies dancing around the shade tree’s branches.   For a moment, my heart fluttered at the thought of leaving this physical world and returning to that beautiful place for the rest of my life.

            But my thoughts scattered as I noticed Yoohyeon and Dami sitting quietly at the foot of the hue tree.  They sat facing one another, each learning to the side against the ancient bark.  As I silently stepped towards them, they stayed lost in their thoughts and quiet conversation.  It was so seldom I saw them so calm together; the scene made me anxious.

            “Hey, I called reluctantly as I reached them.  “Are you guys okay?”

            Dami turned her face towards me for just a moment before giving a sigh and looking at the tree.  Yoohyeon studied her expression for a few seconds before answering me. 

            “I think…we’re fine,” she assured hesitantly.  “How are you?  Why are you walking like that?”

            “I just…slept wrong.” 

I stood there wishing I had the words to make Dami trust me again.  My heart hurt just from not receiving her gaze.  Her expression from last night returning to the forefront of my mind, and I felt more ashamed than any other time in my life.  Taking a deep breath, I carefully sat down on the grass next to both of them.

            “Dami…I want to apologize.”  I couldn’t bring myself to look at her anymore.  I stared down at the ground and ran my fingers through the cool grass.  “Sincerely.  I’m so sorry.  I have my reasons for being the way I was…But it doesn’t excuse the way I hurt you.”

            Her eyes remained glued to the tree.  All I could see was a portion of the blank expression on her face, and I wondered just how much she hated me.  The pain in my ankle was growing again, and it filled me with frustration.  I had to break through to Dami if I had any chance to save her.

            “Dami, let’s talk about the Book.”

            She immediately turned to look at me with curious eyes.  “The Book?”

            “Yes…”  Her utter obsession with Anabel’s journal baffled me, but I was glad to make some progress.  “I think I understand it a little better.”

            “The witch?”

            “Yes, the witch,” I sighed.  “Both the witch and her daughter ended up in another dimension, right?”

            “Yeah,” she said eagerly, nodding her head.  “That’s what the journal says.”

            “I think I believe it now,” I admitted, tapping the grass softly.  “I can’t deny it anymore.”

            “But Anabel didn’t stay there.”

            My heart gave a paralyzing pound upon hearing that name.  I looked up at Dami with wide eyes and leaned forward.  “What did you just say?”

            “Anabel sacrificed herself for Eva,” Dami continued, her voice flat and rigid.  She stared at me with her large eyes without blinking once.  I noticed her body was tense and motionless.  My heart began to race as I looked back at her blank expression.

            “Dami-”

            “She did it for all of us.”  The left corner of rose to form an eerie grin that sent chills down my spine.  “She did it so that we could be with Yuzhou.”

            “Stop!”  I nearly fell over as I tried to push myself up and away from her.  When I finally made my way to my feet, I took slow steps back and pointed at her with a shaking finger.  “You stop that!  Don’t ever say that!”

            “Jiu, you need to accept it,” Dami told calmly, her unblinking eyes still following my every move.  “You know it well.  So does Gahyeon.”

            My body froze.  “What?”

            “Gahyeon has accepted it.”  She looked back down at the grass, plucked a single blade from the ground, and held it between us.  “It’s okay, Jiu.”

            My stomach turned into a thousand knots and I thought I was going to vomit.  I quickly turned around and hurried as fast as I could towards the back door.  Just as I entered the kitchen, my ankle hit the corner of the a cabinet, and I tripped onto the hard, wooden floor.  I cried in pain as I desperately tried to lift myself up as fast as I could.  Grabbing the corner of the stove, I noticed the tea kettle on the counter next to it.  A small bottle rested next to the kettle.

MORT AUX RATS

ATTENTION: NE PAS INGÉRER

            Just under the label was a painted rat and skull.  Rat poison.  It was open, with a bit of the poisonous blue powder spilled just outside it.  It was so unreal, to see the poison and imagine she would put it in her own tea on purpose.  I denied it, I assumed it was just not a possibility.  I thought I would laugh as I realized just how ridiculous such an event was.  But I only screamed as I remembered Handong’s death at her own hands just a few days ago. 

            “Gahyeon!”  I launched myself up from the floor and scurried out of the kitchen to the staircase.  Barely managing to crawl up the stairs, I cried her name over and over, begging for a response.  The staircase seemed endless with every moment she didn’t answer me. 

Just as I reached her room, the door slammed shut in my face.  I stumbled back against the railing and stared at the door in shock.  After I took a moments to realize what had happened, I threw myself up against the door and started pushing as hard as I could.

“Gahyeon!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, banging my fists against the door.  “Gahyeon!  Answer me!”

“GO AWAY!”  Sua’s ghostly voice pushed back against the door like a hurricane and made my whole body shake.  “ JIU, PLEASE!”

“Sua!”  I began pounding on the door again, harder and harder with each moment, my heart racing and aching.  “Open the door!  Gahyeon!”

“I WON’T LET YOU SEE THIS!  PLEASE JUST GO AWAY!”

“No!”  My fists scraped against the door’s splinters, and blood began to trickle down my hands.  “Sua!  Open the door!  Gahyeon!”   

“JIU!”

“OPEN THIS GODDAMN DOOR!”

The door suddenly opened with a gust of wind, and I fell into the room.  The hardwood sent pain through my entire body.  I closed my eyes hard and tried to collect myself.  What would I see when I opened them?  Did I even have the strength to do it?

“Jiu…I’m sorry…”  Sua’s voice was now a sorrowful whisper.  Her delicate voice was so close to my ear, I could feel her presence next to me.  “I’m so sorry.”    

“Sua…”  I choked on tears as I tried to speak.  “Please tell me it isn’t real.  Please tell me.”

“There was nothing I could do,” she whimpered.  “I know you said you didn’t want to see me…But I had to be here for her.  I tried to make it prettier…for you.”

“Please…tell me…”

“I’m sorry.”

When I opened my eyes, there was no one next to me.  The room was as cold as ice.  I could barely scrape my eyes from the floor up to her bed.  There were deep blue flowers wrapped in ivy hanging off the edges.  I could smell the leaves, the flowers. 

I carefully pushed myself up off the floor and glanced at her bed.  The figure I saw briefly, the one I saw seconds before I closed my eyes again, I imagined it as Gahyeon sleeping deeply.  Simply sleeping so deeply she could not hear my cries, could not feel Sua’s rushing winds, could not smell the flowers resting all around her. 

            Opening my eyes once again, I saw her.  She stared up at the ceiling with wide, empty eyes.  It was not the same as Handong.  Gahyeon’s mouth was hanging open as white foam covered her lips and chin.  She appeared terrified, as if the last few moments of her life had been the most horrifying event she had ever experienced.  Her hands clutched at her chest, her neck extended back like she tried so desperately to take a breath, to survive. 

            I felt everything inside me collapse.  I couldn’t breathe.  I stepped breathlessly towards her and climbed onto the bed next to her.  There were little white flowers spread around the top of her head and in her hair.  I lifted my shaking hand to touch her cold face.  Tenderly taking her face in both my hands, I leaned in closely, expecting to hear her voice, expecting to hear her soft, sleepy breathing.  After what felt like minutes of dead silence, air flooded my empty lungs, and I let out a piercing scream.

            “Gahyeon!”  Cradling her flower-strewn body into my arms, I pressed my face into the top of her head and sobbed violently, hysterically.  I felt like my body was going to shut down, like I was going to die right beside her.  My mind flew back to only last night when I held her so closely in my arms and I thought everything might turn out okay.  I saw her in my head as the cutest girl with the biggest smile and the brightest laugh, and I couldn’t connect it with the lifeless body I held now.  It could not be real.

            “I can’t do it anymore,” I breathed wearily.  I held her tightly in my arms, refusing to let go.  “I can’t…I need help.  I need to get one of the teachers.  I can’t do this by myself anymore.”

            I didn’t want to see her lifeless expression again.  I looked all around the room, everywhere except down at her face.  As my eyes darted from place to place, I noticed that little black journal resting on the bedside table.  I could feel its gaze on me, its dark shadow.  It was just a book, but I knew it was the smoking gun.  It was the source of all this pain and death that was consuming me and the people I loved.

            Letting go of Gahyeon little by little, I reached for the journal and held it with my trembling right hand.  My fingernails dug past the leather casing and into the wood.  My hand was warm, either from the hatred pulsing through my body or the dark energy the journal emitted.  I couldn’t know.  All I did know was that I had to destroy it once and for all, and I needed help.

            I gently rested Gahyeon’s body back onto the bed, keeping my eyes away from her face.  Without a moment to spare, I stepped down on to the floor and limped towards the door.  My ankle was throbbing again, but I didn’t have time to be concerned with it.  I stepped out of the room and gasped as Dami rushed past me, snatching the journal from my hands.

            “Dami!”  I stared at her in shock as she stopped a few yards down the hall and looked back at me.  “Dami, what are you doing?  Give me that book!”

            “You can’t stop this!” she cried, waving the book in the air.  “This book tells us everything!”

            “Dami, stop!”

            Before I could take another step towards her, she was running down the hall and out of sight.  Though I chased her as fast as I could, my ankle wouldn’t let me go as fast as I needed to.  I breathlessly ran through those upper halls, making turn after turn, trying endlessly to reach her.  I needed to catch her.  I needed that book.