Jinki called out, his feet sloshing around in the water. He knew, deep down, there wasn’t much use to calling, but he tried anyway. Suddenly, something brushed by him, quickly, the breeze in their wake ruffling his hair. He turned towards where he felt the thing or person go.

                “Hello?”

                No response.

                “Is someone there?”

                The person-thing went by again and Jinki turned as they went, reaching out. His fingers brushed a familiar fabric, but Jinki couldn’t place it. Suddenly, something smooth and cold touched his cheek and he felt the world falling away.

                Jinki opened his eyes and groaned. His head hurt a bit, and he was lying on a cold, hard surface. He rolled over and pushed himself up to a sitting position, looking around. The floor was marbled black and dark blue, and felt like it might have been actual marble. Looking up, he saw that the walls were black and smooth, reaching to a vaulted ceiling. The only lights in the area were soft blue ones recessed and hidden in the walls. He stood up and touched one of the walls. It was smooth to the touch and seemed solid, but it gave slightly and felt a little squishy when he pressed against it. There were no discernible doors or windows, although there had to be some way of getting into the strange hallway, as he was now inside. He leaned against one of the walls and suddenly, he heard something. Pressing his ear against it, he could make out voices.

                “Of course I called them. It’s not my fault they decided to shut off our power!” A man’s voice whined in Korean.

                “Well, obviously you didn’t, or we’d still have power!” That had to be his wife. Jinki sympathized with the man. The woman’s voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. He moved to another section of the wall. More Korean voices chattered on.

                “Help!” Jinki yelled. He attempted to pound on the wall, only to find that the harder he hit, the softer the wall seemed to become, swallowing his fist. A kick caused his foot to sink into the wall. His shoe was left behind when he pulled his foot out, getting spit back out as the wall slowly returned to its original form. Realizing there was no hope of being heard, Jinki leaned his ear back to the wall.

                This time the voices were in Mandarin. Jinki, loving languages the way he did, had studied Mandarin, Japanese and English in college, so he could follow most of the conversation.

                “I hate you.”

                “Mother, what…”

                “I HATE YOU!!” There was a crash and Jinki’s eyes widened. “You weren’t supposed to happen! You took away my chance for a son!!”

                “I’m sorry mother. Maybe you should stop drinking now…”

                Another crash came, and the voices degraded into screaming. Jinki backed away from the wall.

                The next voice spoke in a rapid, guttural language that Jinki didn’t recognize. He moved around, hearing snatches of conversations in languages he wished he understood, until he heard something he could follow.

                “What?! That little ! I haven’t slept with her ing boyfriend!” Jinki was happy he’d done some study abroad now, as the girl ranted on in English.

                “Though not for lack of trying.” The second girl’s voice sounded both amused and disgusted at the same time. Jinki was impressed.

                “Well, come on. Who wouldn’t want me, seriously?” The first voice proclaimed.

                “Um, me, for one.” He could imagine her raising her hand. He smiled a bit.

                “Oh, don’t get started on that ‘I love people’s souls’ panual crap. You’re just like that because you can’t get a date.”

                Jinki had been thinking of moving, but now he was curious as to how this would play out. His money was on the second girl. The first one continued.

                “You’re just jealous that you were born with brains instead of being gorgeous like me.”

                The second girl laughed. “I’d rather be plain looking than stupid. The only way you can get a coherent thought in that blonde head of yours is to shake yourself really hard and hope two of the couple dozen brain cells you have roaming around in there crash together long enough to spark.”

                Jinki laughed. Hard. That was the best comeback he’d ever heard. He’d have to make sure to remember it to tell to his sister later.

                “You’re pretty when you’re smiling like that.”

                The suddenness of the creepy little girl voice made Jinki crash back to reality, and to the floor, as he jumped in surprise. The voice giggled.

                “I want to keep it.”

                Jinki looked around. “Who are you?”

                She giggled again and a shiver ran down Jinki’s spine. “Don’t worry. We’ll meet soon enough.”

                “Let me go.” Jinki said, his voice unwavering, much to his surprise.

                There was no answer.

                Jinki waited a couple more minutes before getting up from the floor. He walked the length of the hallway again, poking and prodding at the walls, trying to find the portal that his captors would have had to bring him through.