Volume 2; Fate

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Darkness – complete and utter darkness was what she woke up to. Her breath hitched from the shock of waking up. Sweat covered her body, her face, and ran down her spine with a chill that shook her core.

The dream, the same one she had in the car during the drive to Naksan, had assaulted her subconscious mind once again while she slept. Nothing in the dream had changed. Wheein still laid in her arms, limp, dead and disintegrating into the air.

Hyejin shut her eyes closed and shook her head briefly before opening her eyes again and slowly sitting up from the bed. It was then that she realized that the room wasn't completely dark as she first thought. The curtains from the porch window were slightly open allowing a little bit of light to enter and shine against the mirror on the wall in front of her.

She could see her reflection, although still shadowed from the darkness, and the reflection of the night sky. Hyejin tried to move her left hand to wipe the sweat off her forehead but it was then that she realized that Wheein was holding onto her left hand with both of her own. The older girl's arms were slightly wrapped around her left forearm and hand.

Wheein was sleeping peacefully next to her in their shared hotel bed. For a moment, Hyejin felt a sense of relief from her dream, her thoughts, and the restlessness that seemed to linger especially after having the dream again. She studied Wheein's face, the way her lips were slightly parted. The older girl looked so beautiful and it gave Hyejin a sense of comfort.

Hyejin used the back of her right hand to wipe the sweat off her forehead and then laid back down on the bed to stare at the ceiling. Wheein's warmth alongside her own from under the covers helped ease her although falling back asleep wasn't going to be an option for now. Her eyes drifted towards the curtains of the porch window and the light shining through.

The minutes went by and any sense of ease she was feeling slowly started getting replaced by her restlessness. It started to feel as though there was this pent up energy inside her – like she needed some form of release. Slowly she untangled her left arm from Wheein's grasp, made sure the girl didn't stir, and got up from the bed.

She walked over to the porch window and moved one of the curtains aside to get a better look. The night was silent, not a single soul seemed to be outside. The only sounds she could hear after opening the window and stepping out into the porch was the sound of the breeze and the waves of splashing against the sand.

Hyejin stepped back inside the hotel room, grabbed her hotel key from the cabinet under the mirror, put her sandals on and headed out of the room making sure to close the door as quietly as possible. The elevator down the hallway seemed to be expecting her when it opened up right away and she was down at the lobby of the hotel in no time.

The silent night on the beach seemed to be part of the hotel as well. She expected to see some of the employees lingering around the lobby near the welcome desk but there was no one around. It was as if she was the only person awake at 2am in the entire hotel and beach area. The moment she exited the hotel and turned to her left to head out towards the road that led into town, Hyejin was hit with a bit of nostalgia from the evening of the day before.

Wheein had texted her after she had gone back to their room that evening. The excessive use of exclamation points and shocked face emojis indicated to Hyejin that Wheein was probably hysterically yelling at her through her text messages. Needless to say, Wheein was at their door and inside their room in the span of five minutes from the moment Hyejin told her she wasn't feeling well and had headed back.

The empty street food stands that lined up down the road into the town made Hyejin smile slightly. She and Wheein had come out here for dinner after Wheein had made it back to their room. The further she walked into the town, the closer she was to reaching the national park. Perhaps the fresh oxygen from all the pine trees would help Hyejin clear her mind.

She was a mix of emotions, of energy built up inside her, and a need to release everything that had her restless. She didn't understand why all of the sudden she was having that dream because it was what was making her feel like this. The cool breeze seemed chillier the closer she got to the park but she enjoyed the way it hit her exposed shoulders and arms. The thin black tank top and jean shorts offered hardly any way of retaining body heat.

Silhouettes of the Buddhist temples standing higher than some of the trees was the sign that Hyejin had arrived at the park. The entrance trail led uphill where the pine trees lined up against the cliff edges. The further she would go in, the more temples Hyejin would encounter alongside the trees. There wasn't much to see of the temples at this time of night but Hyejin welcomed the still and silent darkness.

Small branches cracked under the weight of her feet as she walked uphill. She wanted to reach the highest point and walk towards the tallest cliff. She was unsure as to what was her reason for doing so, but with the great strides she was taking, Hyejin made it to the top in record time. The biggest temple was the one built at the highest point of the hill which lied to her left and the edge of the cliff was to her right – only a few trees separated the trail from the edge of the cliff.

Hyejin walked around the trees until she reached the clearing and stepped a few centimeters from the edge of the cliff. From here she could see the bright moon in the night sky filled with a lot more stars than those she could see in Seoul. No city smog made it for clearer skies. Below the cliff was the ocean, the stretch of sand making up the beach was very small down there, perhaps a meter in width. The sound of the waves crashing up against the rocks and cliff seemed to finally sooth all her emotions.

Hyejin closed her eyes and leaned a bit forward to feel more of the cool breeze on her face and body. What she heard next was completely unexpected. “Maybe you should just step off the edge of the cliff.”

Her eyes shot open and Hyejin quickly turned around to face the owner of the voice. Hyejin was positive she did not hear anyone walking behind her when she made her trek up the hill but there, before her, stood a woman about her height, with long dark brown hair and a beautiful face.

“Excuse me?” The frown on Hyejin's face made the woman smirk. She took a few steps toward Hyejin – who took a couple of steps back. Hyejin's feet reached the edge of the cliff and she looked down at the beach and waves splashing against it and the rocks.

“Do you know how long the walk from your hotel to this part of the park is?” The woman asked Hyejin – her eyes darting up to the night sky and her index and thumb on her right hand rested on her chin.

“What?” Hyejin didn't understand this woman. What was she talking about? First telling her to step off the edge of the cliff and now if she knew distances around this area? Her feet remained steady at the edge of the cliff, but she leaned her body away from the woman who continued smirking and taking a step clos