The rhythmic pitter-patter of the rain lulled me to sleep and I slapped my face to keep myself awake. I looked at the clock hanging on the wall and sighed upon seeing the time. Only a few minutes has passed since Dara left. Dara, my best friend and house mate, probably won’t be back until the wee hours of the night. Her dates with her boyfriend, Jiyong, always kept her that late.

I don’t really mind at all. I’ve always been a house person, while Dara was the one with a free spirit, leaving the house whenever she gets the chance. I sighed and thought of how Dara and I are so different.

We are like yin and yang. We have different tastes and attributes. While we are both considered as pretty, my features could be as fierce as a lion while hers could be as gentle as a rabbit. I’m silent and reserved while she’s the loud and energetic. I’m the intellectual one, reading books, writing poems during my spare time, while she’s the happy-go-lucky one, going out to see the newest and hottest hangout spots.

But while we have different views, we are like salt and pepper. We complemented each other and I couldn’t ask for a better friend. We have been best friends since grade school, since I first saw her crying outside her house’s gate. We are so inseparable, that for college, we decided to move in a house and live there together. People we know always call us the innocent sisters, because of the purity we exuded.

I decided to take a drive just to kill time. I grabbed my car keys and ran to my car, using my arms as my umbrella. The rain has started to pour heavier and I took solace inside my car. I looked outside my window and smiled to myself.

I love it when it rains…

…because every time it does, good things happen.

It was raining when I first met Dara. I was coming home from school when I saw a girl crying. Her face was streaked with tears and her nose was runny. I took my handkerchief out of my pocket and gave it to her. I don’t know her, but I gave her that piece of cloth just like that.

She looked at me, sniffing, her eyes still wet with tears. I smiled at her and she smiled back. She took the handkerchief I offered. I sat beside her and waited for her to stop crying. I don’t know what made me sit next to her but I guess my innocence matched hers.

“Thank you for the handkerchief,” the girl sniffed. “I’m Dara Park.”

“I’m Lee Chaerin.” I extended my hand to her but she refused to take it.

“My hands are not exactly clean right now,” Dara explained. She was actually right. She had been using her hand as a hanky before I gave mine. I laughed. I noticed she was wearing the same uniform as mine and figured that she’s attending the same school. It was my first time seeing her though.

“I was a transferee,” she replied when I asked her about it. It turned out that it was the same reason she was crying that rainy afternoon. Just like every new student, she was bullied on her first day. I told her that it was the norm and she should stay strong and not cry.

“When was the last time you cried?” Dara asked, her eyes curious.

The last time I cried? That was a year ago…when my mom died. I don’t remember much, but I recall the icy stares everyone was giving me and my father. And the crows that hovered above. I told her this and when I finished, I lamely said, “I hate crows.”

I hated telling anyone my story because they end up pitying me, and I certainly don’t need their pity. I expected Dara to give me one of those pitiful stares that I despise but she was not even looking at me. She was staring off into the distance and when she did, she said, “I hate crows too.”

I chuckled at her response.

“But I think I hate scarecrows more,” she said matter-of-factly and I had to ask why. “Ugh, those things give me the creeps,” she let out a shiver, and it was pretty obvious that it really scares her.

“They scare me too, but if it keeps the crows away, then it’s fine with me.”

Dara nodded and she said, “Do you know that crows could fly even when the rain pours like a torrent?” I shook my head and I groaned. I looked up at the sky and winced.

“Then does it mean they could fly in this weather?”

She chuckled and said, “Maybe. I haven’t seen one though.”

Our conversation steered to other topics as we waited for the rain to stop. And when it did, I gained a new friend. Dara held out her pinky and said, “Friends?”

I returned her sweet smile and hooked my pinky with hers.

“Best friends.”

The rain only seemed to pour continuously. I started to think how Dara and Jiyong’s date was going and some other random stuff when I start to have the feeling that I was being watched.

I stopped the car for a moment and looked outside. The street was pretty deserted and no cars or human were in sight. I opened my window and that’s when a black thing came swooping in.

It was the thing I dread the most—a crow.

It started to attack me with its sharp talons and pointed beak, and as much as I would like to fight it, I was too scared. I froze, and everything went black.

When I woke up, the crow was nowhere in sight, and I sighed with relief. I had blood on my hands, a bump on my head, a few scratches here and there, but overall, I was fine. My car was in a worse condition though. I had a broken side mirror and I wondered how it got broken. The glass for the headlights was shattered too. I closed my window and drove home as fast as I could, fearing for my own life.

I don’t know how long I was driving before I passed out but the sky was already getting dark when I got home. I ran to the door of our house, rummaging my pockets for the key, when I felt the same feeling I had when I was in the car. I slowly looked over my shoulder and gasped.

The crow has somehow followed me and he brought some company. Several were perched on a tree near the house and I could tell that they were staring at me. My hand blindly searched for the key and I opened the door once I found it.

Stupid crow.

Where is that scarecrow when I need one?

I found myself wishing for a scarecrow, no matter how creepy it looks. I just want those crows out of my sight. They remind me of my mother’s death, my father’s cold shoulder and the icy stares of everyone in the funeral. I hate those memories.

Like how I hate the crows that were hovering above us that day.

I remembered the song my mom used to sing when she was alive. It always made me happy. But when she died, I forgot the words. I still the remember the melody though. Whenever I feel sad, Dara would hum this song for me and vice versa.

I hummed the melody as I remember it and I finally calmed down. I removed my wet clothes, tossed them on the dirty laundry hamper, and changed to dry ones. I fixed my hair which was messed up when that crow attacked me. I examined the bump and scratches I got, but I let it go, because it looked okay to me.

I went straight to the living room and idly watched random shows on the television. The drive and the excitement of the afternoon have finally taken its toll on me and I fell asleep by the television.

I was only asleep for half an hour but it felt longer than that. The show that I was watching was already finished though. I went to the kitchen and helped myself to the ice cream Dara bought a day ago. I paused by the fridge door and examined the photos that were pinned. It was Dara and I eating spicy noodles on a restaurant, our first trip to Jeju, and our picture in the library, where we first met Jiyong.

I smiled at the memories and I would have continued to stare at it if my craving for ice cream and the introductory music for my favorite variety show have not called me. I sat comfortably on one of the couches.

An hour passed or so, when the door opened and Dara came in, looking a little down. I wondered if she and Jiyong fought. If they did, it was the first time.

They’re so ing harmonious.

“You’re home early,” I commented and she just smiled. Dara went straight to the kitchen and I went back to watching the program on the television. A few commercials were shown and I looked back to the kitchen were Dara was. She was looking at the photos on the fridge door and I stared at her, wondering what she was thinking.

“We interrupt this program for our breaking news.”

Mine and Dara’s attention was caught by the announcer’s voice over the television.

“Another victim of hit-and-run was found in Gyeongnam-do District. The police have not ruled out robbery, as it turns that the person is missing his wallet, probably to make the victim unknown. If you know this man,”

A picture of the victim was flashed and my eyes widened in recognition.

It was Jiyong.

“…please approach the police or call the number flashing across the screen.”

What? How? I asked myself. Wasn’t he and Dara supposed to meet this afternoon?

I faced Dara who was slowly making her way next to me, and she was looking back at me.

Her expression startled me, but more than that…

…her eyes scared me more.

Because it spoke of something else.