They say that fear is a motivator. You know, like when you’re a test away from failing, and the fear of failing “motivates” you to study? Not saying that this isn’t true, but it hasn’t been my experience with fear. If anything, my fear is a huge handicap. You see, if my fear had been a motivator, then I would have realized that, ‘Hey, there is a window just across the room. If I run fast enough, I should be able to break it, and be free!’

 But no. I was frozen to the spot, watching a wall of flame eat its way to me. Well, if you want to be completely exact about it, it was really my four-year-old dream self. Not that I knew the difference. The pure heat radiating off of the massive fire made me feel like my hair was about to randomly catch on fire.

Oh, and forget about eyebrows. They were gone ages ago.

 In a fruitless attempt to get away from the heat, I tried to take a step back, only to be met with a wall.  The smoke clung in my lungs, making my body scream for oxygen. My eyes were swollen almost shut, with a steady stream of tears pouring out due to the smoke’s irritation.

“Help! Somebody, please, help!” I called out as loud as I could, hoping some heroic firefighter or something would come running to my aid.  It was to no avail, as my voice was hardly existent due to the deadly vapor’s damage, and the huge amounts of noise coming from outside the burning house.  The air was filled with the sounds of screaming and strange, humming sounds. Not to mention the huge roar of the fire as it ate its way towards me.

The heat was now a million times higher it seemed, and I was getting even more panicky. I could hardly hear anything over the thump if my heartbeat. Adrenaline was running through my veins, but there was nothing I could do. The window was covered by smoke, soon to be the property of the fire.

As a final, last-ditch effort to save my life, I kicked the wall as hard as I could, and cried out desperate pleas until my voice was gone completely. I sank to my knees, knowing that this was probably the end. And, considering this was coming from innocent, naïve four year old, things must be grim.

Suddenly, things became strangely peaceful. The fire was no longer terrifying, and I no longer felt fear run through my body. I was sleepy. I just wanted to sleep. And I was close, oh so close to closing my eyes. I gave a final, hopeless glance to the window, when I saw it smashed by an unknown figure.

This figure then proceeded to climb through the broken window, despite the obvious danger in the room. I tried to warn the person.

Did they not see? Could they not tell that there was a raging fire? Idiot. Couldn’t they tell that they would die as well?

“Soyu!”

Oh, well. That answered everything. I watched as my idiot brother Heechul raced from the window to where I was crouched.

“Soyu! You are going to be ok, ok? I am going to take you to a safe place. Are you hurt anywhere?” His voice was filled with panic, but he was trying to hide it. And failing miserably.

By the time I could realize what was happening, he had lifted me up, and raced through the smoke and approaching flames to the window. He was careful to mind the shards of glass that remained in the frame of the now broken window. Some faceless stranger took me and raced away from the burning building, while another was helping my brother out of the house.

And boy, did he choose the perfect chance to make his appearance. As soon as he was away from the window, the last supporting beam that was holding up the smoldering roof over my long-destroyed room collapsed in an angry hiss and a bright display of sparks.

“Soyu! Soyu, are you hurt anywhere?” one of my nameless rescuers snapped me out of my trance. As soon as he was done talking, a coughing fit of massive proportions overcame my body as it realized that I was out in fresh-ish air, and that the evil black smoke could be expelled. Someone helped me sit up and I coughed and coughed and coughed.

“My eyes,” I finally managed to choke out. “My eyes are burning!” Someone instantly flushed out my sensitive orbs with cool water, and the burning started to cease. Once my vision was finally clear, I looked into the faces of the several boys assembled at my side. I recognized them as my brother’s friends.  

“Where is my brother? Where is Heechul?” I questioned. Knots formed in my stomach as they shared worried glances, as if hiding something.

“Soyu, he is-“

“Right here.”

Before I could look at him, he crushed me into a massive hug. Just over his shoulders, I could see the rest of the normally quiet suburb we lived in on fire. Literally. It looked like someone had taken a torch to the entire town.

“Soyu… Soyu… Soyu… So-“

---

“SOYU!”

My eyes jerked open to see my brother’s face mere inches from mine.

“Good. You’re up.”

I let out a shaky sigh as he moved away from my face.

“You know, it wouldn’t hurt to wake me up like a normal person,” I said with as much venom in my voice as I could muster. And what with me being so frazzled from that dream, it wasn’t much.

“Well, I guess I could… But that would be no fun! And, you wouldn’t listen.”

I just sighed and gently kicked him off of my bed. He glanced at my clammy skin, and shaky breathing. “Are you ok?”

I nodded, but avoided meeting his eyes. I hated lying. It didn’t help that I was also terrible at it.

“You have got to be the worst liar I have ever met,” he said, smirking. He looked back at me and lost his grin. “No, really, do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head, and he just sighed.

“Ok, then. I’ll just go make breakfast, or something.”

He gave me one last look before walking out of my tiny room. As soon as he shut the door, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. My heartbeat was so fast and loud, I was sure that Heechul could hear it in our pathetic excuse for a kitchen.

I swung my legs to the side of my bed, smacking my shin on the dresser in the process. Groaning, I peered down to look at the now red skin. No matter how many times I tried avoiding doing that, I did it every single morning. I had a permanent bruise on my shin, it seemed like.

“Ouch……” I groaned and stumbled around my room, trying to pull together an appropriate outfit for school today. The result was an extremely simple combination of jeans, a tee shirt, and a hoodie. The only good thing about living in a world run by another species was that school didn’t matter. Therefore, no uniforms.

To say Heechul was jealous would be putting it simply.

I risked a glance in the mirror and regretted it instantly. My hair lied listlessly on my shoulders, and my eyes had bad bags, they should be illegal. I grabbed a hair elastic, and put my hair up, and fumbled with what little precious cover-up I had.  I lightly applied it, so that they were still visible, but not scarily awful.

After staring at my reflection for a while, I simply shrugged, and slipped on my shoes. It would have to do. With one hand, I opened my bedroom door, and the other I grabbed my schoolbag and walked out into the living area to deal with morning Heechul.

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A/N: Ohmygod, I am so sorry. For two things. The first one being that this took so freaking long. I honestly have NO explanation. I could not get the chapter to where I wanted it. I still don't like it. Which brings me to my second reason for apologizing. This . Just . Things are painfully slow and boring, but they should speed up in the next chapter. Sorry! So, please do not hate me! Oh, and I am aware that this is loooooooooooong. Future updates will not be this lengthy. Once again, sorry! Please, please, please, please comment and subscribe! It makes me happy!