“His words were soft.”

 

“Soft?” the man said condescendingly from his large leather chair, not even bothering to make eye contact. Just scribbling down his miserable notes.

 

“Yes. Soft.”

 

The man let out a heavy sigh as he picked his head up to look at the girl.

 

“Words can not be soft, Miss… um. Miss-” he trailed off as he started to flip through the papers on his clipboard hurridly. 

 

“Miss Jo? I’ve been your client for over a month now and you can’t even remember my own name?” Miss Jo Hana scoffed as she crossed her arms and laid back on the cool leather couch. 

 

“I see almost twenty patients a day. I can’t remember all their names,” Dr. Smith,  who was supposed to be the best mental health doctor in Korea that was from Europe and studied at Oxford. Maybe his head was just too clogged with such useful information to accept things like patients' names into his brain. 

 

“We don’t have much time, so let’s get back on the subject. When was the last time you 'saw' this Kai character?”

 

“The day before my 10th birthday,” Hana answered unwillingly. She would of stormed out a while ago, but she knew her parents were taking out some of their life savings for these exclusive sessions. 

 

“How was it? What did you two talk about?” the doctor said, going back to his notes. 

 

“He told me he had to leave. But that he’ll come back. He never specified when though. I remember crying and holding onto him and begging him not to leave and-”

 

“Why didn’t you want him to leave?”  the doctor quickly interrupted like a student only picking out the important things in a teacher’s lesson. 

 

“He was my best friend. He saved my life. Even though I was only a kid, I was in love with him.”

 

“Would you say, he was perfect?” 

 

“Yes, in every shape, way and form.”

 

“Miss Ko,  have you ever thought that he was so perfect because he was a product of your childish imagination? And you saying good-bye to him was really you just saying good-bye to you childhood and starting to mature as a  young lady?”

 

“For the last time its Miss Jo, and no. He was completely real.”

 

“Miss Jo,” he said putting a rude emphasis on the ‘J,’ “ This all began after you were kidnapped, correct?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“So you need to consider that your mind made him up to deal with that awful experience you had to go through. Didn’t you have imaginary friends before that happened?”

 

“Yes I had imaginary friends!” Hana started to raise her tone which caught the doctor off guard enough to look up from his clip board, “Just like any other child that was my age, I had lots of imaginary friends! But there was Kai, who wasn’t one! I know the difference of someone I can see, and someone I can’t! He saved my life! I’m not crazy, and I refuse to sit here and have you tell me I am. Something happened that cannot be explained with your prestigious Oxford education, he’s something that has been undiscovered. And if I heard someone else saying what I was saying, I wouldn’t believe them either, but goddamnit, he was real!” Hana said with every word full of emotions of anger and frustration. Hana had not realized, but somewhere in the middle of that rant she had stood up and was hovering over the doctor, who seemed to be paralyzed in fear. She backed away slowly and sat back down. 

 

“Sorry for exploding like that,” she muttered quietly. 

 

“I’ve had worse happen,” the doctor said after he cleared his throat and straightened his tie, trying to appear as if he was never scared at all. 

 

“For the remaining 10 minutes of you session, I’d like you to send you parents in, so I can talk to them. Alone, please.”

 

Hana got up from the couch and opened the dark wooden door into the lobby. Her parents who were sitting down in the waiting chairs quickly cut off their quiet conversation. Hana knew they were talking about her. 

 

“Oh, sweetie! Done so soon?” Her mother said checking her watch. 

 

“Not really, he wants to speak with you both.” Hana said as she plopped herself down in the last remaining chair as if she just ran a marathon. 

 

Her parents smiled at her. But not the kind of smile that parents are supposed to give. That kind of forced smile. It looked like someone had a knife to their throats, and said if they didn’t smile, it would be their last breath. Out of all this, Hana hated that the most. She hated how her parents treated her like she was insane and could snap at any minute. She wasn’t insane- right? All these doctors and therapists telling her she was threw off her judgment.

 

When little Miss Jo Hana was six years old, she was at a grocery store. Her parents were both on their cell phones. They had just started their own company, and were on the phone with some investors who were ready to give them the money they needed to get their business going. Needless to say, they were distracted by the potentially most important phone call of their life. Hana couldn’t understand any of their business jargon, so her eyes were wandering around the store. And like any six year old in a grocery store, she spotted the candy aisle right away. 

 

“Mom! Can I get some candy?” she said tugging on her mom’s skirt.  Her mom shooed her away with her hand, and gave her the thumbs up to go. Hana ran to it and her huge smile lit up. She was looking for her favorite treat. She put her small little index finger over her lips, and tapped it, like her father did when he was deciding what tie he’d wear for the next big meeting. She finally found it. Gummy worms, all the way on the top shelf. She reached high for it, but was too small to even come near it. She jumped and jumped, but with no reward. Her eyes started to well up in the frustration. 

 

“Woah their kid, what’s the matter?” a man who seemed to come out of no where popped out. 

 

“I really want those gummy worms, but I can’t reach.” she said wiping her eyes. 

 

“Well, I guess I came just in time!” he said reaching and pulling it down with ease. He grabbed a pack in his hand.

 

“Just one pack?” 

 

“Yeah, my parents only let me get one thing of sweets when we go food shopping.”

 

“I’m not your parent, let’s get a couple packs!” he said grabbing a handful.

 

“But my-”

 

“No buts! I’ll pay for it, your parents will never find out!” he said with a wink. 

 

“Wow, thanks!” Hana screeched. 

 

“But here’s the thing,” the man said kneeling down to her level, “I really hurt my arm the other day. Is there anyway you could help me bring my groceries to the car since I’m buying you these?”

 

“Sure!” Hana said excitedly. And that one “sure” would come to almost kill her. 

 

They went to the checkout, and Hana was never suspicious of this older man. Even when he agreed with the cashier on “how beautiful his daughter was.” Even when all she had to carry was a bag of bread. Not once did she think to go find mom and dad. And the worst part was, mom and dad weren’t even looking for her. 

 

She went to his car. It was a red Jeep. Pretty rugged looking. Nothing out of the ordinary. He opened the trunk.  As Hana went to go put her bag down, he scooped her up, threw her in the back, and closed the door in a single swift move. It all took less then five seconds to steal her away. In the process, he closed some of her fingers in the door on her right hand. She could feel the bones shattered. 

 

She screamed and cried. And screamed  some more. And cried some more. She tried to move her hand from out of the door and she couldn’t. She felt the car come to a stop, and the man got out of the car. And she was left just sitting there in the old car. Her voice had run out, but she was still attempting to call some kind of attention. She’d kick the door, and let out raspy attempts of shouting. But it was no use. She thought this was how she was going to die. 

 

About, what she guessed, two hours later all she heard was:

 

“Hey kid, what are you doing by that car?! Get ou-” and then a huge thud. And then she heard the car unlock. She braced herself for anything as the car door opened.  Her eyes were shut tight and curled up into the fetal postion. 

 

“Please don’t hurt me,” her voice got out. But scratchy. Like when she was 5 and had strep throat. 

 

“Come on! Before he wakes up!” and young voice shouted.  He grabbed her by her broken hand and pulled her out, and didn't let go, despite her pleas to. They were in some kind of parking deck. He ran down to an elevator and got in. As the doors closed, he let go of her hand and leaned against the elevator walls, closed his eyes, and let a heavy sigh go. 

 

Hana was backed into the corner, whimpering and clutching her broken hand. The boy looked at her. He started to move towards her. 

 

“You don’t have to be scared of me,” he said, holding his hands up as to show he was gentle, and wouldn’t hurt her. Once he noticed her bleeding, almost completely deformed hand, his eyes lit up with panic. He looked at his hand, and saw that there was her blood on it.

 

“I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were hurt, or I would of let go!” he said. He went to go examine it, but she flinched away. As the elevator door opened, she went to go run away, but the boy caught her by the back of her shirt. 

 

“I won’t hurt you! I came to help. Please don’t run away all on your own, you don’t even know where you are!” 

 

And as Hana looked out the open elevator doors, it was true. She had no idea where she was. It all lead out to some less fortunate side of her neighborhood that maybe she drove past once or twice. And as the boy slowly walked her out, she noticed there was no grocery store in sight. She looked at this mysterious boy. He looked her age. He had big, innocent eyes tainted with a stare that seemed like he saw too much. His hair was all messy, and his cloths were tattered, like he was an orphan. Hana didn’t know what to do, but she knew she couldn’t run. And this boy did get her out of there. 

 

“Sit down with me,” the boy said, gently leading her to the bench near the elevator doors. “Give me your hand.” Hana didn’t and stayed still, and didn’t say a word. 

 

“Please. I’ll  make it all better,” the boy pleaded. Hana looked down at it. It was a disgusting sight. Fingers were facing the wrong way. Blood was everywhere. But she was already so traumatized from trusting people that she didn’t want to give her hand to him. But he kept eye contact with her the entire time as he grabbed her wrist as delicately as he could, and put it on his lap. How could she not trust those eyes? They were memorizing. That's what she remembers the most about him. He looked down at her hand and hovered his palm over her. He quickly glanced up to make sure no one was watching them, and started to hum words that Hana have never heard, like her parent’s fancy business talk. She gasped as she literally watched her hand go back to its normal shape. And the pain disappeared completely. The blood was still there as evidence of the wound, but there was no scars,  no broken bones- nothing. She looked at the boy who was smiling proudly. 

 

“Do you trust me now?” the boy said with a chuckle. Hana nodded her head, completely amazed. They walked in silence to the police station. He held her hand the whole way.

 

“Now you’re going to go in there, and you’re going to tell them you were kidnapped. Do you know your parent’s phone number?”

 

“Mhmm,” Hana quietly responded. 

 

“Good. Tell them, and then say that the car’s plate had this number on it,” he said handing her a small piece of paper. 

 

“Plate number?” she repeated hesitantly. She never heard that term before. 

 

“Yes, that’s right. And if anyone asks, you got out on your own. I was never here okay?” he said putting his hands on her shoulders to emphasize the importance of that direction. 

 

“O..Okay,” she said. 

 

“Alright. Good luck Hana.” he said as he started to back away. As he turned around, she quickly wrapped her arms around his waist from the behind. 

 

“Please don’t go! I’m scared!” she said into his shirt. He turned around and hugged her tightly. 

 

“It’s okay, I know this is all scary. But I’ll come back again, you’ll never be alone again, okay Hana?” he said reassuringly. 

 

“How do you know my name?” she asked.

 

“Lucky guess,” he said jokingly. 

 

“What’s  your name?”

 

“Kai.”  he said softly.

 

Hana nodded, and he turned her around and walked her to the door of the police station. “Now go.”

 

She did as she was told, and soon enough, she was in a hospital with her parents, and the man who stole her was under arrest . And Kai appeared in her room in the middle of the night. And as he promised, he was there everyday after that. Until the day before her 10th birthday. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hana sighed. The memories were all so vivid in her mind. How could she of made that all up? How did her injuries heal? That pain was real. And she couldn't of imagined those eyes. She looked around in the waiting room and saw that the door to the doctor’s office was cracked.  Like the curious girl she was, she decided to listen in on the conversation.

 

“She’ll be 18 in a month. I can’t diagnose her with schizophrenia until she’s an adult.” Hana recognized the doctor’s low voice.  

 

“Well, when she’s diagnosed, what will happen?” her father’s voice said.

 

“She’ll be put into a long treatment hospital. Right now, she’s a ticking time bomb. I don’t know when the absence of this ‘Kai’ fellow will make her mental stability shatter.” the doctors voice rang. 

 

“Well, if that’s what she needs.” her mother’s voice sighed. 

 

Hana backed away from the door. She couldn’t believe what she was  hearing. The doctor was going to send her away? And her parents agreed with him?! For believing in the person who saved her life? Weather he was real or imaginary, what was wrong with someone, or something that led her safely to the police station? They were going to hospitalize her for that? 

 

She panicked. She didn't want to go to a hospital, but didn't want to give up her faith that Kai would return. She ran out the door, and kept running. She ran as fast as her legs would let her. Through the unfamiliar streets, turning and seemingly random intersections. She didn’t notice the tears falling out of her eyes. She had all this energy from her anger that was just being burned off with every stomp of her foot that hit the ground. When she finally ran out energy, she sat on the nearest bench. She was exhausted. She was coughing, gasping, doing anything to get as much of a breath as she could. When her breathing stabilized she looked up, and saw a place that she had not seen in years.