Hope you enjoy!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The roads were busy on my way to the school because it was lunch time for working people. The crowded streets were my advantage, but that didn’t stop me from being on edge. I kept my head low the entire time, and completely ducked down at red lights.

When I was a few blocks away from the school, I decided to park the car in an alley and walk the rest of the way. It was a risk to be walking, but there was a smaller chance of something happening when so many people were outside.

Leaving the alley, I crossed the street and walked within a group of people. When the school was in sight, I split from the group; looking around for anything suspicious as I walked towards the entrance.

I felt paranoid as soon as I left the group of people. It seemed like everyone was staring at me.

I think the stress is getting to me.

It became worse when I got into the school; as soon as I opened the doors all eyes me. I cautiously walked through the school trying to be as incognito as possible, but I caught people’s stares wherever I went.

The school’s office wasn’t too far from the front doors so I was able to get there in no time without incident. I had been to the school’s office a lot: I was an aid when I attended the school and I came many times to bring my sister lunch or pick her up; so it was strange to me when the receptionist stared at me like a ghost.

“T-T-Taeyeon?” the receptionist asked stuttering the entire way. “Yeah, it’s me…” I said looking at her quizzically “I’m here to pick up my sister.” The time wasn’t as late as I previously thought which I figured could be an advantage.

The men who are looking for me probably won’t show up until school is over so we can use the extra time to make a smooth escape.

The receptionist called my sister up to the office and began to send glares at me as if she wanted to ask a question, but wouldn’t. The receptionist’s glares made me even more paranoid; causing me to look around the office.

Are they already here?

Completely on edge; I raised my fist when the door finally opened.

Haeyeon walked through the door wide-eyed as it looked like I was about to attack her. When I noticed that it was her, I became less tense: It felt as if I was home again. Although I let my guard down, Haeyeon still stared at me with wide eyes of disbelief.

After a few seconds of scanning me over she finally spoke “U-Unnie, are you ok?” Surprised by the question, I responded slowly “Yes… Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well you don’t look like it.” She said boldly.

“What do you mean?” I was ultimately confused; like everyone was in on some cruel joke.

My sister grabbed my arm and pulled me to the bathroom. “Have you seen yourself?” she said pointing towards one of the mirrors.

I walked over to the mirror, and stood there shocked. I hadn’t taken into consideration the toll today’s events had taken on my body.

I had leaves and twigs in my hair from climbing the tree. My shirt was dirty and had cuts in it from falling off the truck. I had dried sweat caked with dirt covering my skin from all the running, jumping, and falling I did. Not to mention that there was dried blood on my cheek from the cut I received and had a large bandage wrapped around my right hand.

In any other situation I would have been upset by the way I looked, but at this moment I found it funny. My sister tilted her head to the side, confused, as I started laughing at my reflection.

“What happened-?

“It’s been a long day, Hae.” I cut her off while turning on the sink to wash my face.

After taking some time to clean myself up, I looked at her and remembered that we were still in danger. I grabbed her wrist and quickly led my sister out of the school.

“Are you in that much of a hurry to get ice cream?” my sister asked, smiling at my urgency to leave the campus.

“We’re not getting…” my voice trailed off as I opened the school doors and saw two men staring at us from across the street. These two weren’t the same one’s who kidnapped my parents, but I could tell that they were the same ones from the restaurant. Without taking my eyes off the two men, I walked out into the courtyard of the school.

They remained still.

It was lunch hour at the school so a lot of kids were out in the courtyard eating and socializing. Remembering that the men didn’t want to create as scene, the large group of people seemed like a good idea for an escape. From my vantage point I couldn’t see any weapons, but they could have had them concealed.

Noticing my attention towards the two men, Haeyeon looked at me quizzically. “Who are they?” she said pointing at the guys.

Her motion towards the men must have alerted them because they turned to the side and each put a hand behind their back.

They’ve got guns!

Time seemed to freeze as I came to the realization that I put all of those children, including my sister, in danger.

As soon as I was able recollect my thoughts, I turned around and went back inside the school with my sister in hand.

Turning my head, I could see that one of the guys was attempting to follow us into the school. He had crossed the street and was walking with a quick pace through the courtyard. The other man stayed across the street, but walked back and forth to make sure we weren’t leaving from another side of the school.

At first I deemed that them separating was worse for us, but then more words from my father played in my head.

“Taengo, if you’re outnumbered and running isn’t an option then your best bet is to split their numbers.”

He said that the reason for telling me this was in case I was attacked by some guys on the street.

I don’t think he meant it in this way.

Thankful for his advice, I realized that my sister and I now had the upper hand.

As we ran in the school, Haeyeon followed along without question. We turned a corner when I decided to get my sister to safety. Looking towards a classroom, there were a group of girls sitting down eating their lunch. Pointing towards the door I looked at my sister “Blend in with those girls.” She nodded in agreement and ran inside the classroom.

When my sister was safely inside the room, I turned and ran to the end of the hall. Around the time I stopped at the end of the hall, my pursuer showed up at the other side. This was the first time I had seen one of them face-to-face and I felt a sudden anger well up

He’s with the people who kidnapped my parents.

 He was a lot more built than I had previously thought; causing me to second guess the plan that I was formulating in my head.

This might not work out so well…

The man walked forward: his eyes open the entire time. His stare could have easily intimidated most people, but my anger made me determined so his gaze didn’t faze me. It surprised me that he didn’t reach for his gun until I remembered that he was almost twice my size.

When he was nearly halfway down the hall, I turned a corner and ran. As I moved, I could hear him following suit and was happy that he was being so careless.

He probably doesn’t think I’m much of a threat.

I gained some distance on him as I was able to turn another corner when he finally reached the end of the first hall. Keeping with my quick pace, I went down the second hall and stopped.

If I remember there’s a…

My thought was cut off by the sight of the man turning the second corner to meet me face-to-face again. He was moving faster than before, but I wasn’t going to let that interfere with what I planned to do

I moved towards the left side of the hallway and ran towards him. At first he was surprised, but then the man went towards the side in order to cut me off. Things were going as planned, but I still wasn’t sure if it would work.

Well it’s too late to stop now.

I jumped right before I reached him; turning my body at an angle towards the wall. He turned in an attempt to grab me and that’s when I made my move.

I kicked off the wall with my left leg and aimed at him with my right. My maneuver surprised him as my right foot whipped straight across his face; causing him to stumble back

My kick didn’t affect him as well as I thought it would, but I already figured it would have been kind of weak. As the man attempt to recover from the kick, I looked at the wall behind me. There, on the wall, was a fire extinguisher that had been in the same spot for years. I unlatched the extinguisher moments before the man was able to focus and wacked him on the top of the head with it.

With him falling unconscious, I searched his body to try and find some information, or anything useful, on the men who kidnapped my parents. The only things he had on him were: a cell phone and the weapon I had seen earlier.

No I.D.

I checked the phone to find that the only calls on it were from blocked numbers. The fact frustrated me, but I decided not to dwell on it too much and focused on the weapon.

The weapon was similar to a gun, but there were no bullets in it. Unaware of how to use the weapon, I tucked it in my belt and headed back towards the entrance of the school.

I found my sister, safe, in the same room that I had left her in. She seemed a bit awkward trying to blend in with the students that she didn’t know. As she was leaving the room, I told the students in there to tell security about the man down the hall and for them to be cautious. Most of them just stared at me, confused, but one girl got up and immediately called security on the classroom phone.

Grabbing my sister’s hand, I led her towards the front of the school. Before we reached the entrance, she resisted; asking “Unnie what is going on?” She looked at me with eyes of uncertainty.

 We were both new to this situation, but she was a lot younger than I so it had to have affected her more. Plus I literally hadn’t given her any information up to this point. Partly because even I barely knew what was going on. The other reason being: I didn’t want her to have to deal with the reality of the situation.

“I’ll tell you later, but for now you have to trust me.” I eyed her down trying to look as confident as possible. A moment passed of us exchanging looks before she nodded in acknowledgement.

Together, we made our way back to the front of the school. I stopped when we reached the front doors and looked through the small window: The kids who were eating their lunch were all cleaning up and getting ready to go back to class. Across the street; I could see the remaining guy looking uneasy as he walked back-and-forth. With the situation at hand, I thought up another plan, but it was too risky for me to view as practical.

I really don’t like this.

Haeyeon and I exchanged glances; she looked at me as if she knew what I was thinking. “I can do it.” She said in a determined voice. The thing that always surprised me about my sister was her courage…

Just a few weeks ago she got into it with a bunch of older girls. One of the girls had taken the ice cream she just bought: my sister really loves ice cream. Instead of leaving it be, she approached the girl and knocked the ice cream out of her hand. It didn’t turn out too well for her as the girl’s proceeded to push her around.

I was walking home from the restaurant at the time and saw one of the girls slap my sister. What happened afterwards was mostly a blur, but those girls didn’t bother anyone else after that day. I do recall my sister holding her own as we fought which I later found out was because she had been watching my lessons and practicing on her own…

Focusing back on my current situation; I stared at my sister. There wasn’t time to think of more options; our window of opportunity was closing, fast. Haeyeon’s eyes were strong and didn’t waiver. She wasn’t faking her courage and I had to respect that. Dropping my head towards the ground; I reluctantly looked back up and spoke “Ok… Here’s the plan…”