Red.

My mom taught me what that word meant. It was a color. A brilliant one.

And right now, it's all that I can see.

Red liquid.

Gushing down the side of the head...

...of the same person who taught me that word.

"Red" I had said, and mom smiled at me.

For the last time.

"Umma?" I asked in my limited vocabulary. I turned to the side to face someone else covered in the same color.

"Appa?" I called out, but unlike mom, he no longer responded.

It was just all red.

Red.




"Wake up! Wake up!" I heard a faint voice slowly become louder and louder as I felt myself being shook.

"Umma! Appa!" I screamed into the darkness of the room.

"Haneul-ah. You were dreaming of them again" my friend looked at me with sympathizing eyes.

I panted to catch my stifled breath. When enough oxygen has returned to my system, a heavy sigh escaped from my lips.

“I’m sorry, Hyosung. You’ve been putting up with me for months. I know it’s not pleasant waking up to a wailing woman” I said as I buried my face in my palms.

“Hey,” my friend gently took my hands to reveal the mess that was my face, “we’ve talked about this already. It’s alright. I know how hard this is for you.”

“What would I do without you?” I pouted, realizing that tomorrow, Hyosung and I will be parting ways.

“Without me? You can’t get rid of me. Even if you won’t see me anymore, this face will stuck to your head” she made silly poses with her ever smiling face.

I couldn’t help but smile back, a bitter one at that. Hyosung has only been my friend for the duration of middle school, but she’s the closest one I have. Not that I even have friends. When I was in primary school, I stayed in the orphanage where everyone was merely civil to each other yet not enough to be considered as friends.

It was only when I was roomed with Hyosung that I felt the warmth of friendship. As warm as the fire of a meteor in friction with the atmosphere. Perhaps that has something to do with her name, which was derived from “yuseong” or falling star.

But the light that she gives to my life would soon disappear as fast as a falling star trudges across the sky. Middle school went by too swiftly. Now I need to move to a new place, one that is nearer to the high school I would attend. To say that I would miss Hyosung is such an understatement…

I felt a light whack on my head and was immediately brought back to reality.

“You’re overthinking again!” she chuckled, “don’t worry about it, ok? We’ll make sure to find time to see each other often. Now wash yourself up. The newspapers won’t deliver themselves.”

With another tug from my hyperactive friend, I obliged.

This would be the last time for me to wake up at the crack of dawn to deliver newspapers. I’m very grateful for this part-time job. It provided extra cash for us so that we wouldn’t rely on our sponsors too much.

Once we finished all deliveries, we helped each other up in packing our things. I can’t help but notice the even brighter smile on Hyosung’s face today. She’s clearly excited to meet the family who are to adopt her.

And in case you’re wondering why my smile is not as wide as hers, it’s because I’m not as fortunate. Yep. Still not getting adopted. I’ll be moving in to a new place which the orphanage found for me. Alone.

Ding dong.

This is it. Hyosung ran to the door excitedly to meet her foster family. They were nice enough to give me a ride as well. I bowed in thanks and gave the address.

I took the opportunity of being seated in the back seat with Hyosung to bid her farewell.

“I’ll miss you so much” I pouted for the second time this morning.

“And I’ll miss you twice as much. No. Thrice as much!” she enveloped me in a huge bear hug.

“When you get a boyfriend, make sure I meet him first ok? He needs my approval first!” she said with hands on her hips.

“Like that would happen anytime soon,” I rolled my eyes but chuckled at her actions, “but I’ll remember that.”

The ride ended faster than I wanted it to. I bade my friend goodbye with the tightest hug I could muster before waving to the disappearing figure of their car.

“Alright. Here goes nothing” I huffed out as I placed my key in the knob.

I was greeted by suffocation of my nostrils. Hello to you too, dust and cobwebs. How long has this place been unoccupied anyway?

“Oh well” I shrugged, proceeding to the bedroom.

The good thing about this place, says the orphanage director, is that it’s furnished. Perfect for a student like me.

I began unpacking my bags and placing my stuff inside different cabinets and drawers. Then I dusted the surroundings a bit so that it wouldn’t look like a horror house. When I was all done, fatigue demanded that I relax. I threw myself on the bed and checked my watch. 1:14 PM. I still need to stock up the refrigerator and cupboards, but I guess I have plenty of time to sleep before the grocery closes. I unclasped the watch that I had been looking at and opened the bedside drawer to throw it in.

Just as I was about to fall back onto the bed, my eye caught a certain object lying inside the drawer.

What is this…

…a notebook?