Chapter 4

“Well, that was interesting...”  muttered Talia.

“Yeahh...”  Tobi agreed uncertainly.

Mackenzie looked down at her fingers, contemplating what to say next.  Kacia looked away into the sky, but saw an uncertain Mackenzie through her peripheral vision.

They walked further in the darkness, but not together.  Mackenzie’s eyes shifted back and forth to Kacia, uneasiness building up in her body.  After a long and seemingly forever silence, Mackenzie spoke.  The first word that left , breaking the awkwardness, was sorry.  

Repeatedly, she continued, “I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry Kacia.  You... You know that I want what’s best for all of us...  I just didn’t want to... I’m sorry.  I’m really sorry.  I just- I’m so-”

“Pabo,” Kacia replied, thumping Mackenzie on the head softly.  They were never good with words to say the least.  Their pride and stubbornness was what kept them together, but that was also a breaking point in their friendship.  Nonetheless, they knew that everything was going to be alright.  Just that small word of an insult had signaled forgiveness, bringing relief and joy to the other members.

“Thanks Kace,” Mackenzie whispered, kicking at invisible rocks with her hands stuffed in her back pockets.

“Anytime....And I’m sorry too...for the way I reacted...As... as a leader.. I should’ve, should’ve had more self control an-” Kacia choked out.  But was cut off with murmurs of ‘It’s alright’ and ‘Don’t worry about it’

*Aish.  These girls.*  smirked Kacia, as she put Mackenzie into a headlock.

“Yah!” laughed Mackenzie as she playfully hit Kacia’s arm.

“The one moment I’m trying to be sentimental and mushy and you guys just cut me off,” Kacia said, giving Mackenzie a big noogie.

“Ahaha.  Yah!  Hajima!”  Mackenzie exclaimed.  Smiles were etched on each member’s faces.

*This is the life*  they all thought.

“Hey guys,” Tobi said, interrupting their laughter.

“Yeah?” answered Mackenzie.

“You know that handkerchief that was on that Yong, uh Yong, um Yong-whatever his face’s wrist?”  Tobi replied.

“It’s Yongguk,” Kacia corrected, texting furiously away at her phone.

“You would know,” commented Talia.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kacia said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Gurl~  I saw how you looked at him when we first walked in.  He be fineeeee.  And you know it.  I saw you checkin’ him outtt!  Don’t deny~,” replied Talia, trying to release her inner black.

“Mhm,” nodded Mackenzie in agreement, snapping her fingers in Z formation.  Kacia facepalmed.

“You guys are a bunch of fckin’ idiots man,” she replied.

“But you still love us~” sang Tobi.

“No, no I don’t.  Go away.  Do I know you?” Kacia playfully asked.

“We’re only, like, you’re best friends.  Like oh my gawd,” Talia stated, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

“YOU KNOW YOU LOVE ME.  YOU KNOW YOU CAREEEE,” sang Tobi and Mackenzie, mixed in with some incoherent whale sounds.

“What did I do to deserve you guyssss,” groaned Kacia, rubbing her face in distress.  She walked faster, trying not to draw so much attention with the three girls that were drunkenly singing Justin Bieber’s Baby out loud and off tune.  Kacia walked faster and faster, and people around her swore that if she walked any faster she’d be able to win a gold medal at the Olympics.  But being three blocks away from her friends still didn’t drown out their horrible singing.

“AND I WAS LIKE BABY, BABY, BABY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,”  Mackenzie sang crudely.

“LIKE BABY, BABY, BABY NOOOOO” echoed Talia and Tobi together in unison, but definitely not harmony.

*Oh god.  Please don’t.* thought Kacia as she stopped to watch her best friends become even greater public nuisances.  But to her surprise, instead of their incessant singing, the three girls ran over and tackled Kacia in a big bear hug.

*WHYYY* thought Kacia.

“If we’re going down, you’re coming with us,” smirked Talia.  The two other girls eagerly nodded in agreement.

“NOOOOOOO!” screamed Kacia, but the bustling noises of Seoul drowned out her cry for help.

“COME ON! TO OUR LAIR!” exclaimed Tobi as she flapped her invisible cape like Batman.  The other three exchanged glances, then back at Tobi, and slowly backed away before breaking into a run in the other direction.

~At the BM Hideout~

“You guys are so mean!  Leaving me behind.  *sigh*  I thought we were best friends!” pouted the oldest as she entered the shabby old warehouse.  It was abandoned right by the dock for shipment orders.  The walls were stained with their past.  Graffiti everywhere, in five different colors.  In the background, everyone faintly heard Tobi complaining to them once again.  It was a daily routine.

To one side of the warehouse was burnt and black.  The darkest piece of memorabilia that the Bermuda Misfits owned.  On the piece of burnt metal was a picture of five girls taped in the middle.  Mackenzie walked towards their walls of memories, touching it’s rough surface.  She reminisced all the memories of the Bermuda Misfits, back when it was originally the Zeros.  How the explosion had happened, she couldn’t quite figure out.  Kacia had correctly calculated the measurements and timing for the bomb to set off, so why?  Why did it go off earlier?  She thought long and hard about this question every night.  Kacia blamed herself but who wouldn’t blame themselves?  It was only natural that she feel this way.

“Mack!  Hey Big Mack!”  Tobi called, snapping Mackenzie out of her trance.

“Yeah?” Mackenzie nonchalantly answered.

“You didn’t even hear me did you?”  Tobi pouted again.  Mackenzie bitterly smiled and ruffled Tobi’s hair, promising her ice cream to make it up to her.  Satisfied, Tobi skipped to Talia, who was sitting on the dusty couch, filing her nails.

-oof!- Tobi let out as she tackled the dirty couch.  Dust flew up everywhere and Talia began sneezing furiously, swatting the airborne dirt away from her.

“You -achoo!- really ne-need -achoo!- to clean this -achoooo!- place up Mack,” Talia reminded, coughing into her fist.

“Me?  Why me?  You guys hang out here too,” pointed out Mackenzie.  Tobi shrugged in her now dirty clothes and began flipping through an old magazine she found on the floor.  Kacia shook her head at the unsightly view of her members in a shabby, run down warehouse, where they spent most of their life in.  Most teenage girls their age lived a nice house or apartment, with their loving families and had no problem providing a warm meal for each other.

*What did we do to deserve this?* Kacia thought to herself.  All of her friends had such tragic stories, and all at such a young age.  Why?  That was the biggest question that ran throughout each member’s mind.  For different reasons, but nonetheless, why?

Why can’t I have a normal life?

Why should I continue to live?

Why do people want love when it only brings nothing but pain?

Why am I here?

Why couldn’t I have been born somewhere else, to someone different?

Why didn’t they just kill me when they had the chance?

Why.....  It was the one word that slowly choked the life out of them.