All I ever wanted was to fly. But life holds you down a lot you know? They made me stop dancing, and to me that was the equivelant of t my wings.

But I was determined. They couldn't hold me down.

So I climbed twelve flights of stairs, until my bare toes brushed the edge of a cement ledge.

A deep breath.

And then I flew.

****

[Prologue; Sandeul's P.O.V]

 

Saturday had always seemed to hold interesting events for Lee Sandeul. From everything to his first ever sceince fair to the photography competition he had placed third in last week. But then, then there was today and well that was a different story entirely. He was moving, slinking through the front door of his new apartment, and as he jammed the new key into the old and seemingly waped lock, he couldn't help but beam. His first real apartment! All on his wn.....no parents, no roommates. Just him and his camera and a year of university. In his eyes, it couldn't have been better.

 

Soon after the lock had been rattled, sworn at and banged; the door finally swung open to reveal Sandeul's new . Two side doors and an open plan kitchen and living area, he wa hardly deterred by the cobwebs or the holes in the wall. No, he was much too excited by the small expanse of space that was now /his/. Reaching his foot back to kick the door closed behind him, Sandeul's bags were dumped by the door and he was off to explore the small flat.

 

The floorboards were seemingly creepy in the way they squeaked with almost every movement, and everything was was so duty Sandeul was bursting into sneezing fits every few steps. But finding a boarded over window he mannaged to prise it open and that helped considerably. "Boy, does this place need a clean..." shivering as he found a spider's nest, the brunette was quick to clap his hands together, rubbing them soon after as a plan conjured in his head. "Cobwebs then dusting, unboard the windows then sweep the floors! Then this place will be as good as new."

 

The amount of cleaning projects left in the house was rather discouraging to this major plan though...in fact the major lack of everything was a bit daunting, but it only left more room for Sandeul's imagination to run wild. Colours and couches, vases and paintings and other worthless items that were way out of Sandeul's budget decorated the house mentally, causing the brunette to giggle contently every time a new scene burst into his head. It certainly kept him amused, and for that he was grateful as he moved around, brushing down cobwebs with a piece of scrap wood.

 

Once that job was done, as promise, Sandeul used pages of today's paper to wipe away the majority of the dust and a rusty old hammer to peel the boards of the window. By the time he had also finished sweeping he was just about ready to collapse in a heap on the floor...and he hadn't even unpacked yet. "Aish that cn be a job for tomorrow....classes don't start until the day after anyway." Still mumbling to himself out of lonely habit, the conclusion finally came that after a quick exploration of the finaly rooms, Sandeul would curl up in his bed and sleep for the night. Everything else could be done in the morning.

 

Having already looked in the bedroom and the bathroom, (Sandul wasn't even goign to go into a description of that, yuck), there was only one place hte brunette was left curious of, a strange door around the corner that he'd discovered when he was dusting. It seemed to be locked from the inside, but now as Sandeul was examining it closer he could see the mechanism was so rusty that even with the little amount of strength he had, he could still click it open. And so being the curious creature he was, he oushed the handle down and plled the squeaky door open.

 

Stairs and darkness. That's all that was visible, and Sandeul bi his lip gently as it was actually somewhat scary. He couldn't see what lay at the top from here but now that he'd opened it. There was no way he was going to sleep untill he'd found out what was at the top, so with heavy footsteps, his sneaker clad foot moved to rest on the first step. He placed the weight on it gingerly, worried that it might be weak like the rest of the house and give out on him, but as he let more and more weight on it the wood seemed to hold him. Sandeul took a deep, calming breath before taking the stairs two at a time to the top.

 

Darkness, so much of it. Sandeul couldn't see a single morsel and he had to wait a few minutes for his vision to adjst before he could even make out the boarded structure in front of him. Fingers grazing  to help him make sense of it, Sandeul soon discovered that the doorway at the top of the stairs was boarded completely closed, floating pieces of silver dust decorating the air as he tried to peer through the small cracks. But it seemed to no use and eventually after much tugging and peering, the conclusion came to mind that it would be best to try again tomorrow, when Sandeul was topped up on sleep again and could bring a flashlight.

 

So with a sigh and a yawn, the brunettes sneakers found their way back down  again, Sandeul's eyes glued straight down to keep his feet on the right path until he was about three steps from the bottom. Only then did his head and gaze rise and the photographer soon fell back with a shriek.

 

There, at the bottom of the stairs was......a boy. Clad with jet black hair and midnight eyes to match, his gaze seemed to see straight through Sandeul, and it left him shuddering....no matter how young the boy looked. Sandeul quickly righted himself, brushing the dust off in an awkward fashion.

 

"Who are you?" voice young but firm, the black eyes pierced deeper and Sandeul could only stutter as he watched the young boy, he was rather tall for his age. "I, ummm, I'm the new tenant of this flat! Lee Sandeul, Annyeong Haseyo" giving a polite ow, the brunette smiled when the the boy bowed back. "Do you live around here perhaps? Neighbours maybe?" that was the only reason he could fathom for why he was suddenly in his house without him even noticing...and besides he was sure he had locked the door. Sandeul however was still working on an explanation for why the occasional beam of moonlight seemed to shoot straight through the strange boy.

 

"Gong Chanshik. It's nice to make your acquaintance. Neighbours? I suppose you could stay that. I live upstairs", the strange raven boy nodded gentyl, hnds straightening out the non-enxistane creases in his white jumper. Sandeul however wasn't so sure, because he knew that they were already situated on the top floor. He frowned a little.

"Wow really? I hope we get along well Chanshik! But you live upstairs? I was certain that this was the top of the building...?"

 

There was no verbal response from the boy, or Chanshik as he now introduced, he merely nodded and pointed behind Sandeul to the stairs he had just declined. The brunette turned. "You live up there?" Another nod. "But it's all dark and boarded up and...." when Sandeul once again turned around.

 

The boy was gone.