Seohyun

The sound of rain drops ticking against the ground filled the room. It was Saturday morning and pouring. All of this weekend’s assignments had been finished so I literally had nothing to do. And I hated it when I have nothing to do. It made me think and imagine things until I lost sanity.

I went to my bedroom and picked up the only photo of Yoona eonni that I owned from the table beside my bed. Like I always did when I felt lonely, I started talking to it.

“Eonni, how are you doing? I’m fine, I guess. I want to ask you something, eonni. I…”

Thunder roared. I could feel the room shaking at the force of the thunder. I yelped and jumped under the blanket in a flash. When another one followed, I started to cry. Lightning and thunder were things Yoona eonni and I hated the most.

<10 years ago>

“Gwaenchanha, Hyunnie? Are you tired?”

“Yes, I’m tired eonni. Can’t we take a break?”

We were having an outing with the whole class in the 1^st grade. We were going to a camping area in a mountain and my legs were at their limit.

“Wait here Hyunnie, I’ll talk to Mr. Kang,” Yoona eonni helped me sit on a rock before going to the head of the group. Before long, Yoona came back.

“I’ve told Mr. Kang that we should have a break. He gives us five minutes,”

“Only five minutes? I don’t know if I can even stand on my feet in five minutes.”

“I know it’s short, but he said that we shouldn’t be here too long. It’s becoming cloudy. We should at least find shelter before it starts raining,”

“Why don’t we just camp here?”

“He said we should go into the woods. The trees will give extra shelter from the rain.”

“Ah, arasseo…” I took my water bottle and gulped a lot of it.

“It’s okay, Hyunnie~ I’ll help you walk,” Eonni smiled.

Five minutes felt like five seconds. Just as the group started to move again, my bladder got upset because I drank too much water.

“Uhh, eonni. I need to take a pipi…”

“Ya, Hyunnie! They’re already moving, can’t you hold for a bit?”

“Uh…I don’t think I’ll survive another minute…”

Eonni sighed. “Jinjja…Ne, arasseo. Ppalli, Hyunnie~”

Without answering I went straight behind thick bushes around ten feet from where we were standing. After I finished, I ran back to Yoona eonni who was still standing there.

“Ppalli!” Yoona eonni shouted.

When I reached her, we turned and ran back immediately to the direction of where the group was heading. After around two minutes, we didn’t find any trace of the rest of the group.

“Eonni…where are they?”

“I’m sure they were heading this way…”

“But I can’t see anyone here. Are we…”

Eonni and I glanced at each other.

“…lost.” We said in unison.

We kept walking but had no luck in finding anyone. The sky was getting darker as thick cloud began to cover it.

“We should look for shelter, eonni. It’s going to rain soon,”

“Ne, Hyunnie. You’re right,” She rummaged her backpack and took out an umbrella.

“Here, let’s share this umbrella, Hyunnie~”

“I’m so glad you brought an umbrella eonni, because I forgot…”

“Hahaha, Hyunnie~ it’s okay. Let’s find us a shelter,”

The sky got even darker and rain started to pour. The wind was so strong that we had a hard time holding down the umbrella. Eventually, we couldn’t hold the umbrella against the strong wind and it flew off. Already drenched, we put on our rain coats.

After a while, we found a gap between two huge rocks that leaned on each other at the top. We took shelter inside the cave-like gap and waited until the rain stopped. But it didn’t. And it only got heavier. We started to hear thunders and saw flashes of lightning.

“Eonni, I’m scared...” I held onto her arm tightly. My whole body was shivering.

“Nado, Hyunnie~ Nado…” She held onto me and tightened her embrace. The heat of both our bodies couldn’t even neutralize the cold.

“I’m sure it will stop raining soon, Hyunnie~” she tried to calm me down.

Just then, lightning flashed right in front of us. It struck one of the trees just around five meters away in front of the cave we were in. It almost split the bark in two. Not long after, the thunder followed.

We froze. Our eyes widened. It felt as if my soul had left my body. We were scared to death. I could hear the sound of the thunder echoing in the inside of the cave. Our whole body trembled until our knees couldn’t take it anymore and gave up. Still trembling in terror, I turned to eonni and saw her face was as white as a dead man’s, and I knew for sure my face must be like that too. We were so scared that tears suddenly fell from our eyes without a sound. It was very close to where we were.

The rain finally stopped. No more thunder was heard. I could finally get out of my blanket. I went to the mirror in the bathroom and saw my face was really pale and my eyes were red because of tears. I sighed.

“I’m a mess…”

Then my phone rang. I got out of the bathroom and picked it up. It was from Yonghwa oppa.

“Yeoboseyo?”

“Yeoboseyo, Seohyunnie~ Have you done this weekend’s homeworks?”

“Ne, oppa. Wae?”

“Let’s go to the new theme park. It’s gonna be fun after a whole busy week. Jinjja,”

“When?”

“Today. It has stopped raining, so how about at 1pm? We’ll gather at 12 in the bus station near school.”

“Who else is going to come?”

“You’re the first person I ask. Can you ask the others? I’ll invite the boys, too.”

Am I really the first one? I was strangely pleased hearing that.

“Ne, oppa. Arasseo. I’ll ask Jessica eonni, and maybe the other three.”

“Arasseo. The more the merrier, right?” he laughed on the phone.

“And, um, oppa…”

“Ne?”

“Are you going to invite Taeyeon eonni?” I asked hesitantly.

“Mwo? Of course, Seohyunnie~” he laughed.

Of course, Seohyun. Why did you even have to ask that question? I thought to myself.

“Actually there’s something I want to share with you. So, see you later?”

“Arasseo, see you later, oppa. Annyeong…” we hung up.

After that I quickly texted Jessica eonni and asked her to come and also invite her three classmates (the fangirls). She said yes but her replies were violent when I asked her to invite those three, but in the end she still invited them.

It’s okay as long as I’m with Jessica eonni, I thought.

It was 15 minutes to 12pm. I checked the things once again and put on my backpack. After making sure all was set, I got out of the apartment and went downstairs. At the end of the stairs, I saw someone exiting the apartment building. Even though I couldn’t see her face from the back, I was sure it was the same girl I met two nights ago.

When I finally got out of the apartment building, I looked up. The sky was beginning to clear up, but it was still grey. The air was still damp. As I started walking, I saw something flashing from afar. Before I could think what that was, thunder rumbled.

My body shut down right away. My face turned pale. My whole body got cold. My eyes widened. I couldn’t do anything until I heard Jessica eonni calling me from behind.