My eyes flew open.

Gasping for breath, with my hand clutched to my chest, I hastily swept my eyes across my bedroom.

Nothing. There's no one here.

I dropped my head into my hands, with my elbows propped on my knees.

What had I just seen?

A man, needles protruding at odd angles from his body. And blood. Everywhere.

The image was burned onto the inside of my eyelids. But the grotesqueness of the scene wasn't what startled me.

It was the look on the man's face, as he stared at me. It was the agony in his voice as he whispered.

"Soojin... save me."

I yawned deeply as I stepped onto the bus, greeting the driver and making my way to the empty seat in the back. The dream I had the previous night had left me wide awake, and I spent the remainder of the night exploring the depths of my imagination.

As a child, I frequently had startlingly realistic nightmares; so consistently that I was rarely affected by them now. Consequently, I lost almost all sense of fear in the material world. Spiders, snakes, bears – they were always just animals to me. Ghosts, spirits, demons – I never believed in them. Height was the opposite of depth, death the opposite of life.

The one common fear that one might say affects me is darkness. The forbidding quality of darkness, however, is not the absence of light that accompanies it, but what the darkness conceals: the unknown.

It’s the one thing that someone can’t prepare for. If one is incapable of assessing the object that one is facing, there is no way to protect oneself from it.

“Agashi, are you not getting off at your usual stop today?”

I snapped my head up from the window to see the bus driver in front of me and a sea of slightly annoyed faces glaring at me from behind him. Glancing out the window, I realized we were stopped in the center of the road, cars beginning to pile up behind us.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I must’ve been lost in my thoughts. Thank you, ahjussi.”

I quickly picked up my bag and stumbled off the bus into the thick crowd of bodies hurrying to their jobs. Good thing that ahjussi knows me so well, or I would have been stuck on that bus for another 30 minutes. Sighing at my absentmindedness, I headed into the small café in front of me. I quickly put away my things and hurried to the front counter, arranging my apron and hat as I walked.

When my shift ended, I quickly grabbed my things and headed towards the door; if I left now, I might be able to get in some dance practice at the studio before my class that night.

“SOOOOOJIIIIIN!!!”

I braced myself for impact. That call could only come from one person.

No more than 2 seconds later, a body collided with my back. I glanced back to be greeted by the face of a girl with a smile plastered to her face.

“Must you always attack me this way, Minhee?” I sighed.

“Of course! How else would you know it’s me?” she replied happily.

I stared at the girl with a dumbfounded expression. Sometimes I really wonder what made me befriend such a simpleminded person. I suppose that was a bit of her charm, though. A person as serious as I am needs someone that he can let go with every once in a while.

“Nevermind. Anyway, why are you here?” I asked.

“I, my dear friend, am here to tell you that I am the lucky holder of 2 tickets to today’s live broadcast of the one. The only. M-COUNTDOWN!!!” Minhee exclaimed, giddy with excitement. A few of the customers still in the shop turned around to shush the girl, aggravated by the scene she was making. Slightly embarrassed, Minhee ducked her head and awkwardly chuckled. “Come on, don’t tell me you didn’t notice how much more dressed up I am today.”

Glancing at Minhee’s outfit for the first time, I saw that she indeed put more effort into her dress for today; although, I wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t mentioned it, seeing as she dressed up no matter what the occasion. Today, however, she was wearing a cardigan matched with a skirt and tights, as well as her favorite laced heels and a bowler hat. She also seemed to be wearing slightly more eye makeup than usual, which meant she wanted to make a lasting impression on some boy’s heart.

“I suppose you did put in extra effort today. I’m assuming you want me to go with you to this show?”

“No, I just wanted to wave my tickets in your face… of course I do! You have to go, it’ll be so much fun!”

“Minhee, if you couldn’t tell, I’m not exactly dressed the part,” I replied, looking down at my t-shirt and sneakers. “Why don’t you ask one of your other friends? I don’t even know any of those groups anyway.”

“That’s exactly why I want you to go! I can be sure you won’t try to steal anyone’s hear t away from me,” she grinned greedily. “Please? I don’t want to have to go by myself. Who knows what might happen with all those fangirls there?”

She brought out her pouty face and stared at me with a hopeful look in her eyes. I knew then that I had no choice; otherwise, she would just follow me until I consented.

“Alright, fine. You win. As always,” I scoffed.

“Yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She squealed, engulfing me in one of her spine-breaking hugs.

I dragged my feet as I followed Minhee  to her car. Suddenly, she stopped and turned to face me with a sheepish grin on her face.

“By the way… I may have arranged a slight makeover for you.” 

Hello, readers~

So, I decided to do it. I decided to write a fanfic. I've only ever worked on one other fic before, and my job on that one mainly consists of editing. Anyway, wish me luck! I hope you are interested in the story and will show your interest by subscribing! 

Feel free to comment, suggest, question, ponder life... well, maybe not that last one. Any and all feedback is welcome!

~stranger14