Ahem ahem, Dust talking!

3rd entry's foreword is here!  ><

The prompt\topic chosen by the author was "glimpse of the afterworld" I'm totally excited about how kaepie will interpret this! 

So, look forward to it! (Like me ><)

Oh, and here's the link to the actual story! (x)

Have fun, love y'all! 

 

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If I die young, bury me in satin

Lay me down on a bed of roses,

“Sink me in the river at dawn,” I sang as I shut the door behind me, bending down to put my shoes on. At this time of the day, I doubted anyone would be here to witness my horrendous vocals, and so I sang even louder, “Send me away with the words of a love song.”

I stood up and stretched while I finished tying my shoelaces, and felt the cool morning breeze sweep across my face. Since I was never a morning person, I rarely felt the cool and refreshing morning air, which I hadn’t realize actually smelled kind of bad.

Wrinkling my nose, I continued down the steps as the uncanny smell became stronger. I doubted it was the morning air now.

They say curiosity killed the cat, but I couldn’t stop myself from following the unpleasant smell, which eventually brought me to a stop beneath the window, in front of a bush.

Seven years ago, my mother had bought me and Krystal, my twin sister, a pet dog, which we named ‘Jess’. Jess was a stubborn and annoying little dog who would run around the house and sometimes poo on the floor-which I had to clean- but we never really thought to sell her away. Well, at least not me or Krystal- Mum did have the idea of selling Jess away.

I wished I never peeked into the bush, because what I saw made my throat convulse, as I tried hard not to gag.

The Jess I saw behind the bush was not the Jess that ran around the house and shat on the floor. The Jess that I saw was an unmoving Jess that lay in a puddle of crimson red blood.

A scream tore its way through my throat as I stumbled backwards, placing my hand on my heart. The chirping of the birds grew silent as my scream travelled through the whole neighborhood, then the sadness that I felt was soon accompanied by a sense of rage. I shakily reached a hand out to check for Jess’s pulse, which I couldn’t feel anymore.

I seethed as realization hit me- how could he? I knew he hated Jess, but why would he kill her?

Trying hard to erase the image of lifeless Jess away from my mind, I made my way through my front lane and turned right, starting to walk towards my neighbor’s house.

If I die young, bury me in satin

Lay me down-

I plugged the earphones out of my ears as I stomped up to Jaebum’s house, shaking all the way. I wasn’t sure if I was shaking because I was angry or because I was scared.

“Im Jaebum!” I screamed as I pounded on the front door with my fist, and I heard soft pads of footsteps come towards the door after what seemed like an eternity. I didn’t even wait for the door to open fully before I stepped inside and jabbed my finger to his chest.

“You, how dare you?” I shrieked as he looked at me in bewilderment, “What did you do to Jess, you sick bastard?”

“What?” Jaebum blinked sleepily, “I didn’t do anything to your stupid dog.”

Then his look of irritation morphed into a look of concern as he scrutinized my face. “Why are you crying?”

I was so clouded with rage that I thought I had momentarily forgot how to mourn, but the wet droplets of tears that ran down my face proved me otherwise. “What did Jess ever do to you?” my voice cracked and I hated myself, hated myself for showing my weakness to Jaebum.

Jaebum frowned as he squinted at my face. “What are you talking about? What did I do to Jess?”

I would have scoffed at his ability to lie if I weren’t so upset. He wanted to know what he did to Jess? I’d show him.

Grabbing his wrist, I turned around and we walked to my house, and I led him to the dreaded bush, shoving him in front and urging him to peek behind it. I waited behind, not wanting to look or be reminded of that horrible sight again, and I waited for the look of recognition that would cross his face.

It never came.

Instead, he turned around, looking as confused as ever and he stared at me with the look that said ‘What the hell?’. Was he playing dumb?

“Are you playing around, Sulli?” the look of irritation crossed his face again as he started to walk away, towards his own house, whilst I just stood there, mouth agape. How could he just pretend he saw nothing?

“You inhuman bastard,” I spat as I waited for him to turn around. When he finally did, I continued, “I never knew you were capable of murder, you sick-”

“What murder?” he exclaimed, like I finally set off something inside him. “Will you stop being ridiculous?”

“What murder?” I echoed with disbelief and began to drag him by his hand towards the bush again, “This-”

Halting in my words, my eyes widened as I stared at the blank spot behind the bush. The spot that Jess had laid on just a few moments ago was now blank, void of anything. No Jess, no blood.

“How…” I trailed off as I stumbled back in the same spot as just now, just because of a different reason. Where did Jess go? “Jess was here just a moment ago! And she was- she was dead!” I exclaimed, whirling around, wanting nothing but to show Jaebum what I had just saw five minutes ago. But now even Jaebum had disappeared, and the view in front of me was once again the blank road void of cars.

 

I blinked as a whirl of thoughts clouded my head. How was that possible? Wasn’t Jess just lying there a moment ago? Where did she go? Could the dead move?

The only proof that I wasn’t crazy was the lingering smell of the stale blood, which seemed to now flood the front yard. If Mum had any idea how the front yard smelled like, she would flip.

Mum. Surely Mum would know what the hell was going on.

Removing my shoes, I unlocked the front door of my house and stepped into the quiet house, trudging to Mum’s bedroom. It was already 7am, why would Mum not be awake?

I knocked on her door- yet there was no response. So even though I knew Mum would freak out if I entered her room without her permission, I opened the door to her bedroom and peeked in. My mum lay on her bed, her back facing me, and I thought the smell of blood just became even stronger.

I paled a little more as I saw the pure white bedsheet stained with red. No, no, no.

Walking weakly forward, I placed a hand on her shoulder and felt the coldness of her skin seep into my fingertips. No.

“Mum?” I whispered and continued to shake her softly. There was no response.

“Mum?” I said a little louder this time, and the bird chirping continued, like a haunting melody accompanying the horrifying possibility of my mum being dead.

“Mum!” I screamed.

“Aw sheezus! What is wrong with you?” the figure lying on the bed jumped up, making me retract my hands and stumbling into the desk behind me. Mum, with her messy hair, sat up and glared at me.

My eyes almost popped out of their sockets as I stared at the grumpy woman, then to the blood stain on her bed. “Mum? W-why are you bleeding?”

She frowned and glanced down at the ruffled bedsheets. “Period,” she started, then something flashed in her eyes, “Now I’ll have to spend my Saturday doing flipping laundry!”

Relief hit me in the face and my knees felt so wobbly they could give way any moment. What was wrong with me today?

“Why did you wake me up?” Mum asked, with irritation in her voice. It was one of those days when I shouldn’t piss her off too much.

“I uh,” I started, but then thought better and shut my mouth, “Nevermind.”

Mum ran a hand through her tousled hair while I just stood dumbly, not sure of what to do. Perhaps I should have left when I had the chance, but I didn’t- so I was entrusted the task to get groceries for my mother.

I tried not to groan too loudly as I walked out of her room and went to me and Krystal’s shared room instead. Opening the door, I saw Krystal sprawled out on her bed with wide open, saliva dripping out. A very horrendous sight.

Rolling my eyes, I plopped myself onto the corner of her bed. Her eyes shot open and looked around the room for the source of disturbance until they landed on me, then she squinted up at me with her sleepy eyes. Krystal was a light sleeper, so the slightest of noise would have woken her up.

She sighed as she rubbed a hand across her face, but when I looked for the expression of annoyance on her face- it was not there. And that was why I loved Krystal, really, she never got annoyed at me. Surely Krystal would hear me out and not think I was crazy.

“Krystal, half an hour ago I saw Jess behind the bush in our frontyard and she was bleeding so much-“ I stopped mid-sentence as I noticed the ball of fluff curled up beside Krystal. “Is that Jess?”

Krystal looked at me as if I was crazy- and hell, I thought I was crazy too. The bleeding dog behind the bush- was it all just a figment of my imagination?

“Did you just wake me up at seven in the morning to tell me about your dreams?” Krystal rolled her eyes and sat up, causing Jess to stir in her sleep. The little furball rolled onto her side and continued sleeping, but I was reminded of the sight that greeted me just half an hour ago. It looked too much alike, except that the Jess now was breathing.

“No…” I trailed off, eyes still trained on Jess. Krystal ruffled her hair before she pushed her covers aside, and she got out. “Why’re you waking up so early?”

“You woke me up,” Krystal stared at me like I was dumb, “And I need to go over to Mark’s house for a project.”

I made a face as I watched her throw open her cupboard doors. “Don’t say it’s for a project if both of us know it’s not for a project.”

Mark was somebody we met when Mum sent us to get her car repaired, because she was too lazy to do it herself. The first time they met, they quarreled like as if the sky was going to fall. They were still squabbling over little things though, but let’s say their relationship had made some… progress. Krystal sometimes stayed over at Mark’s house and one could probably guess what went on in that period of time.

Krystal pulled on a pair of jeans and a white tank top before she walked over to me and pulled my hands up to follow her. “Let’s go.”

Sighing, I got up, grabbed my keys and phone and some money before I followed her out of our house.

We split ways at the crossroad in front of our neighborhood- she went in the direction of Mark’s house while I sulked on the way to the grocery shop. The neighborhood grocery shop barely sold anything; there were the eggs, the horrible tasting orange juice, and some other junk food which hardly counted as appropriate meals. So more often than not, we had to travel out into the city to get food if we wanted home cooked meals.

“Sulli! It’s been a while,” an overly cheery voice greeted me as I stepped into the air conditioned shop. I almost grimaced- his shouting had attracted all of the customer’s attention. It was Bambam, a high school junior who never knew how to shut up. And he was the cashier at the grocery shop, so whenever I had to come here, I had to face the embarrassingly loud yet adorable Bambam.

“Hey, Bombom,” I laughed as I approached the cashier, but steering clear of the alarmingly long queue. “Busy day, huh?”

“Quite,” he shot me a smile as he eyed me up and down, then his smile disappeared, replaced by a frown, “Why do you have blood stains on your finger?”

I looked down at my hands, flipped them over, but found nothing of the sort. I was about frown at Bambam when something caught my eye- it was a speck of red on the side of my index finger. I froze.

Jess had been real.

But then what would explain the Jess that was snuggling up into Krystal’s side on her bed?

“Probably cut myself somewhere,” I said, half doubting my own words. What the hell was happening?

“Hey, that cashier there. Mind hurrying up?” Someone hollered from behind, making Bambam break out into apologies as he continued putting the customer’s groceries into the plastic bag.

“See you later,” I said, not wanting to disturb the busy cashier. So I walked into the food section and picked up a few of the groceries on the list before I froze, seeing a familiar figure walking towards me. What were the bloody odds?

“Sulli! What a coincidence,” an annoying voice broke the silence between the distance and I watched as my mother’s boyfriend strutted towards me, while I debated whether or not to turn around and just go home without the groceries. I would face the wrath of Mum, but surely it had to be better than facing her overly annoying boyfriend?

Youngjae wasn’t really a bad person, really. But who the hell would like someone who was about to become their stepfather? Moreover, there was something slightly creepy about him, the way his smile didn’t reach into his eyes and the way something dangerous glimmered in his dark orbs whenever he stared at my mother. The only reason I hadn’t chased Youngjae out of the house and threw the rotten eggs somewhere in the back of my fridge at him was because he always bought Krystal and I some decent food.

“Hi,” I grumbled under my breath as I stared at the foolish grin on Youngjae’s face. Youngjae was younger than my mother and older than me by a few years, so it was really weird when he acted all mushy and touchy with my mother.

“Getting groceries?” No, buying a bloody pony from a grocery shop.

“Yeah.”

“Need help? I could help you carry it back. Meanwhile visit your mother too,” he winked and I tried hard to force back the urge to retch on the floor in front of him.

“No, I-” I started as I reached up to take the last thing on the grocery list, but a hairy arm suddenly stopped me in my tracks.

“I got it! Let’s go!” he said a little too enthusiastically, making my eyebrow twitch in annoyance as I walked as swiftly and quickly as I could to the shortened queue.

Bambam shot me a pitiful look as we reached the front of the queue. He was one of the few people who knew just how much I hated Youngjae. I shook my head with a sigh as I paid for the groceries and walked out of the shop, throwing a goodbye at Bambam. Youngjae merely tagged along behind me.

It didn’t escape my notice that he hadn’t bought anything. He wouldn’t have been stalking me, would he?

Mentally slapping myself, I tried not to think about creepy thoughts as I led the way home. In the distance, I could see a figure coming towards us, and as it came nearer, I realized that it was Krystal.

 Heaving a sigh of relief, I walked faster and closed the distance between me and my sister. If she hadn’t showed up, I doubted Youngjae would’ve returned home safely with all his rambling while he was walking behind me. That guy really was annoying. I didn’t even know what my mother saw in him.

“Hey Youngjae,” Krystal greeted Youngjae with a smile and latched onto my arms.

“Krystal,” he drawled. If Krystal hadn’t been holding onto my arm, I would’ve beaten that smirk off his face. Was he actually flirting with Krystal?

“I thought you were over at Mark’s?” I asked Krystal, deciding to ignore Youngjae for the rest of the short trip home.

Krystal shrugged. “Mum found out and forbid me to go over, so I thought I would come and find you guys.”

“Oh,” I replied. I always knew Mum had something against Mark- perhaps it was because Mark was her ex-husband’s-or my father’s- worker. My dad owned a car repairing shop, and Mark worked in it. Mum held a grudge on anyone who had anything to do with dad. Except the two of us, of course.

We reached the front door and I pulled out my keys, glancing back to see if Youngjae had followed us back.

Yes, he had.

I sighed in defeat before shoving the key into the keyhole, twisting it. “Mum, we’re back. And Youngjae is with us.”

“Oh?” I heard my mum’s lazy voice shout from her bedroom at the far end of the house, and Youngjae pushed past me to walk towards her bedroom door.

I blew out a breath before stepping into the house and going into the kitchen, settling the groceries onto the marble table that hadn’t been cleaned for years. Mum hardly ever did any housework because before Dad divorced Mum, Dad had always been the one to clean up the house. It wasn’t like me or Krystal would do any housework too, so we just left the house like it was.

I unpacked the eggs from the boxes and hoped they were fresh, before setting them gently into the fridge that was now empty. Mum always had a craving for things and she would wipe out the whole fridge within a horrifyingly short period of time. Sometimes we wondered if she had another being inside of her.

A bloodcurdling scream suddenly resounded throughout the whole house and I froze in my tracks. I recognized it as Mum’s voice, but the scream I did not recognize. Mum never screamed like that, not when she broke her favorite vase, not when she accidentally stepped on a disgusting snail, not even when Dad called her a .

I dropped the bags onto the floor and ran in the direction of the scream, bursting into my mother’s bedroom.

The lights were dimmed, the blood red curtains fluttering, allowing the few rays of sunshine to glimmer through and shine on the pale figure on the floor. My mum laid on the ground with ajar, blood seeping through onto the rug, with a knife lodged into her heart.

No, no.

“M-mum?” I whispered, taking a tentative step towards the figure I did not, could not believe was dead. “This is your… period, isn’t it?” I let a shaky laugh out, bending down to lay a finger beneath her nose.

I refused to believe she was dead.

”Mum!” I let out a scream so much like the one I had heard earlier, before an eerie melody played from behind me. It took me almost half a minute to realize what I was listening to.

If I die young, bury me in satin

I didn’t want to look.

Lay me down on a bed of roses

I heard light footsteps.

Sink me in the river at dawn

Pain. Blood. Red, red, red.

Send me away with the words of a love song.

I didn’t really know how it happened. It was a foggy memory of how I woke up and how I ended up in this unrealistic looking garden, which looked like it had popped straight out of a fairytale book. The leaves were strikingly green and the sky pale blue, with fluffy clouds floating peacefully above as the wind rustled the leaves in the tree. The sun shone directly onto me and the heat was providing a source of warmth I hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

My head throbbed, yet I felt no pain. I was standing, and I was flying. I heard people talking, and yet I heard nothing. It was all like a dream.

“You’re awake,” somebody said, and I turned my head over to find a guy, not much older than me, lying against the tree I was sprawled out beside. He had a rugged look, yet his voice did not match his exterior. “You’re dead.”

“Excuse me?” I stared, unblinking and unamused.

“You’re dead. Remember? You were killed. Murdered,” he was speaking in a foreign language… something that sounded like Chinese. Cantonese, perhaps? I couldn’t speak or understand the language, and yet I was able to comprehend what he was saying. What the hell was going on?

I frowned. “I was killed?” I said slowly, trying to make sense of the words in my head. “Murdered.”

I looked around and the peaceful green scenery was gone. It was replaced by an eerily familiar place. Getting up, I dusted off what imaginary dust there was off my pants and started to walk. As if I knew the place very well.

“Killed,” I whispered, listening to the stranger’s footsteps behind me. Something felt very familiar. “Murdered?” Then it hit me.

“Yes.” And suddenly, the familiar place was swept away and once again replaced by the dazzling green scenery.

But my mind was still stuck in the previous place that I recognized as my home. The horrifying moments came back to me again, the pain, the terror, the helplessness. My mother’s frail, unmoving body, my own pleas for help, and the bare foot that walked away. The bare foot that stained itself in the puddle of me and my mother’s blood. The bare foot of the owner I had to find.

“The higher-ups decided to give you a chance to live again. Y’know, because you were killed without justice and blah, blah, blah.” The stranger voiced out again, and I studied his features. He was dressed up as any other teenager would, with a snapback cap and extremely low pants. He had big eye and flawless skin that every girl would’ve wished for. And as if he knew that I was checking him out, he introduced himself. “I’m Jackson.”

I took the hand that he stretched out. “I am…” I stopped, racking my brains for the word that came next. It was something I had said many times, and yet…

“Sulli. Your name is Sulli,” he answered for me.

I took a step and the grass beneath my feet disappeared. The hot sun shone on me but I felt chilly. Everything contradicted here.

“Where am I?” I asked.

Jackson’s eyes glimmered in amusement, before his lips twisted up into a grin, like he was going to enjoy whatever that was going to happen next. “Hell.”

“Hell?” I almost laughed, “Hell doesn’t look like that.”

“What do you know about hell?” Jackson rolled his eyes at me, and gestured to the surroundings, “I’ve been here way longer than you knew about it.”

I struggled to make a response, because how would I know if he was saying the truth and if he was not? But this couldn’t possibly be the world I used to live in, because everything there felt more right. Not contradicting and confusing at all.

“You said someone wanted to give me a chance to live again?” that sentence had sparked off something in me, and now I realized it was hope. Fiery, hot hope. I wanted nothing but to do myself and my mother justice by finding out who the killer was, and honestly? I had quite a clear idea who did it.

“Yes. But in return, they want you to send the killer here,” Jackson said lazily and plopped down beside me. Quite close, but not close. He held up a flower and squinted at it for the sun’s rays were shining down at us.

“Send the killer here? You mean… kill him?” I asked, uncertain. Sure, I wanted to find out who the killer was and live again, but that didn’t mean I wanted to kill him. I didn’t really think I would be capable of that.

“Yeah. With your own hands,” he said, making my mind reel. With my own hands?

“I can’t. I couldn’t possibly kill someone,” my voice quivered, whether from shock or from nervousness I did not know. Jackson merely looked at me with his gentle, gentle eyes.

“You have to, unless you want to stay here,” he talked to me like I was a child in need of counselling, and I was starting to believe it too.

“Do you… do you know who killed me?” It was merely a question out of pure curiosity, but I hadn’t expected the sparkle of truth in his eyes. He knew.

“It’s not my place to tell,” he said with finality and stood up again, holding out a hand to me. “Let’s bring you back, shall we?”

I gladly took his outstretched arm and he pulled me up, and we were walking once again. Flying, I don’t know.

We eventually arrived in front of a door with a big lock in front of it, the sun’s rays shining onto the metal and reflecting it painfully into my eyes. “Open it,” Jackson said.

I stepped forward and tentatively touched the metal, and immediately shrunk my hands back. It was searing hot and icy cold at the same time, and it burned my hand so much it was downright numb.

“You have the keys to the lock,” Jackson explained, probably seeing my confused expression. But his statement only made me frown in puzzlement even more.

“I have a key? I don’t have a key,” I said, feeling the pockets of my summerdress- I had no idea why this summerdress was on me, or why it had pockets-, but ended up with nothing.

Jackson rolled his eyes again, and it occurred to me that rolling his eyes was something he liked to do a lot. He reached behind my head and pulled something out of my hair, making my hair fall down in curls to my shoulder, and he retrieved his hands, holding out a key on his palm.

The key was a big thing, and he dropped it onto my palm. Surprisingly, it was very light and even though it was metal, it did not burn me like the lock did. So I carefully stuck the key into the keyhole and was about to turn it when I felt something descend on my head.

I awoke to a musty and coppery smell that was so familiar, and opening my eyes was painfully hard, but I managed with the aid of curiosity burning inside me.

The sight of an overturned room greeted me and my face contorted in disgust as I recognized the smell- stale blood. I looked to my right and saw that the rug that Mum bought was stained with red, and my brain struggled to remember what had happened. Something was missing, something was on this rug that wasn’t there anymore.

And then I recalled- my mother’s still body.

My eyes grew even wider than it should have been able to, and a throbbing pain in my chest brought me to look at it and to my horror, there was a knife lodged in my chest.

Instinct overtook my shaky hands and I pulled the knife out, but miraculously, there was none of the blood that should have seeped out. It was like the wound that should’ve been there had healed completely and wonderfully, and I no longer felt pain. I asked myself, Why?

Vague memories came back to me and I remembered a boy with big eyes, flawless skin, speaking a foreign language I shouldn’t have been able to understand, and a baseball cap.

The baseball cap. I reached up a hand to touch the top of my head- and it was there. Which meant that nothing was a dream.

I went to Hell and came back.

Jackson’s words resounded in my mind and I remembered that I was supposed to find out who the killer was… and send him to hell. Something I couldn’t do, but I could think of another way out, right?

I glanced towards my right again and puzzlement hit me- why would the murderer leave me here?

Then it hit me- he was going to come back soon, and he was going to get me.

So I scrambled up and I felt none of the tiredness I expected; I felt as good as new. I was inspecting my body and wondering how it could have possibly been in this state, when I heard the all too familiar click of the front door.

And footsteps that sounded hauntingly familiar.

I had to choke down a scream and I looked around my Mum’s bedroom, looking for a spot which would hide me. But my Mum had so less furniture, because she didn’t like to tidy up the mess she would leave.

The footsteps were nearer now, and I couldn’t possibly go outside, so I chose the most stupid and obvious hiding place and I hoped it would do. I dived under the bed and tucked my legs in, trying to fit myself in the cramped space that I would have to put up with if I wanted my life.

I heard the door creak open eerily and I stopped breathing. I was afraid even the sound of me inhaling would lead him to my hiding place. I looked at the familiar boots that stood at the door and confirmed my doubts- it was Youngjae after all.

I always knew that had something planned, had an ulterior motive to dating my mother. He probably had been eyeing my mother’s fortune. Those sly eyes should’ve revealed enough, why was I stupid enough to not kick him out before he could’ve done damage?

Then I realized how someone was missing from this whole picture. Krystal. That bastard had better not lay a hand on Krystal. I hoped, fervently hoped that Krystal had escaped at the sound of our mother’s screams, that she would escape this terrible fate and live, even if it ultimately meant that I would die.

The boots came closer and the click sounds it made resounded throughout the whole room, and I had to bite on my tongue to keep from screaming in terror. Something dripped onto the floor, and it took me half a second to realize what it was. Blood.

A high pitched laugh sounded in my ears- a laugh that definitely did not sound like Youngjae’s. The laugh was very familiar, but I couldn’t lay my finger on where I had heard it before.

The person reached the edge of the bed and bent down, and then I recalled where I had heard it before. Dad had bought us a puppy named Jonas, and Jaebum was fooling around with his friend Yugyeom, and they had accidentally killed it. Krystal and I were both mad and upset, but since Krystal had the most emotional attachment to Jonas, she had suffered the most.

Krystal’s face came in view and a snarl worked itself onto her face as I let out the scream that had been wanting to escape my throat.

Krystal? Krystal?

She dragged me by the collar of my shirt, out from underneath the bed and pulled me up into a standing position. Staring at me with mild amusement and something much more murderous inside her eyes, she held up the knife and observed it, and then her eyes jumped to my chest.

“How are you not hurt?” she whistled and raised an eyebrow.

“Krystal? W-Why are you here?” I asked, not wanting to believe whatever that was laid out in front of me. It couldn’t be Krystal. Not her.

Krystal let out another laugh that sent chills down my spine. This was a side of my sister I had never seen, and I was scared of.

“Well, I had to take care of you,” she drawled, “but it seems like I’d have to do more, huh?”

It was as if she knew why I wasn’t dead. Knew I couldn’t escape her claws.

“Mum… Was it your doing?” I breathed and took a step back, tumbling into the drawers behind me, sending perfume bottles dropping onto the floor and breaking into multiple pieces.

Krystal shrugged nonchalantly, like she didn’t have a care in the world what happened to Mum. “She deserved it, really.”

I stared unbelievingly at the figure in front of me that I could no longer recognize as my sister. “She acts like she hates Mark, but did you know that she was actually sleeping with him?”

I shook my head, thinking that Krystal might have been a little too high. She used to be in the influence of bad people, but we managed to coax her back, but who knows if she had sunk into their vicious grips again? “Krystal…”

“You don’t believe me? Has Mum ever told you that Mark comes over every Wednesday when we are out? Look at these,” Krystal slips a hand into the pockets of the jeans and pulled out a photo, crumpled and tore, but stuck together. She flipped the photo over to me and I covered my mouth, stifling a gasp.

My mother was wearing nothing, and Mark was beside her, and they were smiling as if there was nothing else in the world.

No.

“And like Mark wasn’t enough for her, she had to get it on with Youngjae too. Did you know that I was the one who knew Youngjae first?” she stared at the bedside photo of our mother disgustedly, before flinging it halfway across the room.

It all fit now. The way Youngjae looked at Krystal, the way Krystal laughed at Youngjae’s dumb jokes, how I saw Mark exiting our house last Wednesday even though Krystal and I weren’t in.

Then disgust hit me. “You’re the same as her, then,” I said, my voice quivering, as I watched the expression on her face grow even more deadly. I knew I had set off something in her, and I was praying hard for the scream she would release, to alert maybe Jaebum or anyone, anyone at all. But why would Jaebum help me? I just accused him of killing Jess this morning. Jess.

“Did you set up the dog too?” I asked as I looked at her face, her expression stuck between amusement and fury

“Yeah. Thought I’d scare you a little,” Krystal shrugged.

“You killed an innocent dog to scare me?” I whispered, “You’re not Krystal.”

“Oh, am I not?” her voice grew softer, like she was trying to coax a little kid, “I am the same Krystal you have known for seventeen years.”

“And you know that song which you love so much?” Krystal said, her eyes lighting up, “What… ‘If I die young, bury me in satin’? I could help you with that.”

I shook my head and tried to reverse in my steps even more as Krystal advanced on me with the knife at her side, but I was trapped. There was nowhere else for me to run.

“Let’s play a game,” Krystal whispered beside my ear and tapped the flat side of the knife onto my shoulder, the cold metal making me shiver from both coldness and fear. “I count to three, and you run, okay? We’ll see if I can catch you.”

I shook my head, wanting Krystal to return to herself, the Krystal from three hours ago, from this morning. “Krystal, we can… talk this out.”

“Three.”

“K-Krystal, don’t be like t-“

“Two.”

I widened my eyes as she held up the knife, its sharp tip facing me. My legs were frozen in place.

“One.”