Awaiting......each of us; a cold...dark...lonely place. Deny its finality. Deride its totality. Dread the inescapable  inevitability......it will arrive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Okay girls, rehearsals have started and you're going in five minutes! Get ready with your IDs!" The concert staff shouted.

 

One by one, the girls' names were called. They were led through a maze of rooms and passageways then finally to the moshpit area of Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Stadium. They stood there smiling, fitfully suppressing screams and instead waving crazily to the members who were practicing their blocking and positions on the huge stage.

 

I scanned the whole empty stadium. Minus the crowd, the noise, the blue lightsticks, there was an ominous feeling to it. I try to think of the best friend I promised to spend this moment with. Too bad we were not allowed to take pictures during the rehearsals. My bestfriend would've died of envy upon seeing, feeling, and just being in this place. It is every fan's dream. This dream, I guess, is always best spent with another friend who’s equally a fan as yourself. I was lost in thought by just looking into the barren audience area.

 

It was then when I heard the first distant yells. Before I could turn around, I was pinned to the ground.

 

I opened my eyes. And Lee Hyukjae's eyes met mine.

 

"Glad you're safe," he muttered. He smiled.

 

I squeezed and reopened my eyes. He was still there, still smiling.

 

Gosh still with the fresh blood spilling from the sides of his face and into mine.

 

"No, no, no, no," I kept on murmuring repeatedly as I held his face. It was really blood.  Then his head and entire body weight fell straight towards me.

 

A billion other screams filled the world that I could no longer hear my own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheni woke up with a start at the sound of her alarm clock and sat up right away when her eyes sprang open. Looking at her surroundings, she knew she still was in her dorm room at Ewha Womans University and realized that it was all dream. A terrible nightmare in fact. 

 

She breathed a sigh of relief as she turned off the alarm, stood up and che