Search

Fragments of Summer

Search

 The only light in the room was coming from a single lit candle on the nightstand. The shadows the trembling flame casted danced on the walls like ghosts of warm autumn songs. They appeared then died down then went back to life and began their dances from scratch. Seoeun found their moves very fascinating and this is why she loved lighting candles before she went to sleep. Watching them perform only for her, engulfing her in their exquisite aroma.

 However, the girl’s interest was not directed in the shadows now.

 An opened box lay on the floor with its contents spilled everywhere. Seoeun sat next to it and observed every item in her hands. She knew she had to do this sooner or later. After the dinner with Baekhyun where they saw Minseok with that other girl, she felt the urge to change. In order to find herself again, she had to change. Everything she had wished and dreamed for she had to alter to suit her new self.

 Two beautiful scarves lay in her lap. The first one was made of fine silk and had big pink roses printed on it. The other scarf was made of black satin and had little crimson tulips weaving between each other. Seoeun reminisced about the both accessories with grief and a tear on her cheek. She felt she was torn between the two – the innocent and silky light roses or the heavy black satin. The girl knew that she had to say goodbye to both of them, she just didn’t have the heart to.

 “Dear dreamer,” She whispered to the shadows but mostly to herself, “These scarves are from the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. I loved them both, now I despise them. Everything that reminds me of him makes me feel weak and bitter. This is why I will leave them here. Take good care of them.” By the time she finished writing on the paper what her lips were chanting tears had stained her shirt.

 “I grant you this fragment, keep it safe, dreamer.” Seoeun murmured and placed the notebook along with the two scarves in the box. There were at least twenty pictures scattered on the floor and the girl caringly took every each one of them and put them on the notebook. For the last time, she studied her happy face on the picture on the top. She knew this smile would never adorn her face again.

 Seoeun blew the candle and the little flame died, taking along with it the shadows, leaving only a thin streak of smoke and a lingering smell of vanilla. The girl lay on her bed, closed her heavy lids and fell asleep.

 

 Some noise coming from the first floor woke Seoeun with a jolt. She had been sleeping for about three of four hours and her whole body felt groggy. She slid out of her covers and shook the sleep away from her head. Nobody could have been awake at this early hour but Seoeun wanted to make sure.

 Just as she stepped on the hardwood floor of the corridor on the first floor, she saw the front door of the house closing and a dark figure retreating from it. Somebody just went out and Seoeun intended to follow him.

 The girl quickly covered herself with a jacket and put on a pair of sneakers and closed the door behind her. A thin layer of lazy fog was floating around making it harder to distinguish buildings and therefore people. Judging by the dull light and the gray sky it was around four o’clock in the morning. The retreating figure was about 20 meters away from her but she could already tell who it was.

 It was none other than her twin brother – Baekhyun. A million questions and dilemmas flooded her mind as soon as she recognized him. Where was he going? Why did he go out so early? Did he keep secrets from his sister?

 The last question hurt her the most. Since they could speak, the siblings kept no secrets from each other. They always talked openly about everything; it was like they were living the same life. One soul split in two bodies, this is one of the first things that came to people’s minds when they encountered the twins.

 But now Seoeun felt her brother remote and he was slowly getting further and further away from her. She would be lying if she said that she liked it. She hated it, the second she knew it was him who was sneaking out of their home. This was not the worst though. His body was smoothly walking on the pavement, like he had done this a hundred times. Or maybe he had, Seoeun didn’t know but preferred it this way.

 As soon as he passed two blocks he turned left in a dimly lit street that lacked every sign of life. Seoeun was ready to follow him there but she heard his pace falter and then his steps ceased. The girl pressed her back against the cold brick fence of the nearest house and perked her ears up to catch any sound.

 This was nothing she had done before. Sneaking up on her own brother but it was out of his character too, to go out without telling anybody. Seoeun felt like a criminal, like she was the one who was followed and like she was the one who was doing the wrong thing. Her heart was racing wild in her chest, overwhelmed by all these new feelings. No, she reminded herself, she was doing this just to ensure the safety of Baekhyun.

 “Hey.” Seoeun froze as she heard a muffled voice from the street where her brother had taken.

 “Sorry for being so late, I broke a glass on my way out.” Baekhyun answered. Seoeun must have heard the shattering noise that woke her up. It seemed as if Baekhyun and the other person didn’t meet for the first time and this scared Seoeun even more.

 “Shut up and come here.” Now Seoeun recognized the voice as a woman’s voice that brought more questions to her head. Who was that and why was her brother meeting her in the break of dawn?

 Their voices fell silent and Seoeun tensed even more. Now that she wasn’t busy with trying to figure out what they were saying she became aware of her harsh breathing and fast heartbeat. The girl tried to calm herself down but to no avail. After a minute had already passed, Seoeun mustered the courage to peer in their direction to see what was happening.

 People said “curiosity killed the cat” for a reason. At that moment Seoeun wished nothing more than to have stayed in bed. The curiosity took the best of her and drove her to do things she would have never done.

 There, leaning against the brick wall was a short girl, shorter than Seoeun with short wavy hair and a hood loosely pulled over her head. Her arms were resting around Baekhyun’s neck and her lips were moving on his. They were kissing. And Seoeun knew that this wasn’t the first time they did this.

 

 She ran. Oh, she ran as if she were chased by the Devil himself. Tears were streaming down and away from her eyes. The speed made her lungs burn and the wind bite at her skin even through the fabric of the jacket. But she couldn’t care less. Her brother was secretly meeting a girl and hadn’t even said a word to his sister. Seoeun felt betrayed. So betrayed that she no longer knew what was right and what was wrong. She had to leave. There was nothing left here, nothing she could hold on to anymore.

 As soon as she stepped through the door of her room, after tripping over the stairs, she collapsed on the floor. Her hair was a mess, her clothes were a mess and her heart was also a mess. Her feeling had messed up and now in her head was a big mixture of everything a human being could feel. It was like everything and nothing. Seoeun hated this ugly feeling of nothing. This nothingness was eating her from the inside out and she suddenly was afraid that she would no longer be whole. She was so scared that she would vanish into thin air. She was terrified that nobody would remember her with anything.

 It was all that life was about, wasn’t it? Searching and finding. Whether it was comfort, friendship or love, one always searched but only the lucky ones found what they had been looking for all their lives. The realization dawned upon her much later than she wanted to admit. Baekhyun was lucky. She was not.

 So she left. Seoeun took everything she needed. It was a backpack filled with essentials such as food and clothes. By the time she was ready to leave, she hesitated for the last time. Extending her hand to grab the doorknob to her bedroom, she faltered. Turning back around to her bed, Seoeun kneeled down, taking out the box she had promised herself not to open just a few hours prior. She took out everything that was inside and stuffed it in the little room left in her backpack. A few pictures surfaced on the bottom of the box and she took a closer look at them: Baekhyun and her on a roller coaster, Baekhyun and her on their first day of school, Baekhyun and her on their 18th birthday. She took all of the pictures and threw them in the trash can. These were all memories she was now eager to erase from her memory. Leaving her old life, Seoeun stepped out of her home and welcomed the world that was awaiting her.

 

 It was her time to search and if she was lucky, she would someday find. Just like a shadow, casted from a single flame, she would dance along the waves of life and if someone extinguished this flame, she would continue to search. It was the beginning of a long way of searching and dreaming.


Author's Note

 Hello, everybody! Wow, this chapter came out pretty fast! I couldn't stop myself from writing but it's still shorter than my usual chapters orz Before I forget, do you like the lenght of the chapters so far? They seem a bit shorter than I would prefer them to be but when the ending of a chapter comes, I can't hold it much longer :D

So, do you like where this is going? Seoeun is about to change a lot in the span of the next few chapters. And by a lot I mean A LOT. But let's wait and see ;) Here we have some more of the Fragments but these will be talked over and explained later in the story and then you will know what stands behind the name of this story. I mention this again, I drop a lot of hints for the upcoming events so really read between the lines and then you will love the result, trust me! lol, that sounded kinda bad of me as an author... Meeeh.

 Okay, enough blabbering, thank you for reading, comment what you think and until next time, love you!

*Damn, I forgot. I want to welcome all of the new subscibers and thank you for the votes, you are so sweet! Love you, again! <3

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
ShinMinHyo1
/cries because the zero next to the 'subscribe' button doesn't change

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
inamorata #1
Chapter 8: new reader here, i read everything in one go. i like your story and i can't wait to read the next chapter ^ ^
Lildevilxoxo
#2
Chapter 4: Well I think the research payed off, this chapter was amazingly written :):)
thclassic #3
Chapter 3: I ADORE THIS! GIMMIE MORE!
Lildevilxoxo
#4
I really like the idea of your story, it seems so slice of lifey and interesting >_< anyway I subscribed, waiting for our future chapters :):)