Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.

- James Stephens

“Come on, come on! Hurry up already! You’ve got check this place out!” a young girl, with bright, eager eyes and a smile to match, had yelled to her parents from the top of a winding dirt hill.

 

It was summer during that time. Mothernature made that specific day simply drop-dead beautiful by the countryside. Everything just seemed to have a vibrant glow shining off it. From the clusters of forest trees and greens that surrounded and shaded the dirt driveway, to the sparkling river that was shimmering just across the road, to even the insects chirping in a symphony of sounds in the summer's heat; just beautiful, just serene.

 

And a perfect day for moving into a new house too if sixteen year old, Ahn Haru would add.

 

Not like she was being much of a help anyways.

 

As soon as she and her parents had pulled up to the foot of the hill in their car, she had not even spared a single second to unload their things from the moving truck before racing out with her sights locked on exploring the house at the very top of the hill.

 

"Alright, alright. In a minute, Haru-yah. After these couple of boxes," her father managed to chuckle softly as he struggled in cradling a stack of boxes in his arms. He staggered to close the back of the truck and let Haru’s mother carry some of his load as they left behind the car and truck to climb the hill to their new home.

 

“You know. It would be nice if you helped out a little instead of playing around like a little kid, Haru-yah,” her mother sighed in slight aggravation as she accidentally dropped a picture frame from one of her boxes and had to stop and pick it up.

 

“I’ll help unpack around the house. Just not unloading,” she replied bluntly with a childish, cheeky smile. With that, she left them to their minor struggles and continued her search around the house.

 

When she first entered it, it was all old and musty, and everything seemed to be coated in a fine layer of dust and cobwebs. The floorboards creaked and the wallpaper was almost completely faded to a bleach white and, to be honest, Haru loved that about it.

 

The way the light still shone in through the windows of the old, grandfather-like house just sparked a sort of curiosity in her to check it out like in one of those haunted house movies.

 

The ground floor had pretty much been scavenged already by her quick feet, so now it was off to the second floor, then the attic, then the basement. Even as her parents made their way inside the house as well, that didn’t even put her exploration to a halt for even a second as it took her hours on end to dissect the house for what it was.

 

And just like that, day turned into night oh so easily.

 

“Haru-yah? Are you in here?” her mother peeked into one of the rooms upstairs to find her daughter looking back at her with a ‘what?’ expression. She was in the middle of deciding which room she would claim as her’s when her mom had entered. And so far, out of the five upstair bedrooms she has seen so far, the room she was currently in was the best contender.

 

“Oh gosh. Aren’t you done yet? It’s dinner time already. Aren’t you going to eat?”

 

“Oh..,” escaped Haru’s lips as she didn’t even notice it was dark already from outside the window.  “I-I guess, I’ll be down in a minute.”

 

She waited until her mom had left for the kitchen again before she walked over to the window and looked outside for a better look.

 

To her surprise, she was met with the view of her new backyard - acres and acres of forest as far as the eye could see, all of which was only visible by the soft glow of the moonlight in the dark sky.

 

And all of which was still undiscovered by Haru.

 

As alluring as it was, how could she not resist planning on give it a look? Just a quick look. Just one quick look.

 

With that idea fermenting in her brain, she hastily ran down the stairs in a heartbeat to the kitchen that was entirely unpacked and set as perfectly as it had been in their old house. She plopped down at the empty seat with a plate of food in front of it already and began to eat with the determination to finish and head out already.

 

“All done. Thanks,” she jumped out of her chair to put her empty plate in the sink. She then slipped out of the kitchen to fall to her knees in the living room to look through their boxes to find the box with her clothes in it. It was getting cold outside, so she at least needed a jacket to keep her warm in her exploration.

 

“Yah. I know you’re done, but what are you doing over there, huh?” her father called out from the kitchen as he suspected something from the girl. He knew her too well to know that wherever she was in a rush and rummaging silently through things, that she was up to something.

 

“Just making another mess with our stuff again, I bet,” her mother teased while they both continued to watched her as she was up to her own antics.

 

“Pssh. No,” Haru shot back as she gave her parents a joking glare as she finally found the box she needed and began to look further into it for a decent jacket to wear, “I’m just heading outside to the backyard for a bit, that’s all.”

 

They both were taken back by her answer and looked at each other to see a matching expression on each others faces.

 

“What? No. It’s too late and dark outside,” her mother spoke up, chuckling and shaking her head a little to the idea.

 

“But mo-”

 

“I said, no, Haru-yah. Did you hear me? You’re not going outside,” her mother’s voice was more firm this time while she took her dinner plate to the sink, “Tomorrow you’ll have plenty of time to explore the backyard all you want. Tonight, you should just worry about going off to bed and sleeping. We set up your bed already in your new room upstairs. It’s the second room to the right.”

 

Haru’s eyebrows furrowed as she clutched her jacket tightly in her hands. Biting her lip, she turned to her dad with pleading eyes. “...Dad?” she mumbled with a begging expression, hopefully winning at least his approval over.

 

Her dad didn’t reply, but just shook his head with an apologetic grin on his lips.

 

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