Chapter I

She awoke with a start, eyes shooting open as her hands automatically went up to her neck to free herself from the invisible captor. Her nails met skin - her skin - and she took in her surroundings with shaky breaths.

Alone. She was alone. It was a nightmare. A heart-stopping, wretched nightmare. 

She focused on controlling her breathing, one hand placed over her pounding heart. 

A sound from the doorway caught her attention and she sat up immediately, eyes darting to its source. She blinked quickly, her eyes adjusting better to the darkness as she was finally able to make out the figure standing in the open doorway. 

"Jinju?" she recognized, relaxing. "You surprised me."

She threw a quick glance at the clock. 10:53...She blinked and let out a strangled gasp.

"I'm late!" she squeaked, jumping out of bed and heading to her dresser. Two hands pressed against her stomach, stopping her movements and she looked down, easily recognizing another familiar face. 

"Jihoon, what are you doing? We're running late!" she pointed out with slight confusion. 

"It's Saturday," Jihoon reminded firmly. He looked up at her with warm and usually mischievous but currently worried eyes, the lower portion of his body fading to black - like his hair - and lost in the shadow of her dark room. "We don't have to be anywhere and we decided that we'd let you sleep in, especially given how rough this week has been."

"And I've been assigned breakfast in bed duty," Jinju declared, revealing a bowl of ingredients - egg, milk, flour, syrup, baking powder, sugar, salt, butter - on a small table. She fidgeted with the red ribbon in her blond hair for a second, blinking her bright brown eyes rapidly while maintaining the impatient look. "So sit back and enjoy Umma." 

She paused, gears turning in her brain and Jihoon pushed against her stomach again insistently. 

"Alright," she allowed, chuckling. "Let me open a curtain and I'll enjoy breakfast in bed."

The two grinned brightly and Jihoon all but dragged her back to bed before opening the curtains to light the sparse room - a bed, desk, bookcase, and potted plant. Meanwhile, Jinju waved her hand over the bowl rapidly and its contents mixed together, flying out and turning into a strange blur that returned to the bowl as a pile of freshly-cooked and syrup-covered pancakes. She placed the breakfast into the elder female's lap and smiled proudly. 

"Ta-da!" Jinju declared brightly, smiling proudly. "I hope you feel like eating pancakes this morning Umma."

"Thank you Jinju," 'Umma' thanked with a gentle smile. She turned to the room's other occupant. "Jihoon, can you be a dear and grab the mail for me? It should be coming soon."

He saluted her and then left, melting into the shadows and disappearing from sight. 

Minutes later, she found her hands wrapped around a warm mug of tea and her bare feet resting lightly on the dewed grass as her back leaned against the sturdy pine chair. A large umbrella kept the sun from her face and the morning breeze reasonably cool. In front of her, the edges of the cliff gave way to endless, sparkling blue water and flowers dotted patches in the expanse of grass in front of her. 

Jihoon came around the house, pulling his sneaker on one foot while hopping on the other. 

"Put your shoes on first Jihoon," she scolded, giving him a knowing look. He smiled sheepishly, paused, pulled his shoes on, and ran up to her, all but shoving the mail into her hands, before running off to play. 

She placed the mug on the matching patio table and sifted through the pile of papers. There was the usual advertisements and coupons, even the weekly newspaper that she spent a few minutes looking through. It was the envelope at the very bottom, however, that caught her attention. 

It was slightly smaller than her other mail and had her name - Sooyeon - written across it in rushed, slanted writing. She unsealed the envelope with one deft movement, pulling its contents out. She unfolded the paper. In the center, in between the thirds' folds, was a short string of letters written in the same handwriting. 

XIXhXVI

She frowned to herself before returning the letter to the envelope as it were before and gathering the other miscellaneous letters in her hand.

"Soojung," she called as she stood, her eyes drawn to the roof where - as she had expected - a girl rested on the tiles. "Come down."

"I promise I wasn't going to fall," the young girl retorted, frowning. 

"That wasn't what I was calling you for," Sooyeon teased, an amused smile painting her face. "Although I am worried about that, I was asking you for the usual mail disposal." 

Soojung nodded slowly and raised her brown eyes to the sky along with one arm. 

"One drop off coming up!" another voice stated chipperly. A child swung by from the other side of the home, almost as if using an invisible hoverboard, her bright, blond hair shimmering against the blue sky. Making a quick turn and a loop, she grabbed onto Soojung's arm while upside down and moved closer to the ground in a large arc. 

"Are you sure you're feeling better Ahri?" Sooyeon asked with worry, looking down at the young girl as she released Soojung a foot from the ground. 

"I'm fine," the young girl reassured, jumping onto the ground as though she had jumped off of a platform. "I'll go grab Minho."

"I can do it," Soojung firmly stated, swinging her head to shoot a glare at Ahri so quickly that her ponytail slapped against her neck.

"Just in case," Sooyeon reassured, nodding to Ahri. The girl took off once more and Sooyeon lowered herself so that she was eye level with Soojung. 

"I can do it no problem," the girl insisted once more.

"I know," Sooyeon agreed. "But better safe than sorry, right?" 

"I guess," Soojung grudgingly admitted. Ahri reappeared with a boy hanging off of her arm this time, flying from the side of the house. 

"Ahri! Break!" the boy urged as they drew nearer without slowing. 

"Aw man!" Ahri shouted, letting the boy go. He tuck and rolled onto the ground, receiving minimum damage. At the same time, Ahri quickly twisted her body around as though guiding her vehicle and narrowly, she turned just before crashing into the duo. She slowed and finally she stepped off, chuckling.

"At least I didn't crash this time?" she pointed out. 

"That was dangerous too," Soojung commented, looking to Sooyeon. 

"Maybe you aren't feeling so well," Sooyeon wondered, frowning as she surveyed the girl. 

"I'm fine. Promise," Ahri insisted, pouting. "I didn't build up enough momentum this time but I know next time to make an extra loop."

"We'll discuss this more later," Sooyeon finally decided before turning to the boy. "Ready Minho?"

He nodded, his shaggy brown bangs missing his large brown eyes by millimeters. 

"Ready Soojung?" she questioned, turning to the girl. Soojung nodded as well, closing her eyes and holding her hands in front of herself, palms up. 

Slowly, a small flame grew above her palms, flickering in the breeze. Sooyeon hung one of the magazine advertisements over the fire, mindful of the flare as it consumed the sacrifice. Letting go before it reached her fingers, Sooyeon watched the remaining corner freeze mid-air, a sudden chunk of ice courtesy of Minho. 

She repeated the action as did Soojung and Minho until the pile in her arms was gone. She smiled.

"Three minutes, fifty-seven seconds," she announced, chuckling. "An average of thirty-six seconds per."

"Yes!" Soojung cheered, high-fiving Minho. "We beat our personal best!"

"By three seconds," Ahri pointed out, rolling her eyes. 

"Any improvement is better than none," Soojung advised, sticking her tongue out at the girl. She turned back to Sooyeon, matching hopeful looks with Minho. "Can we go down to the beach today then? We beat our record, Jihoon hasn't pulled any pranks, Ahri's feeling better, and Jinju even kept her snacking to a minimum."

Sooyeon hummed to herself, feigning thoughtfulness. She glanced down and seeing all three look up to her with hopeful eyes, she finally acqueisced. 

"Alright," she agreed, chuckling when they let out cheers of exuberance. 

"I'll go tell Jihoon and Jinju!" Ahri declared, jumping up and flying off once more. 

"We'll go pack," Minho informed, giving a small smile as he ran into the home with Soojung hot on his trail. 

"Don't run Minho," she called out in warning, adjusting the hat upon her head. He shouted back a careless reassurance in return and she huffed fondly, stepping over one of the many rocks lining the path down the cliff to the shore. 

"I'm fine!" the boy huffed, obediently slowing his pace to match hers. "It's not like I'd trip."

"Better safe than sorry, right?" she reminded lightly. A pause.

"Right," he grudgingly agreed, sighing. "You know, if you're tired, you don't have to take us anywhere."

"Hm?" she hummed in question, looking down at the teen. 

"We all know you've been tired lately. You don't have to..." he paused, obviously searching for the correct words. "...babysit us. We're nearly adults."

"Maybe not," she admitted, smiling at his thoughtfulness before looking up at Ahri, hovering and flying whiel laughing at Soojung and Jihoon who were already at the shore and having a splash war. Jinju was laughing at them. She looked back down.

"But do you really think I'd do this if I didn't want to?" she pointed out, taking a seat on one of the large flat rocks by the oceanside. 

"Yes," Minho complained immediately, rolling his eyes. "Which is why I'm telling you that you don't have to."

She chuckled.

"Go have fun," she redirected, patting him lightly on the back. "It's not often we come down to the beach."

He gave her a narrowed look, obviously not buying her redirection, but simply sighed and joined in on the splash war, joining Jihoon just as Jinju allied with Soojung.

Last Touched: 31 August 2015

 

 

 

 

End of Chapter I