"Get out of my ing house." His voice bears through his clenched teeth. 

Joohyun hates this. 

"GET OUT!" He yells, his fingers curling to a fist as he charges forward. "Didn't you hear me?! GET! OUT!"

She needs to fight back. Fight back. Fight. 

"I did nothing wrong," Joohyun states firmly, unmoving from the living room floor, but she hears her own voice shake. Tremble as if she's already to bursting into tears, collapsed on her knees. "Nothing–I–"

"Shut up!" He shouts once more, bringing his face closer than before. "Shut the hell up."

"No–" Joohyun begins to refuse to only end up interrupted with a harsh punch that stops herself from revolving. It's unbearable as pain shoots from her nose, while the rest of the room becomes a huge messy blur of black and blue. 

The coffee table rattles when Joohyun ends up falling on the floor with a hand covering the side of her face in an absolute look of horror. She blinks slowly, unable focus on what's happening. Shouting starts to ring in one ear as the other catches the sound of the front door opening. 

–

Her elbows hits the side of the door, surprising herself awake in a sweating mess. She breathes heavily, shifting uncomfortably in the seat. Confused, frightened, frantic–she barely remembers where she is–no wait, she does. 

She's in the back someone's car. 

"You okay?" A voice calmly soothes its way into her ear, settling comfortably. Joohyun shifts her gaze up. It's Seulgi. "Nightmare?" Joohyun slightly nods, sighing in defeat as she curls up on the seat. 

Of chill winds and pastel pink skies, Joohyun barely knows Seulgi or Sooyoung as they're driving past the sixth station down the highway. She closes her eyes against the breeze that brushes by her face in a light blow, letting herself sink deeper into the thick gray seat without a thought of where she was heading. It was only the faint hum of indie to keep her company when the two girls in front kept quiet. 

Joohyun doesn't know long or how much time passes as the sun's still out, blaring of late summer heat. She stays silent too, enduring the awkward atmosphere and her aching bones that thumps against her flesh. Her eyes drift to her mud damp shoes and blood dried hands as the rest sticks in between her nails. She groans, pressing her knees against her chest, squeezing her eyes shut at the dim light of the sun. 

The car bumps along the gravel at a slow pace as Sooyoung hops out of the car easily. Joohyun looks behind where the road was long gone, a breathtaking view of greenery fogged her sight. A flimsy metal gate hangs open in front, words of no trespassing writes lone in a bright red color. 

"Um...where–where are we going?" Joohyun stutters, gripping tightly on the handle of the door. 

Sooyoung kicks the gate wide up, ushering Seulgi to drive in. "Our top secret hideout." 

"Hideout?" 

"Yeah," Seulgi answers, driving in an empty lot as Sooyoung follows from the side. "It's more of our little hangout." 

Joohyun didn't think 'little' was the right word. It was much rather far from it. The place was an out run carnival. The ferris wheel on one end, the carousel on the other, and the little stands to play pop the balloon with a dull dart or the small mirror house maze. It was the simple definition of nostalgic. 

"A run down carnival." Joohyun breathes out, stepping away from the car. 

"Bingo," Sooyoung clicks her tongue, "and it's not a bad as you think it is." 

Joohyun doesn't know. Uncertainty swirling in the pit of her stomach in an uneasy manner. She starts regretting of hopping in their convertible, her fingers tugging her brown locks. "Are you sure this is alright, or more less safe." 

Seulgi and Sooyoung reply in unison. "Of course."

It wasn't long before Seulgi has the car parked, and the talk of hunger spreading among them. "We should've bought snacks," Sooyoung whines. 

Seulgi eyebrows knit together. "If you weren't being such a dumb dumb, maybe this wouldn't have happened." 

"Wow." Sooyoung frowns, pouting. 

"Don't try to act cute," I'm not going all the way back to buy some snacks.

"Then let's do Rock Paper Scissors to be fair." 

"Okay fine." Seulgi gives up. 

Joohyun stands by the side, watching the series of Rock Paper Scissors unfold between the two. They continuously go no where as they both endlessly throw the same thing. Paper to paper, rock to rock, but it wasn't before Seulgi throws paper and Sooyoung lands with a rock. And Seulgi's pumping a fist in the air in victory. 

"In your face!" Seulgi sticks out her tongue, and Sooyoung jokingly puts her in a headlock. 

"Damnit." Sooyoung groans. "What do you want."

"The usual. Drinks and Pringles ." 

Sooyoung turns before leaving. "Joohyun? You want something in particular?"

Joohyun raises her brows. "I–I'll have the same."

"Okay then, I'll be back in a few." Sooyoung trudges to the lot sulking in despair. Clearly upset. 

Seulgi looks back at Joohyun with a grin. "Let's find so where to sit."

–

Joohyun plops down on a bench, feeling as if she's still dreaming. A feeling she hates. It's like lucid dreaming. Unsure if reality of not and Joohyun wants to throw a tantrum. Cry like a little kid who's candy's been taken away. Stomp her feet, punch a wall or something. It must've piled up to the limit. Her anger and frustrations. 

"I don't know what to do anymore. What do I do Seulgi?"

"Huh?"

"I don't know what to do anymore. Everything's such a mess that I–I'm so stressed and ed up. It's so frustrating you know? I just want to punch something. Cry about it, whine and be a little kid, I–" Joohyun takes in a deep breath, "I'm–I'm sorry it's just me endlessly ranting but–"

"–It's okay, I totally understand you."

"You–you came out to your parents too?" 

Seulgi clears , shuffling her feet on the cement walk. "Something like that, expect...I'm not gay." Joohyun doesn't say anything, but to give a slight nod of an understanding. (She doesn't want to pry any deeper.)

"Do you come here often?" 

A little light grows to sparkle in Seulgi's eyes when Joohyun asks the question. Her lopsided toothy grin growing on her face, excitement bustling. "During the summer mostly, but all before it closed down and ran out of business. You should’ve seen it," Seulgi sighs, “You should’ve seen the lights they put up in the night, or the sweet smell of funnel cake, or the whole parade of rides...you should’ve seen it.”.

"I should’ve," Joohyun points out, staring at the unmoving carousel of white horses painted of blue ribbons. "It's seems like a place a for children though." 

"I mean, it's been run down for years, but Sooyoung and I continuously visited when it opened. And it was alright since Sooyoung was this tiny lil chubby baby." Seulgi snickers and Joohyun starts laughing–it erupts from her naturally as if she’s already known them. She can’t help but to experience a bubbling feeling at the pit of her stomach, a surge of happiness lead astray. Seulgi laughs, seeming to enjoy her little memory of little Sooyoung. “She was cute...only back then.” 

"You've known her for how long?" 

"Who? Sooyoung?" Seulgi bites down on her bottom lip, eyebrows slightly creasing as she thinks and Joohyun can't help but to stare as her face becomes a little more attractive. Her eyes travel down her light pink tint lips, and the way her tongue grazes over her–

"I've known Sooyoung since primary school." 

"O–oh." Joohyun perks up from her daze, internally scolding herself. "That's amazing how you've lasted for so...so long." 

Seulgi tries to sit taller than she is, overly confident at the small remark. "I know. Sooyoung and I are unstoppable." 
 
A little tang of jealousy ripples.

–

It wasn't much later the sun starts to fade as the gray clouds drift by. Seulgi says something about how it might rain, but Joohyun can hardly listen. 

The little carousel bothers her. 

She sees her mom–her dad. Just the three of them together and she desperately tries to fight away the nightmare that appear every time she closes her eyes. Fragments of her father's fist swinging in, or her mother's look of sheer horror undoubtedly written on her face. It wasn't going to go away anytime soon. It was going to stay there like any other memory.  Lingering back and forth to keep her awake at night, casting itself behind her as a shadow to drag her down at the worst time. 

When she's happy. 

Where there's happiness, there's sadness. 

"Sooyoung!" Seulgi shouts past her. 

There's a rustling sound of plastic bags and clunking of cans. It shakes in front of Joohyun’s line of vision with Sooyoung towering over. “Here’s the snacks that I had to ing drive for."

Startled, Joohyun staggers back. "Oh, thanks."

"You should be," Sooyoung grumbles, and tosses two cans, one to Seulgi and other to her. 

It's cola.  

She hates cola. 

No other, Joohyun snaps open the carbonated drink in hesitation, deciding it was better than to dehydrate herself. 

The last bag of chips plops back in the plastic bag for later and Seulgi excuses herself to find a restroom. "Are you guys coming?" 

"Nah, I'm good. Just hurry back," Sooyoung says, "there was one at the rest stop a little down the highway, so take the car." The keys twirling on her finger flings over to Seulgi who barely manages to catch it. 

"What about you, Joohyun?" Seulgi asks. 

–

"Seulgi hurry up." Joohyun whispers to herself as she follows Sooyoung behind. "This is so awkward." And as things couldn't get worse she hears a profanity pass Sooyoung's lip. 

"Oh what the hell." Her hand lifts above Sooyoung's head. "It's raining."

"What–" A droplet of rain pelts down her face as Joohyun looks up. "God."

They end up running in rain, quickly aiming for the nearest shelter for cover. They stop under a run down restroom, hitting their backs against the cement cracked wall. Joohyun shivers in her wet pressed clothes, unsure how she had gotten herself this soaking wet. She sees Sooyoung stare at her, taking off her jersey jacket without a word before throwing it. 

"Wear it, or you'll catch a cold." 

The jacket drapes over her shoulders, a quiet mumble of a thank you slips by. They stand in silence, feet shuffling every so often, and Joohyun holds the urge to scream out in frustration. She looks down, her eyes lingering to whatever's beneath her and something catches in her eyes. Joohyun asks herself why she hadn't noticed it before. Those maroon sneakers. 

"Your shoes," Joohyun points to them; Sooyoung's pumps. The ones with dirtied black laces that tied loosely together, and the dark maroon color that was still new as a fresh coat of paint. "Your–your shoes."

"What? What about my shoes?" Sooyoung lifts her foot up, looking at them just as Joohyun was. Fascinated.

Annoyance starts to stretch through Joohyun's expression, her nimble fingers pressing harder on the buttons of Sooyoung's jersey. "You're the girl who stole from my dad's store!"

And the color starts to drain out of Sooyoung's face, mouth slightly ajar. She forces a crooked grin, shrugging. "Well..." her voice trails off, unsure of where to begin. 

Sooyoung blames them. 

Blames her goddamn maroon kicks. 

–––

Sorry for the late update, but I hope you'll enjoythis chapter excusing the grammar mistakes thanks