Jinsoul created a group chat with everyone to tell them the details of the trip. Her parents suggested meeting at their house the morning of their departure to discuss the property and start to set up a plan of action. Jinsoul’s mother cooked an enormous breakfast for everyone and facilitated the discussion. Once everybody understood the plan and had finished their breakfast, Jinsoul announced she would be outside ready to load the car.

   “Jeez, what is in this? Rocks?” she asked as she struggled to pick up an enormous rose gold luggage bag and slide it into the trunk of the SUV.

    Jinsoul could feel sweat forming on her brow, and she felt lucky that she decided to go bare-faced for the road trip. She was going to be driving 4 hours with her 5 best friends in the whole world, so why bother? They had all seen the best and worst of each other before. She pushed the sleeves of her shirt up to her elbows as she knew she had at least 4 more bags to go. She pulled her hair back into a messy bun as she gave a pointed look at the owner of the bag.

    “We’re going to be there for six weeks, I had a lot to pack!” Kahei replied.

    She gave Jinsoul an apologetic smile and peeled off her white jacket to tie it around her waist, revealing a rose gold tank top that matched the bag.

    “You do know that we can do laundry while we’re out there, right? Just because it’s in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean we have to live like barbarians and stone our clothes clean,” said a voice coming from behind them.

    Jungeun strolled casually toward Jinsoul and Kahei. She wore a mustard yellow tank top and jean shorts with a blue and green plaid flannel thrown over her shoulder. She had a smirk plastered on her face, a trademark of hers almost exclusively used when teasing Kahei. Jinsoul watched Kahei’s face flush upon seeing Jungeun walking toward them and rolled her eyes. Jungeun knew Kahei had a thing for her and loved to make her squirm at any and every opportunity. Kahei just stammered out a few sounds before Jungeun cut her off.

    “I’m only kidding, cutie. You should bring as many or… as few clothes as you want.”

    Jungeun looked Kahei up and down, knowing exactly what kind of reaction she would receive from her. Kahei’s face only grew whiter and she couldn’t stop blinking and stammering at a very amused Jungeun. 

    “Okay, okay, enough of that. Give me your bag, you weirdo,” Jinsoul finally said in an attempt to stop the scene unfolding before her.

    Jungeun pulled her gaze away from Kahei and playfully glared at Jinsoul. She rolled her crimson bag toward the trunk and let Jinsoul take care of the rest. Jinsoul was able to slide this bag in easily, and she silently thanked her best friend for packing light. If there was one thing she could always count on Jungeun for, it was practicality.

    “Has anyone called shotgun?” Jungeun asked. 

    “Nope, but it can’t be called yet. You know the rules,” Jinsoul replied. 

    “What rules?” 

    “You know, everyone who is going to get into the car has to be outside and you have to call it loud enough that at least one person hears you.” 

    “Whatever, I think I deserve shotgun automatically because I have the best taste in music.” 

    “I don’t know if Cotton Eyed Joe can be considered ‘good taste,’” Jinsoul used air quotes to emphasize her point.

    “That was one time! And it was a joke!” Jungeun attempted to defend herself, but Jinsoul was already looking behind her at the rest of the girls.

   Out of the house with their luggage in tow came Haseul and Jiwoo talking excitedly to each other with Sooyoung following close behind. Sooyoung always had a smile on her face; it made anyone who met her feel immediately at ease. She was listening silently to Haseul and Jiwoo’s conversation, but Jinsoul noticed her eyes seemed to linger on Haseul even after she finished talking. 

    “SHOTGUN!” Jiwoo shouted as soon as she saw the rest of the girls outside.

    Junguen’s eyes widened in rage and she whipped her head around to face Jiwoo. 

    “ YOU!” she shouted as she ran toward the front seat.

    Jiwoo ran to meet her there and they wrestled with the door handle for a few seconds before Jungeun fully shoved Jiwoo into Haseul, jumped in the car, and locked the door. When Jiwoo managed to look back at the car she found Jungeun making a big show of flipping her off from behind the window glass.

    “This isn’t over, Kim Jungeun,” Jiwoo said as she pointed two fingers at her own eyes and then at Jungeun’s. “This. Isn’t. Over.”

    “Alright, I managed to Tetris the out of these bags in the trunk and snacks are in the back seat,” Jinsoul announced. “Is everybody ready?”

    After a slew of verbal affirmations and head nods (and an embarrassing number of kisses and hugs from Jinsoul’s mother) they were on their way. The three-hour drive went by faster than expected; they spent the first hour screaming along to their favorite songs and one by one the girls fell asleep leaving Jinsoul to think about the journey ahead. She always enjoyed driving as a way to clear her mind. As they approached the destination, the houses became more and more spread apart and civilization seemed to be moving farther and farther away. Soon they were driving through thick woods with small driveways leading to houses that could barely be seen through the trees.

    “So, we’re like, literally in the middle of nowhere,” Haseul said from the very back of the car. 

    “Yeah, I vaguely remember all of this. It always felt like we were going into an alternate universe or something when I visited as a kid,” Jinsoul replied.

    “It’s really pretty. It’ll be nice to be away from the city,” Haseul said, now looking at the road ahead.

    Finally, Jinsoul pulled into a wide driveway and up to a large 2-story house painted in navy blue with off-white accents. There was a wrap-around porch with a swing in the front, and the lake could be seen peeking through the trees on either side of the house. It was clear the house hadn’t been touched in many years: cobwebs littered the banisters on the porch, a layer of dirt was caked onto the entire exterior, and the colors were faded from baking in the sun.

    “This is it,” Jinsoul said, more to herself than to her friends.

    Jungeun blinked her eyes open when she felt the car stop and stretched in her seat. 

    “Wake up, losers!” she shouted.

    There were a few groans and mumbles from the back, but everyone managed to climb out of the SUV and stretch their limbs out on the driveway. One by one they all stood next to each other in a sort of line in front of the car, staring up at the house and thinking of the job they had ahead of them. Jinsoul said what they all had been thinking at that moment.

    “What a dump.”

    The mood lightened across the group, everyone smiling or chuckling at Jinsoul’s comment. 

    “Eh, it’s nothing we can’t handle,” Jiwoo said as she patted Jinsoul’s back. “Should we take a look inside before we move our stuff in?”

    Jinsoul fumbled with her keys until she found the one she was looking for. She had to jiggle the lock a few times, but she eventually turned the key and grabbed the knob. She turned to her friends for encouragement and took a deep breath. For some reason, she felt nervous to see whatever might be behind this door. She pushed the door open and let it swing. Jinsoul could feel the girls all crowd around her to look inside. 

    The doorway opened to a narrow hallway with flowery wallpaper and at the end Jinsoul could see a wide, open room. The house was dark, of course, as the lights hadn’t been yet, but the light from the outside illuminated the entryway just enough.

    “Well, are we going in or aren’t we?” Jungeun asked.

    Everyone looked to Jinsoul who stood frozen, suddenly unsure of how to move her legs.

    Jungeun pushed past her and stepped inside. 

    “I’ll go first, if it makes you feel better,” she held her hand out to Jinsoul. “Come on, it’s okay.” 

    Jinsoul felt her eyes start to burn as they had been held wide open for a bit too long. When Jungeun held out her hand, she tentatively took it and stepped inside. Jinsoul wasn’t quite afraid to walk inside, but something about the building made her feel uneasy, like they were intruding. Jungeun led her down the hallway and into the main room. Jinsoul could feel one of the others grab onto her shirt and she heard the footsteps of the rest of the girls following closely behind. A sudden wind slammed the door closed behind them, and suddenly the house was colder than it should be for the middle of the day in the summer. They all froze at hearing the door slam, but Jungeun quickly tugged on Jinsoul’s hand to move further inside. 

   “It’s just the wind, guys.”

   Jungeun pulled her phone out and the flashlight. Once they had moved into the center of the room at the end of the hall, Jungeun clasped both of her hands around Jinsoul’s for a moment.

    “I’m going to find the light switch. Don’t move,” she said gently before letting go of Jinsoul’s hand.

    Jinsoul could hear her heart beating loudly in her ears and goosebumps rose over her entire body as she felt Jungeun move away. Whoever was holding her shirt pulled her in and slunk an arm around her waist. Jinsoul and some of the other girls their flashlights, and Jinsoul could finally see it was Jiwoo that was holding her with a look of pure panic on her face. She always had a crippling fear of the dark ever since she was locked in a closet for an hour by her cousins during a game of hide-and-seek when she was 5. Jinsoul put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. With the flashlight on, Jinsoul could see the furniture in the room more clearly. To the left there was a glass dining table set with six chairs with tall backrests. It reminded her of the dining room setup in Beetlejuice. To the right there were two couches on a rug, set up around an old clunky TV with a built-in VCR. She faintly remembered sitting on the rug and watching a movie on that TV. Eventually, Jungeun found a light switch, but flipping it didn’t turn on any lights.

    “Of course, that would have been too easy,” Jungeun said. “I’m going to have to find the breaker. Be right back!” 

    As Jungeun moved out of sight, Jinsoul checked on her friends. Jiwoo had started shivering from the cold, so Jinsoul moved to embrace her with both arms. Haseul was moving her light around the room, surveying the space from where she stood. Kahei was beside her following the light in between looking worriedly toward where Jungeun had disappeared.  Sooyoung had moved away from the group and was looking around every corner of the room. She seemed perfectly at ease, almost comfortable exploring this new space. 

    “Aha!” they heard Jungeun shout. “I found it. Lights coming right up!”

    Jungeun made her way back to her friends and flipped the first light switch she could find. This time, the lights above the living room illuminated and there was a sigh of relief among them. Kahei immediately started to move toward Jungeun, but stopped herself and instead chose to lean against the back of one of the couches. Jinsoul relaxed her arms from around Jiwoo, but Jiwoo was still clinging to Jinsoul with her face buried in her neck. 

    “Hey. Hey, Jiwoo,” Jinsoul whispered. “The lights are on, it’s okay.”

    Jiwoo finally opened her eyes and looked around. She noticed she was still wrapped around Jinsoul and quickly pulled away, her cheeks becoming rosy.

    “Sorry,” she said with a nervous laugh.

    Jinsoul shot Jiwoo a quick reassuring smile before taking in her surroundings. There was a thick line of curtains along the back wall. Jinsoul stepped forward and pulled half of them back from the middle to reveal a huge glass window stretching the entire length of the wall. fell open and she turned to the others, some of whom gasped at the sight. Haseul stepped up to pull back the other side of the curtain and the full view of the lake was the center of everyone’s attention.