Trigger warning: Discussions of murder

 

A few days had passed since her father’s visit, and María thought maybe he took her words into account for once––maybe he’d decided to never come back. He would move on with his life, leave his wife behind, and forget María.

 

Maybe in this way, even if she never got to leave the hospital, she was free. She was free of the horrible man who was her father. 

 

María and Moonbyul were walking the halls of the hospital after group while María waited for it to be time for her appointment with Dr. Kim. When they reached the reception area, they both froze. 

 

Her father was at the check-in desk, looking angrier than ever. 

 

“I’m sorry, sir, but she is refusing to see you. We can’t go against her wishes unless it’s an emergency.”

 

“I’m her husband!” He bellowed. “I can see her whenever I like! I can do to her whatever I like!” 

 

“No, sir, you cannot.” The nurse was losing patience. 

 

Then he saw her. 

 

“You…” He pointed at María, his face turning redder by the second. “You did this to her! You put ideas in her head and now she thinks she has a right to stand up to me.” 

 

“She does have that right,” María said. She took a few steps toward her father. “She has the right to refuse to see you, too.” 

 

“No! She doesn’t!” He was getting angrier by the second. 

 

“Leave and never come back,” María said to her father. 

 

“I’m not letting my daughter boss me around. It’s already bad enough my wife won’t listen, but I’ll make sure you listen. I’ll yank you out of here, get you thrown somewhere awful. I was too lenient taking you here.” 

 

He moved toward her and went to grab her by the collar, but Moonbyul jumped between them at the last moment, elbowing him in the neck. 

 

He winced in pain, but it only seemed to provoke him further. 

 

He glared around Moonbyul at María. 

 

“You mother was so obitenet this whole time. She may have complained every time I moved her from hospital to hospital, but she never disobeyed me. A few minutes with you…” He took a deep breath and María could almost feel his anger as he breathed out. “A few minutes with you and she’s ruined.” 

 

“You mean she found her voice?” María said. “You mean she’s finally standing up to you the way she should have years ago?” 

 

Her father lunged toward her again, but Moonbyul pushed María directly behind her and swiftly moved them both out of the way. 

 

“Get away from her!” Moonbyul shouted. “She’s made it clear that she doesn’t want to see you anymore, so respect her choice and leave.” 

 

He narrowed his eyes at Moonbyul. 

 

“Are you the person who made my daughter this way?” A smirk satan himself might have painted spread across his face. “You know how hollow she was when I left her here? How hollow she’s been the whole time?” 

 

María peeked out from behind Moonbyul. How did her dad know about her? He’d never once visited. 

 

“That’s right, María-ya,” he said too sweetly. “I kept up with your progress, or lack thereof. I know you still talk to your sister like the lunatic you are. Your guilt must still be eating you alive. They say you’ll never really recover…” He cackled. 

 

Moonbyul felt her whole body vibrating in anger. Lunatic. Even though the word wasn’t directed at her, it still stung the same. And she’d never stand by while it was hurled at this girl who’d become her best friend. 

 

“María-shi is no lunatic! She’s sweet, funny, caring…” She took a few steps toward María’s father. “You think you ruined her, but you didn’t. You never could. She’s so much better than you could ever be.” 

 

He just laughed. “A crazy standing up for another crazy…” He sighed. “I don’t know what I expected.” 

 

He tried to look at his daughter, who was hiding behind Moonbyul again, too shaken by the fact that her father knew what had been happening to her for the past three years and seemed to enjoy it. She felt her eyes welling up with tears when suddenly someone whispered into her ear, “Let me take it from here.” 

 

Hwasa stepped out from behind María and Moonbyul, standing directly in front of their father. She knew he would see her. He’d been in a car accident as a child. Death had been near him.

 

When his eyes found hers, it took a few seconds for him to register who he was seeing. As his face went from confusion, to shock, to horror, Hwasa’s face grew more contorted in the pure joy of doing something she’d wanted to do ever since she’d died: haunting her father. 

 

“Hello, Apa,” she said. “You’ve aged quite poorly.” 

 

“H…” He couldn’t even say her name. 

 

“Me? I haven’t aged one bit.” She looked down at her school uniform. “Forever seventeen.” She shrugged and circled him. She smirked when she saw sweat dripping down the back of his neck. 

 

“I’ve stayed by María’s side. I saw Oma. And now I finally see you.” 

 

She moved so her face was directly in front of his. If she could feel things, she would feel his breath on her skin. 

 

“You killed me. And you thought you’d get away with it.” 

 

“You’re not real!” He shouted, drawing the attention of a few patients passing by. 

 

“Oh, I am. I’ve been here ever since the day you pushed me down the stairs.” She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “Why, Apa? You always said I was the good girl.” 

 

He looked between her and María. He clenched his hands into fists. 

 

“You were the good girl,” he muttered. “My sweet girl.” 

 

“So why, Apa? Why?” She circled him again and again. 

 

After three years she was finally going to learn why her father shoved her down those stairs––why he ended her life at seventeen. 

 

“I made a mistake,” he said. 

 

“Murder isn’t a mistake,” she said with a laugh. “I could feel the anger in your hands as you grabbed me by the back of my vest and pushed me so hard… Do you know I fell so fast that my life didn’t even flash before my eyes like they always say it will? I just wondered if I could stop this, grab the railing, somehow right myself… And then I felt a horrible pain in my neck, and the last thing I saw was your face at the top of the stairs. You were just staring down at me. I wondered if you regretted it, I wanted María, I wanted Oma… but I couldn’t say a word, and then the darkness came.” 

 

Her father’s face was ashen. He looked like he was about to pass out. 

 

“That’s how it felt to die. That’s how it felt when you killed me.” 

 

“It wasn’t supposed to be you!” He finally exclaimed. “It was supposed to be your sister! So yes, Hwasa-ya, I made a mistake. You should be the one who is still here.” 

 

Hwasa, María, and Moonbyul were all speechless. Hwasa recovered the fastest––anger filling every part of her. 

 

“How dare you!” She lunged at him, passing through him, but hearing the fears in his mind as she did. It gave her more power. “You are the most despicable person on the face of the earth! When you die, I hope you are never reborn. I hope you are in hell for all of eternity.” 

 

Moonbyul took María, who looked like she was about to fall over, out of the room and sat her down with her head between her legs. She ran up to a nurse. 

 

“Please, help her,” she pointed at María. 

 

Before the nurse could say anything else, Moonbyul was back with Hwasa and her father. 

 

Hwasa was towering over the floor, where he was curled up crying. 

 

“I’m sorry, Hwasa-ya! It should never have been you!” 

 

“It should have been you!” Hwasa shouted. “For the first time ever, I’m glad I’m dead. I could never have lived without María.” She leaned over him. “But I can live without you, and María and Oma would be far, far better off without you.” 

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Hwasa saw Moonbyul going for a chair. She quickly stopped her. 

 

“No, Moonbyul-shi. He will face his crimes.” She looked back down at her father. 

 

Dr. Kim suddenly ran around the corner and took in Moonbyul standing there while María’s father cowered on the floor. 

 

“Tell her!” Hwasa shouted. “Tell her or I’ll haunt you until you draw your dying breath.” 

 

“No!” He screamed. “I did it! I killed you!” His eyes went from Hwasa to Dr. Kim. “I killed my daughter! I killed Hwasa.” He began to laugh, hysterics overtaking him. “I killed her, but it should have been María. If only it had been María…” 

 

Dr. Kim dialed the police and spoke into the phone, but Hwasa wasn’t listening. 

 

She ran to her sister. She needed to be there for what was about to happen next. 

 

What was finally going to happen after three long years.

 

“María-ya, please, come with me. There’s no time for tears. We can cry later, but you need to see this happen.” 

 

María looked up at Hwasa and shook her head. 

 

“He was right.” 

 

“No, he’s the scum of the earth.” 

 

Then there were sirens. 

 

María covered her ears. The sirens. The sirens, the sirens. 

 

“Hurry,” Hwasa said. “This time they’re real, María-ya. The sirens are coming to do what they should have three years ago.” 

 

María looked up at her sister again, tears streaming down her face. 

 

“Do this for me.” She held out her hand, and María pretended she could take it. 

 

They rounded the corner, and entered into utter chaos. 

 

The sirens don’t sound for a dead girl, María thought. But they sound for a murderer. 

 

And I am not the murderer.