Light giggles sounded throughout the yard as two little girls chased one another ‘round the swings. They were careless in speed and focused on the happy tingles caused from playing as their matching navy pleated skirts ruffled in the breeze. Joohyun was ahead and peeked behind her to see Jieun on her tail, making the first girl run faster as she approached the small ladder leading up the playset. She climbed the rungs and planned a route through the other kids to gain access across the wobbly plastic bridge to where she could escape down the rainbow slide. Stepping off the top rung, she took a half step forward and looked down to see her friend halfway up the ladder, causing her to let out another string of laughter. Joohyun took her time passing through the other students, giving Jieun time to catch up just enough to keep their game of tag interesting. Before either of them could make it halfway ‘cross the bridge, a whistle was heard from the teacher, signalling recess was over.

    That was their first meeting, taking place on a warm spring day doubling as the start of both of their second year of elementary school. The two drifted off from a group of six year olds who gathered to play tag and had been inseparable ever since. They became such fast friends that they didn’t even feel the need to exchange names until a few days later. It was a bond so innocently formed through play time and shared lunches, picking crayons for one another when they colored in class. Even as years passed and schools changed, other friends entering and leaving their lives each year, Joohyun and Jieun would never go more than twenty-four hours (maybe forty-eight if one of them got grounded) without communicating. So during the autumn of their second year of high school, when Joohyun didn’t respond to Jieun’s texts all weekend nor show up to school on Monday, it was clear something bad had happened.

The girl with bright pink hair was hard to miss, but it was even harder to not find her friend with the matching shade at her side. Jieun and Joohyun were known in their grade to be another pair of girls who focused more on Instagram than homework. The kind who didn’t care much about school dress code and gave the principal puppy dog eyes if they were ever in trouble for it. Most students wouldn’t dare to go farther than a subtle tint of red or purple, maybe even light brown. But Joohyun and Jieun seemed to enjoy testing the limits of what they could get away with. The two appeared to be twins upon first glance, and many who only saw them around campus honestly thought they were sisters. So when a lone Ji