It was dark and murky and she was tired. She just wanted to close her eyes and go to sleep. 

The only thing that kept her from doing so was her hand that was hanging onto a rope that led out to the dim light. 

She felt her eyes closing. She tried to force them open but she just couldn't find the strength to do it. 

Her hand was slowly getting weaker, and her grip on the rope was slackening. 

She let go, and let the darkness envelop her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Key's POV

Key had a sudden urge to get some air.

"Onew hyung, will you get my stuff and put it in the car? I need to go somewhere." He asked his hyung as he was packing his stuff up from dance practice.

"Sure. But--" Onew looked up from where he was, bent over his own belongings. But by then, Key had already disappeared. "Okay...whatever."

He went to go pick up Key's bag to put into Manager hyung's car, when something shining caught his eye. "Oh, he dropped something."

Onew bent down to pick up what Key had dropped. It was a little bracelet locket. He put it in his pocket. "I'll give it to him later."

Key pulled his hood low to cover his face and slipped on his sunglasses. He walked to a bench and sat down. They had just finished their daily practice at the studio, and he was thoroughly exhausted after dancing for a good five hours.

On top of that, right after, they had to leave to some mall for a public signing event. 'Well that's what it's like to be famous. That's what you always wanted right?' He asked himself, biting his lip. 

In a couple of weeks they would leave for SM Town in Los Angeles. Chae-Ryun lived there.

He wondered what she was doing now, how she was, and what she looked like now. They had lost all contact with each other since she moved to the U.S. 6 and a 1/2 years ago.

A yell broke through his reverie. "Hey Key! We gotta go!" Jonghyun's voice echoed loudly in the street, above the clamor. The rest of SHINee and their manager were waiting for him in the car.

"Coming!" He shouted back. He stood up from the bench and stretched luxuriously.

Walking slowly to the car, he got in and they drove off to the mall for the signing event.

"Took your time, didn't you?" Jonghyun grumbled, once Key plopped himself into the seat next to him. "Hmm??" Key smiled sweetly at Jonghyun, "You can never stay angry at me long." He smiled knowingly.

Jonghyun smirked, and suddenly attacked Key, tickling him. Key yelled, "Yah!" Laughing, he began to tickle Jonghyun's stomach.

"Boys! Please! Not in the car." The manager looked into the rearview mirror. "You better not have messed up your hair or your clothes! The noonas worked hard for that!" He berated them.

Key rolled his eyes. Like he would get his hair messed up. Or his clothes.

He looked at Jonghyun. "Wait till we're at the dorm." he mouthed, with a smirk.

Jonghyun pretended to cower in fear.

Minho and Taemin just looked at them like they were idiots. 

When they arrived, girls crowded around their car screaming. The sercurity guards struggled to push them back. They waved signs, and threw gifts at the car.

Key smoothed down his hair and scolded Taemin for messing up his hair. "Taemin-ah, fix your hair before you go out."

"Ok,ok." Taemin grumbled, re-doing his hair. All the members freshened themselves up under Key's eagle eye.

"Jonghyun! Your shirt is crooked!" With a sigh, Jonghyun straightened his shirt.

"It's your fault that it's messed up in the first place." He muttered under his breath.

"Yah, has anyone seen my jacket?" Onew called out.

"I have it already. You left it on the ground." Key tossed it back to him.

Minho put on his jacket. "Can we go out now? You guys take forever."

Key looked over everyone. "Okay, let's go."

                                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The event ended around 6 pm.

Minho groaned, cradling his hand, "My hand...so stiff..."  

Jonghyun looked back at him, "Well, it was y