DAY FIVE

Heejin awoke to a sunless sky. But then, every day she spent in her stepmother’s house felt that way to her.

She sat up in bed, wincing as she did. The bruise on her back from the day previous still hadn’t healed. That woman let her daughters have free reign when it came to her. The spoiled brats had shoved her down the stairs while she was carrying a basket filled with dirty laundry. The tumble had broken her spine, and she surely would have been paralyzed had it not been for that woman’s talent in healing magic. It had happened before.

But today was the day she broke free.

Hyunjin and the rest of Loona had come up with a plan for her to escape. It was risky, but it was the only chance she had. There was no way that woman would ever come to justice while Heejin was still living with her.

Heejin packed her bags and shrunk them until they fit into the pocket of the dirty little apron they made her wear while working around the house. This was it. She took one last look around at the tiny room she had lived in for the past three years, and then she left.

They made her make them breakfast. She did so gladly, with a smile on her face. That woman gave her a suspicious look, but did not otherwise protest. Heejin’s smile grew wider.

It took a few minutes, but the laxatives Yeojin had supplied her with worked like a charm. Her captors ran off to the bathrooms in the house to relieve themselves. That woman yelled something at her, but she ignored it. She was leaving now.

Heejin cracked open the window in the dining room and slipped out. Once her feet were on the grass, she focused on the now familiar tingling on the back of her neck. She focused on it and focused on it until it became her entire world. When she opened her eyes, she was once again a rabbit. It hadn’t been her first choice, but Hyunjin had made her feel better about it, the way she always did.

She hopped away on furry little limbs, finally free for the first time in forever. She went on like that for about an hour, until she was sure that woman couldn’t find her, and then she transformed back.

She caught a bus in the nearby town and rode it all the way to St. Mungo’s, which was not her destination, but it was somewhere she had to be anyway. Hyunjin would be mad, but she’d forgive Heejin. She was family in a way that woman and her daughters had never been.

A quick step through the front window of a muggle department store led her into the bustling lobby of St. Mungo’s. There were people, wounded and cursed, waiting to be seen. Lots of screaming. Heejin blocked it out and walked up to the receptionist. When she finished telling the  receptionist who she was there for, she got a look of pity and directions to the elevator in return.

She got off on the fourth floor. This was a space for permanent magical maladies. What had happened to her father because of that woman certainly qualified. The receptionist’s directions took her to a room down the hallway to her left. She knocked and was let in by a ruddy looking nurse. “Oh. You’re here. He doesn’t get visitors, you know? You should really come down here more often.”

“Yeah.”

With that brief exchange, the nurse left so that Heejin was finally alone with her father.

“Hi, Dad.”

The man stared out the window with dead eyes. He didn’t remember anything. He couldn’t remember anything. That woman had made sure of it. The last time Heejin had seen him, he had been frothing at the mouth, totally and completely incoherent. Now he was silent, dead inside.

“It’s me.  It’s Heejin. Remember me?”

The last two words were more pleading than questioning. Her dad was the only person left in the world who loved her. The only one who could tuck her in at night and read her stories. The only other person who remembered her mother.

Tears stung in her eyes as she knelt next to the man in his little rocking chair. She put her hand on his, and he stirred. She gasped as he turned and looked her directly in the eye.

“Heejin?”

Heejin gasped and took his hand in both of hers.

“Daddy...you remember me?”

The man nodded, his neck stiff. It had clearly been many years since he had talked to anyone.

“Heejin, my little girl. I could never forget you.”

“Oh.” Heejin couldn’t help it. She burst into tears and wrapped her arms around her father’s neck. The man pulled her into a hug.

“It was so hard...so hard without you, daddy,”she muttered into his shoulder. The man just massaged her back gently. He seemed alert, but Heejin knew that was only temporary. “That woman---it was s-so horrible!” She physically trembled, and only her father’s warm hands kept her from collapsing onto the floor. It was finally starting to sink in. She was free now. She’d never have to see that woman again, except in court.

Heejin’s dad pulled back, both hands on either side of her face. His dark eyes had a flicker of the liveliness and vivid intelligence he had once displayed. He smiled at her, a warm, guileless smile--the kind that only appears on the face of one that loves you unconditionally. “I love you, Heejin.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”

He didn’t last much longer after that. He receded back into the fog of dementia and left Heejin all alone once more. Heejin made sure to smile as he faded. A good memory to surface later.

She left the building and emerged onto a bright, colorful city street. She should have been sad, but her heart was light and a genuine smile had made its way onto her face. She was free now, and she would see him again.

They’d make more memories. And she would remember for him.