This chapter will include descriptions of violence.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Seungwan asked softly as she helped pull a dark coat onto Seulgi.

She nodded and sighed, “Sometimes I, uh, just get caught up in all of it. I just get stuck back there, but I’m here now. I’m okay.”

Seungwan cupped her cheeks and stared into Seulgi’s eyes, the white in her eyes had been engulfed by a burning red as tears dried. “You’re not here Seul, you’re still back there-”

“No,” Seulgi croaked as she clung onto Seungwan’s arms, “don’t say that- I’m here, I’m here- I know I am.”

Shaky breaths rattled out of her corroded lungs as she cried softly, “I don’t want to go back there, she’s there- And I- I. Can’t. I can’t leave if she’s there.”

“You never left.” Seungwan shook her head softly as she wiped a stray tear off her cheek, “you’re still there.”

She let out a shaky breath as she began to crumble, her head dropped into the crook of Seungwan’s shoulder. “I don’t know how to get out…”

She engulfed Seulgi into a hug, her hands clasped onto her sharp shoulder blades as she felt Seulgi sob into her shoulder, steaming tears running down her cheeks and soaking her shirt. “We’re gonna find a way out together. Okay?”

The memory tasted fresh on her weary tongue; she walked down a dark hallway that was devoid of a familiar lavender scent and instead the pungent scent of cheap and dirty alcohol claimed it; she stumbled past a dirty mirror, ignoring the blazes of red that ignited within her eyes and the puffs of grief that filled out her face as she collapsed onto her unmade bed.

She sat on an uneven stone, her sun-kissed legs folded and her arms carrying the weight of her head.

She was ten years old, all skin and bone that held crescent-moon eyes and wide smiles. She was eight years old, even smaller but not any less cheery, when she met ten-year old Bae Joohyun.

Her hair was knotted at the ends and mud was caked across her pale knees, but her voice was low and she hid behind her mother’s long legs.

But Seulgi thought she was beautiful, not in the way flowers were beautiful or the way her father called her mother beautiful; she was beautiful when she sprinted across fields with flowers tucked behind her ears and when she finally shouted with a voice that rivaled every single one of their teachers; she was beautiful with her hair splayed across her forehead as rain poured. She was beautiful with her bright yellow boots and a matching raincoat as she ran down alleys and jumped into puddles.

She watched Joohyun pluck flowers from the ground, a light shot from the dark lush that covered the skies, the light scattered and danced across her fingertips as she dug deep into the dry dirt.

“I’m almost done Seul.” Joohyun plucked a few more flowers and stood up with a wide grin.

Seulgi felt a heat build within her fluffy cheeks, the ones that Joohyun pinched when she talked with a mouth full of food. She brushed her hair behind her ear, careful not to push the dandelion that Joohyun had gently placed behind her ear.

But the flower dropped from her ear and onto her lap and she could almost hear Joohyun’s voice drop from a shout into a gentle whisper, “You’re so messy.”

She quickly tried to place the flower back, but her fingers were too strong and too swift, the stem was crushed and sticky nectar flooded over the edges of her fingers; she groaned before a loud scream ripped her attention from the flower.

Seulgi shot off the stone as she stared into the woods, a dark figure stood above Joohyun’s shaking body.

She sprinted forwards, her feet slammed into the ground and sent dirt flying as she let out a scream that was more akin to a war-cry.

But warriors are so much more than skin and bone, they’re fury coiled within taut muscles and heavy bones, and she was not coiled fury, she was sunshine captured in a bottle.

He gripped onto Seulgi’s collar, and tossed her towards the base of a tree, a loud crack shook the empty forest and she didn’t know if it has echoed from her head smacking against bark or from her now awkwardly bent left arm.

Joohyun let out another ear-splitting screech before being thrown into the dark bushes, Seulgi forced herself up, her legs shook as she sprinted forwards again and she threw her all her weight into his torso and sent him tumbling into the dry dirt.

Even with every punch and every crack that resonated from her bones she didn’t let go, she clung onto his legs and then pinned his arms behind his back and then moved around onto his torso.

But after a few minutes, bright shades of crimson began to leak into her vision and her grip began to loosen, but a flurry of footsteps flooded behind her and eventually a woman pulled her from him and gently handed her to two terrified girls.

A little girl pulled her into her lap, her eyes were warm and kind, they were pools of the sun’s warmth and Seulgi thought she and her must’ve came from the same Sun.

She whispered into her ear, “You’re gonna be alright okay? You’re gonna be just fine.”

“My name’s Seungwan,” the girl murmured as she clung onto Seulgi’s limp hand.

Seulgi let out a ragged breath, she began to pant before weakly pointing to the bushes, “Joohyun,”

She gasped as blood trickled down her lips, “Is she okay?”

Seungwan glanced at the girl sitting beside her, “Go look Sooyoung.”

She nodded and walked towards the bushes, she parted the leaves to find a limp girl hidden by the branches.

“Miss. Shon,” Sooyoung called out hesitantly, “there’s another girl here.”

Seungwan glanced back at her, and gently wiped the blood off her lip, “You did such a good job protecting her.”

Despite blood staining her teeth she gave Seungwan a weak smile, “My name’s Seulgi.”

Sooyoung slipped her hands under the pale girl’s frame, her fingers ran across bony shoulder blades and a spine that pressed against her skin with a pristine point. She grunted quietly as she lifted the girl from the bushes and walked back towards them.

“Is this your friend?” Sooyoung asked as she lowered her onto the ground.

Seulgi let out a sharp gasp as she tried to turn in Seungwan’s lap, her eyes flew across Joohyun’s limp body, her right eye looked as if it was colored in with a cheap purple marker, the unnaturally vibrant hue had spilled over the right side of her face while blood trickled down a deep cut that ran down her plump right cheek.

Seulgi glanced at her hands, they were stained with the dull colors of the flowers that were now scattered around them; she let out a soft cry as she stretched her neck to rest her forehead against hers.

“You saved her Seulgi,” Seungwan reassured her.

“No- No I wasn’t strong enough.” Seulgi’s face crumpled into a mess of bloody tears and tanned skin being flushed out by a melancholic shade of red.

Seulgi wasn’t skin and bone anymore, underneath her clean button-ups were tense muscles that lined the walls of her body; and for the first time she was more than sunshine caught within a bottle, there was an unmistakable fury that could not belong to something as sweet as the Sun.

(And yet it wasn’t enough to save her, she wasn’t enough to save her then and she wasn’t enough now).

A strangled cry stumbled from had collapsed onto her pillow as hot tears ran down her cheeks and soaked her pillow.

She wasn’t enough.

Jieun stared at the cluttered files that were scattered across her desk, Joohyun’s thin and messy handwriting filled every page with notes to herself that could only mean nothing to any other person.

The sweet sound of birds chirping filled her skull alongside endless pictures of innards swept across hot pavement all highlighted by a sickly colored yellow light; while the vivid color of lilac and dark indigo flooded in, coloring the sky like they had colored in the pale throats of a few innocent girls.

She huffed quietly before stuffing every bloody and bruised photo into the folder while she did her best to ignore the pictures of smiling girls whose throats were filled with the sun’s light, without a single bruise and without blood stains tainting their pure flesh like messy brushstrokes across a painting. 

They all seemed so perfect before hell festered and burst through the cracks of their town; and Joohyun seemed to be the only person who knew why.

This chapter was mainly revolving around Seulgi, I wanted to further develop her relationship with Joohyun and build up some history with Seungwan and Sooyoung, Yerim wasn’t included this chapter but her backstory will be explained soon ;). There should be more Jieun centered chapters coming soon, one’s that revolve around the investigation. ;)

Let me know what you guys think, and comments and upvotes are always appreciated! :)