“Walk with your sister won’t you, son?” It was Monday morning, the kitchen of the Jeon’s household was quite busy. The mother was preparing breakfast like always, the father on the table drinking coffee - waiting for the breakfast, and the son who just came into the kitchen looking like he was totally done with the day even before starting it yet.

 

“Jungkook I was talking to you,” Mother Jeon stood ahead of her son who was rummaging the fridge, crossing her hands over her chest. “Yes, of course Mom. I won’t leave her today,” Jungkook replied as he closed the fridge with his foot while holding a load-full of food in his arms. “Oh and I’m taking these because I got to stay after school.”

 

 

When the breakfast was ready and everyone was at the table eating, Hera popped at the kitchen doorway smiling brightly. She greeted her parents with a kiss on the cheeks and her brother with a ruffle on his hair. ‘I’m your elder brother, give some respect’ Jungkook aggressively replied with the signs of his hand. Hera just chuckled back in return.

 

Despite having hearing and speaking disabilities, she went to the same high school as her brother as the school conducted classes for special needs students like her. Which was a great relief for her parents because at least her brother could look after her when she was not in their sight. No matter how far Hera proved herself capable of taking care of herself, her parents definitely would be worried when she was not in close proximity. She was wearing the hearing aids all the time but her condition only allowed her to listen just enough for her to read lips much more correctly. Hera practically couldn’t hear more than soft mumbles but it helped a lot for her.

 

Hera would be turning 16 in a month and two weeks had passed since she had the last vision. She never told her parents about it, about the visions. But unfortunately her brother knew.

 

She remembered telling her brother about it during Christmas Eve, about six years back. Most of their relatives came to gather at their house, having dinner and enjoying each other company. Full house at its best. Since they were the host family, they helped around a lot for all the preparations. She was helping with the decorations at the dining area with Jungkook when the topic came out.

 

‘Do you ever have dreams that come true?’ Hera asked Jungkook while they were busy unpacking decorations out of their respective packagings. ‘What do you mean?’ He raised an eyebrow.

 

‘I have been having nightmares.’ She continued, ‘but not only when I sleep.’ Jungkook didn’t say anything but his reaction urged her to explain more about it. He sat upright and watched his sister more attentively.

 

With her small hands, she tried to tell him as much as she capable of, face drained with worries. ‘Sometimes when I‘m doing something, I saw a flash of images. People dying.’

 

‘In my head.’ Hera eyes was tearing up but she went on, ‘And then it really happened.’

 

The twelve year old Jungkook was rather shocked at his sister’s statement. “Die?” he said along with the upside down turning of his left hand. Hera nodded. “I actually noticed that already...Weird enough, we’ve been witnessing a lot of deaths haven’t we?”

 

“And all of those deaths affected you so deeply even when those people weren’t related to us.”

 

 

‘Nightmares?’ Jungkook asked as they walked to school side by side. Hera shook her head. She had not been having visions for almost two weeks and it brought so much joy for her. She hated them. She truly hated them. Because, no matter how hard she tried to do something about the visions, she never had the chance to stop it or to help the people she saw in her head. Everything was always too late when she realised the visions were actually happening.

 

“That’s good then. Maybe they disappear for good.” Jungkook uttered with a reassuring smile.

 

Oh how she wished he was right.

 

-

 

The special classes created for the deaf like Hera had been operating for years at her high school but she and her classmates never felt like they blend in well with the other normal students. Although the school had created tons of programmes to bond the students together, there would always be that invisible gap between them. There was no severe cases of bullies or isolations from the other students towards Hera and her friends but even so, they felt like they were isolated. It couldn’t be helped she thought. They were indeed different but she was grateful nonetheless to be able to enjoyed school life like this.

 

She was at the hallway when the familiar feelings of numbness zapped through her body. Her friends, Minjoo and Juhyun were with her but they didn’t notice. Hera stopped walking, her body was losing balance. She moved slowly towards the wall and reached out her arm to support her against it. Her friends ahead of her was still walking but their stride became slow motion, same as the other students in the hallway.

 

I can’t believe it. They just can’t disappear can’t they?

 

She s