┌──────── ●✰✹✰● ────────┐

    Byul was slapped in the face by the cold as she exited her apartment. It was just past three in the morning and the temperature had dropped dramatically. With nothing more than a thin spring jacket on, the one thing she was able to grab in her way out, she set out into the early morning streets to clear her head. She hated leaving YongSun like that. She just cut off the conversation, but right now neither of them was understanding the other and they could do with some space. 

The air Byul was currently breathing had a hint of frost to it, the lingering winter still clawing its way back. She pulled her jacket tighter. She could see her breath coming out as tiny clouds in front of her as she walked. For three in the morning the streets were not as deserted as she thought that they would be, there were actually quite a few people hanging around, but probably not the kind of people you would want around you. Byul kept her eyes down and marched on in the morning cold.

The street lights projected an orange color on the path where Byul was walking aimlessly. The breath came out of with more and more difficulty as a knot formed in . With each step she took away from her apartment, her chest shrunk a little more. Tears came out again as if what had happened a few moments ago wouldn’t have been enough for her. She squeezed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to shed the last one in that night.

What was in her head? Nothing and everything at the same time. She looked at the sky letting the early morning breeze hit the traces of tears that her eyes were tired of spilling. With heavy eyelids she tried to look for stars, but only the reflection of Seoul's lights and blackness was visible. "Black", she thought "white is the absence of color and black is the mixture of all colors". She said in her head remembering the photography classes she once had. She blinked and stared back into the dark night. "Is the night sky black because the sunlight doesn’t prevent us from seeing the immensity of the universe? Perhaps, the night looks black because there is an infinity of things out there projecting their colors ... maybe the infinity and absence of things in my head is like the night sky ". She shook her head at the nonsense she was thinking and walked back looking at her feet, clouds coming out of like the girl in the dream.

The dream. She wondered when that was going to rear its ugly head, because there was no deadline for her nightmares. They could happen in hours, days, weeks, and sometimes months but never more than that. Usually the increased knowledge of the dream meant the closer it was getting but this one was not changing, not progressing, and those were the scariest ones of all. She shook her head violently, from color to nightmares, what would be next, cats? She did really want a cat… Now was not the time for that.

She followed the street in front of her until she reached an all night convenience store. The cold was starting to settle into her bones… also like the dream, and right now she could use a steaming bowl of ramen or some coffee. The bell overhead chimed as she stepped into the store. The employee looked over at her skeptically, assessing her to make sure she wasn’t some low life. He quickly went back to the book he was reading and Byul went over to the ramen section of the store. She didn’t really care which flavor she chose, as long as it was going to be hot. The cashier rang up the noodles and coffee and Byul went over the water station to make it. Soon she was stirring her steaming noodles at the window, sitting on the customer bench, watching the morning streets. Her eyes may have been on the people but her mind was elsewhere. It started to unravel her dream once again, trying to catch even the slightest detail that could point her in the right direction as to when it was going to happen. 

Cold and darkness, that was all she could remember. A chill ran through her as she put her mind back to her dream. Shaky hand reaching for her cup of coffee, dark liquid burning her tongue as she tried to take a sip of it. She was too distracted to remember to blow on it. She took it into her hands instead, trying to burn the cold from her body, if only she could burn it from her mind. On and on, like one sick loop the dream played itself for her, she could feel the panic start to rise in her chest again. She was going to be there eventually, in that pit, falling into the darkness. And no one was going to be around to save her. 

“Excuse me ma'am, not to intrude but is everything okay?” a voice spoke next to Byul forcing her out of her thoughts. She looked to the side and saw the boy, that was at the register before, with a worried face.

“What do you mean?” Byul snapped at him just to see how the boy's expression changed from worried to a scared one. She cleared and tried to soften her expression, it was not the boy's fault that she was in a dark and repetitive hell.

"I'm sorry but I saw you with a horrified and pale expression, I just wanted to know if you were okay, after everything I've seen as a cashier, it's easy to meet people who are not exactly friendly at this time of dawn", the boy offered a slight smile. Byul watched him and tried to mimic but thoughts couldn't leave her head. Instead, a grimace appeared that looked like a crooked and forced smile.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said shortly, trying to get him to leave to his position so she could get back to her thoughts.

"Have you ever looked at the night sky? It's black and empty, however, that doesn't mean there are no stars, it just means that our eyes are unable to see them by all the urban lights that make interference ... if they were all turned off, you would see the immense amount of stars that can exist out there and that our mundane eyes are capable of perceiving. " The voice that spoke seemed like the voice of a man and a woman talking at the same time, in her head and coming out of the mouth of the person next to her. She was able to hear it on both sides, and the surprise of the duality of the voice made her jump from her seat throwing the coffee she was holding in her way.

"What did you say?" Byul asked in a frightened whisper.

"Oh ma'am, your coffee!" Exclaimed the boy as he reached to pick up the container she had thrown away, Byul barely moved from her place unable to understand what was happening.

"Hey, tell me what you just said", demanded the girl who looked even paler than she could ever imagine. The boy stood up at Byul's demanding voice and looked at her with certain panic.

"I just asked if you were okay, I didn't say anything else."

Byul blinked, watching him, she was positive he had just spoken those words to her. But then, who was the woman also speaking? Byul felt a sharp pain in her head, so painful it made her grab the sides of it. The boy took a step forward, as if to help her. “Stay away from me.” She said trying to sound more forceful. 

“Hey, I am just making sure you are…” as he took another step Byul jumped back, almost knocking over a display. 

“I said stay away from me.” Her voice more panicked, the pain in her head growing. 

The voice was back, growing louder with the pain in her head. “Dark, black, empty” Byul could see the boy’s lips moving, both voices escaping his lips. Her vision was starting to become blurry with the pain. 

“See what we see.”

Byul felt panic rise in her once again, she need to get the hell out of there, she needed to run. The boy’s face still looked concerned but the voices were still coming from his mouth. Byul pooled all the energy she could. She forced herself to let go of her head, pain blinding her, she stood against it, she braced herself and she ran. She ran from the store, feet pounding on the ground as she did, she was running from her mind, from her thoughts, from whatever she just encountered in that store. She ran until she couldn’t feel anymore. And when she reached that point she collapsed, back into the darkness. 

The woman’s voice chuckling as her mind drifted away.

“Are you scared?” 

The voice spoke.

“Yes” Byul whispered.

"Byul!" An almost inaudible voice shouted in the distance. It repeated the same name as it approached.

Like the spotlight of a train, a light approached from the endless darkness inside the head of the girl who was laying on the ground. At first, it was a little and insignificant point that transformed, with the seconds, into a light that threatened to turn the darkness into the luminosity that resembles the flash of a camera taking a picture at night. The flash blinded her and made the sound of the woman chucking disappear. She opened her eyes.

"Byul," Yong's familiar voice said relieved as she saw the eyes of her girlfriend opening. She had seen her in the distance while Byul was lying on the ground motionless. She ran in her direction and had been trying to wake her up with slight shakes ever since ... she was afraid that the worst had already happened and she had not been there to prevent it.

"Hold me." said Byul confused as if the world had turned upside down. Her sobs being the only thing that could be heard in the almost dawn.

“Always”.