손혜주 [Son Hyejoo]

In the tallest balcony of an old empty manor, stands alone a tall slim figure having her long thin strings of hair wave along the pace of air hitting gently through her body carrying around the scent of winter along with the cold loneliness it conveys. Roughly a century has passed since she last saw another person roam around the forest ahead of her, the dark coldness surrounding the manor was her only companion.

The first snow made itself be noticeable with tiny feather like crops falling ever so slowly making a pair of empty dark eyes follow one out of the many in front of her as right hand rises its palm high up to her chest level capturing it, she stares at it for a few seconds making her heart raise a tad faster than usual.

-- “hurry! We are gonna be late!” A small voice says while tugging onto the sleeve of a much taller girl to make her follow along, with lazy steps and a blank facade showing on her face she follows until they reach the top of a hill where their eyes meet the ever so green meadow surrounded by a lake spotting a manor in the long long distance, the smaller girl smiles from ear to ear as she points at the darkening sky that seems to be torn between  orange and violet shades hiding the sun behind thick yet soft clouds “look!” she says pointing out at the point where the sky seems to meet the water surrounding them watching a small golden ray shine through the edge just before feathers start to fall from the clouds all in different sizes and shapes starting to cloth on top of their heads and shoulders “winter is here” she adds turning around to face the tall girl with an eye smile ripping a small smile out of her lips at how beautiful the view was, as she always did whenever that same smile showed up in front of her.--

Her hand slowly curls up into a small fist trapping the feather as small flames start to cover her skin, a few seconds after her hand opens up releasing the feather now divided into smaller pieces, with a blow on her palm the pieces fly away multiplying as they go until they reach the ends of the manor causing a shield like transparency to cover the house keeping the rest of the snow feathers from getting in.

As the shield appears the tall girl turns around walking back inside the empty room, quarted walls that instead of any visible decoration had patch over patches of ivy leaves only showing how it was deteriorating as much as the girl inside. She walks towards her bed laying down over the white cover as her hands rest over her stomach staring at the cracked brownish ceiling as a small sigh leaves her lips. Bruises can be seen on her arms as her skin is almost ghost white from missing the sun, her legs showing a few cuts as her tights slide down and her skirt goes up.

Every attempt of leaving the Eden has ended in failure, every way she has tried to leave has only brought her pain to the point she wonders why even try anymore, wasn’t her destiny to be the one left behind? To be the one no one would miss? Not even the only person that ever peeked inside her soul despite her cold exterior. Why did the rest could leave yet she is trapped? A question she might never get the answer to.

박채원 [ Park Chaewon ]

Somewhere around an unknown universe, a small blond girl sits by the edge of a tall building; her feet hang over it as her hands rest gracefully over her lap having her eyes stare deep into the dawning sky almost as she could see beyond it. The cold blowing air felt like home, she couldn’t help but smile.

The way the wind whispered in her ear felt so familiar almost as if it carried away a message only meant for her ears. Her small moment of solitude and reminisce ended shortly before a burgundy haired girl sat beside her bumping her shoulder against hers “what do you think? Should we stay here?” She asks focusing her eyes on the blond girl “i wanna go home” the girl simply responded making the other knit her brows together staying quiet for a moment.

As the silence screams a third voice comes from behind the two sitting girls “we can’t” it says with a hint of regret as she didn’t know the consequences of her actions and how they ended up expelling the trio out of Eden, the blond’s small hands fists over her dress hem lightly tightening her jaw as their efforts to open the door they sealed by escaping have all been in vain.

“And whose fault is that” she says with clear anger in her voice as she cannot hide the resentment away, the regret of leaving behind the one person she could ever love “i am sorry” the third girl says making the blond one close her eyes taking a deep breathe “save it” she barely mutters knowing anything they say wouldn’t change a thing.

-- “lets tell her, she would be on our side” Chaewon says as Sooyoung and Jiwoo remain sitting in front of her with doubt written all over their faces “i am not sure she would, she has never broken a single rule and besides what if it doesn’t work? What if we get stuck there and the only way to comeback is to open the door from the inside?” Sooyoung says genuinely uncertain of how the details of their escape would work.

“You’ve come and go what, two times already? If it was safe for you alone, why wouldn’t it be for the four of us together?” Chaewon questions again making the tall girl sigh “both times Jiwoo was here, my connection with her was what opened the door. If we all go we won’t have an anchor left behind to come back” she tried to explain making Jiwoo hold on to one of her hands as Chaewon knits her brows.

“We are trying to escape, not coming back is the point here..” she says in between greeted teeth as Sooyoung turns her face to Jiwoo, being -trapped- in divine creation for as long as they can remember was a prison in their hearts and soul, they yearned for freedom; to live a life the way they would want it not the way it was written for them yet the fear of being vanished, ripped away from the life they knew still lingered within them, the fear of not knowing what they would face or if they would be able to survive it.

“I know, but if the worlds outside of here aren’t better? What if they aren’t what we expect them to be? Then what..” Jiwoo says breaking her long silence as she stares right back into Sooyoung’s eyes trying to not have fear take over her will of being free “can’t we give her a choice at least? She is one of us, don’t we owe her at least that much? As long as we are together we can always find a way to comeback or make a new home” Chaewon says certain of nothing but that she didn’t wanna leave Hyejoo behind. Certainly not of it meant risking never seeing her again.--

“There is no point now, we are locked out either way and she is there all alone because of us” Chaewon says not knowing that Eden started to die the day they left as Hyejoo alone wasn’t enough to keep it alive, despite being the strongest of the four “we can still find a way, let’s just not give up” Jiwoo says placing her hand over the blond’s shoulder squeezing it softly as she tries to smile “sometimes i feel like she is trying to reach me, like the wind carries out her calling yet i cannot grasp it” she says as her eyes open slowly to let a tear escape from the corner of her eye.

Behind them Sooyoung looks up making the clouds turn darker covering every single star above, like every dawn she used the sky to send Hyejoo a message, to let her know they didn’t meant for anything to happen; that they hadn’t given up on getting to her “we’ll get there, whatever it takes”