heights (prologue): the verge

The obsidian silhouette of Seoul consumed her.

The railing was cold beneath her fingers. The city lights squinted and blinked at her questioningly, reminding her of the stars that hung over Jeonju, home, her parents and her little sister who probably wasn’t that little anymore.

The wind touched her skin and the stalled traffic began to flow again. She wondered what the point was - what the point of all this was. She’d been searching but, clearly, not in the right places; the end of this promotion cycle, the end of the next tour, the end of her career…the end of her life. The end was where peace resided, and if that was a lie, then it was the only lie she could sleep peacefully with.

Leaning her head into her palm, she mulled over the road that led her here.

Seven years old, standing on a too-big stage, looking out into a faceless crowd. She was too small, the lights were too bright, but when she parted her lips to sing - everything blackened out. A second. That’s all it lasted. The crowd erupted like volcanoes; hot molten screams, jeers, cheers that washed over her, burning.

Whether she was fond of that moment, she wasn’t sure. It was where her need to be loved and have people love her began to fester beneath her ribs.

Kim Taeyeon, the child prodigy. She chuckled to herself. The sound bled ou