Yesung couldn’t wait for his 3 hour shift to be over.  He wanted to care for April but it was like sitting alone with a creepy corpse with its eyes open.  April’s eyes were open but she continued to stare at the wall in front her without moving her eyeballs even a millimeter.  He didn’t hold her hand and he stayed out of her field of vision.  He sat on the side of the room as the minutes slowly ticked by.  Shindong arrived at 11:05PM, he was five minutes late and Yesung scolded him.  “You should always be punctual.” 

            “I’m sorry hyung, my schedule ran late.”

            Yesung was already out the door and heading down the hall.  Shindong took the seat Yesung had moved back over to the bed.  He sat partially in front of the bed so that she could ‘see’ him.  “So I see you heard I was coming, you opened your eyes so you could see my beautiful face.”  Of course there was no response.  “Most people consider me pretty funny.  Maybe you’d like some impersonations.”  Shindong did some of his silliest impressions and made his most outrageous faces.  He wasn’t expecting any response but he was hopeful none the less.  Unlike Yesung, April’s state didn’t bother him.   He settled in, he’d brought his laptop this time, not just for him but also for her.  He figured he could play her some music or show her some popular internet videos.  He knew she probably wasn’t aware of what was going on around her but he wasn’t a complete believer.  He’d heard lots of stories of people who were completely aware and simply couldn’t react.  Either way, if she was even the slightest bit aware it seemed like the right thing to do. 

            Ryeowook had the graveyard shift from two to five in the morning.  He arrived a few minutes early as usual.  He came prepared with a very large cup of tea and a bag full of other items.  He moved the chair all the way in front of her so that he could face her as if he was having a conversation.  He had spoken with Yesung briefly before coming and was ready for the blank stare.  He sat down and started speaking to her immediately as if she would speak back.  “Remember me?  We had a nice chat the last time I was here.  I told you about my brothers, have they been treating you well?  I’m glad you’ve decided to open your eyes; things will start to look up from here.  I brought you some stuff tonight.  I want to read you some of my favorite childhood stories.  I’ve had these books for a long time and I still like looking at them, I hope you do too.  Maybe this is your first time hearing Korean children’s stories; you’ll have to tell me what you think sometime.”   

            Ryeowook took out the first book; it was a pop-up picture book with beautiful illustrations.  He read the whole book to her and several others while she stared right on ahead.  He even checked to make sure he was holding the book at just the right height for her.  When he was done with the books he took a drawing out of his bag.  “This is something I drew when I was also young.”  It was a rudimentary picture of a piano.  “I wanted to be a classical musician since I was young.  I like playing the piano.  I’d like to play for you one day but I don’t think the hospital will let me move a piano in.” 

 

            When Sungmin got home he filled Kyuhyun in about the recent developments.  “She’s going to come-to soon; maybe it’s time you stop by.”

            “I’d really rather not.”

            “I think you should.”

            “I think I shouldn’t”

            “Everyone else is pulling their weight and taking shifts.”

            “Not Heechul-hyung.”

            “You know very well that Heechul always does things in his own way at his own pace.”

            “And I don’t?”

            “You’re just avoiding the problem.  Everyone else is trying to make the best of a bad situation and you’re just sitting here.”

            “You know I have bad memories just as much as Heechul if not more.  Why should I be forced to go?”

            “Because you were there that day.”  Sungmin was getting angry, “don’t you feel the least bit responsible?”

            “It was a horrible and unfortunate accident, but I wasn’t driving that car.  I didn’t do this to her.”

            “You know as well as I do why that car ran the light.  Even though the driver did something terrible, it wouldn’t have happened without us.  Please just come once, maybe you will feel differently when you get there.”

            “Forget about it, I’m not going.”  Kyuhyun walked past Sungmin and left the dorm.  He went out for a walk.  He was feeling really angry at Sungmin for trying to force him into a situation that he wasn’t ready to deal with. 

            Sungmin was left with an empty room.  When Kyuhyun came back it was late and he decided to sleep on Heechul’s floor again rather than spend the night in the same room as Sungmin.  Shindong got back to the dorm a little later; he could feel the tension in the air.  He stopped to talk to Sungmin before going upstairs and Sungmin described the earlier argument. 

            “Don’t push him too hard.  Though he seems fine to the eye, his scars run deep and some have not yet healed.  He puts up a wall that makes him look like he doesn’t care but that’s about as far from the truth as you can go.  He’s afraid to get close and show that he cares because that means he’s going to have to confront a part of his past that he has not yet come to terms with.  Give him time, he’ll come around eventually.  The more you push him, the more he’s going to detach.”

 

           Eunhyuk had slept through the evening’s stress and was up really early to take his shift.  He wasn’t happy about getting this shift, especially after what happened the last time he was there.  He was still groggy and annoyed when he got there yet Ryeowook greeted him with a smile before leaving and told Eunhyuk to “be nice.” 

           He didn’t know what Ryeowook meant by that.  He sat down in the seat that Ryeowook had left.  He watched her looking at him, except it wasn’t like she was really looking at him.  “Please don’t freak out again, okay?”  He pleaded.  When nothing happened, he breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in the chair.  “Someday I will look back on this as a learning experience.”  Time passed slowly again but without upset.  He fell in and out of sleep a little bit while he was there but the others didn’t need to know that.  Could anyone really blame him when he had to arrive there at five in the morning?

 

           April was still in a dazed state.  The sensations were becoming more powerful now and sometimes she felt as if the light were dancing around her, briefly brushing against her before disappearing again.  She couldn’t think much of it, she couldn’t think at all, she could only feel and what she felt was light.