“I’m dead, I’m dead, I am so freaking dead!”

 

            Lee _____ dashed across the campus and down the corridors of the school searching for a place to hide, and if she didn’t find a good place soon…well she shuddered at thought of the events that may occur.

 

            “Yah, Lee _____! Be ready to die! When my old man sees this grade, he’s gonna ing kill me! That’s why I’m gonna kill you first, you worthless !”

           

            _____ pumped her legs harder, trying to gain speed, desperate to gain distance. She had to get away, and she had better do it fast.

 

            “Lee _____!”

 

            The menacing voice grew louder, the echo suffocating her, he was close. Her heart rate accelerated when she noticed the sound of heavy footfall trailing, and not just one pair, but several. He had friends.

 

            “Move…faster…_____,” she willed herself, gasping for air between her spastic pants.

 

            “This is it Lee _____, you’re life is done for!”

 

            _____ shut her eyes tight and used all of the energy left in her body to push herself forward a few inches more. Just when she was ready to accept her fate, her legs no longer able to support her speed, she noticed a door ajar, only a few feet out of reach.

            She could do it. If she could hold on a few seconds more, then she’d be safe. She ducked her head, and begged her legs to give her a few more seconds. Please…please.

            She dived headfirst shielding her head with her arms as they collided with the door causing it to swing open. Quickly collecting herself off the floor, she dashed across the room and shut the door as quickly as possible, while still being gentle enough to avoid attention.

            Collapsing on the ground, and slumped against the door, _____ faintly heard the rampaging footfalls pass the room. While attempting to stifle her gasping, she listened while rummaging through her navy bag until they were out of ear shot. She faintly smiled with relief when he unearthed the inhaler from the contents of her bag. She uncapped the small plastic container, inhaling two puffs from the mouthpiece; and when she felt sure enough of her distance from the mob, allowed herself fall flat on the ground, releasing a shaky sigh of relief as she felt her heart rate, and thankfully her breathing return to normal.

            Once she could breathe without feeling the uncomfortable shutter of forced air bubbling in , _____ rose to a sitting position, back straight against the door, and shut her eyes. While she could breathe again, her stomach was still back in the psychology room where she had begun the two mile dash for her life.

            “Stupid, stupid,” _____ muttered while lightly hitting her head with her fist. If only she hadn’t spent so much time reading the new book she had bought the other week. Then maybe she wouldn’t have been so tired when she wrote Kim Joon Gu’s midterm report. Then maybe he would’ve done better then a B, and she wouldn’t have had to get away from him and his band of thug friends.

            _____ signed checking her wristwatch. It was three, and she had to get to calculus, her only academic class of the day in ten minutes. As if that would be possible. From what she had deducted from the room that she was currently in, she was in the far left music wing. That was at least a twenty minute walk to the exact opposite side of the campus.

            “Ahhh,” _____ ruffled her hair, frustrated. “Why do I let them get to me? Yah, Lee _____, why are you such an idiot?”

            Her head fell against the door in defeat. If she missed one class, she knew she wouldn’t miss much. Next to her chosen major dancing, she was strongest in writing, but if she missed a day of calculus, she could catch up in no time. Besides, she hadn’t done Joon Gu’s algebra homework yet, so she would’ve probably completed that then pay attention in class anyway.

            Ah, stupid Joon Gu! Why did she let him bully her around? Oh…that’s right. If she didn’t then he would pummel her to Tokyo and back.

            After sulking behind the door for what was about ten minutes, _____ decided that she might as well head back home. Calculus was her last class of the day, and if she was going to miss it, then there was no point hanging around on campus.

            As _____ stood up from the hardwood floor, she glanced around at her surroundings. She had figured that she was in a music room from the piano that she had seen at first glance from entering, but as she scanned the room; she noticed that it was one of the considerably nicer and better equipped music rooms that the school possessed.

            Her best friend Minah was a music performance major, and she had been inside of her assigned practice room several times, and it was nowhere near as nice as this one.

            This one not only sported a large black grand piano – as opposed to the old wooden one that Minah’s room held – but also in the corner, a full drum set, two bass guitars, and an electric guitar plugged into a Solid State amplifier; the envy of all guitarists. She knew because Minah’s older brother Kangsung who played the guitar was always hounding his mom; stressing how for his band to ever succeed he needed one desperately.

            “Wow…” _____ exclaimed as she mindless walked over the selection of instruments propped on their stands. “This is amazing,” she marveled as she let her index finger pluck one of the red bass’ stings. The sound instead of bouncing off the walls and rattling the windows like the vibrations did in Minah’s room; the walls seemed to absorb the sound, settling the instrument’s acoustics. “Sound proof walls,” _____ muttered. “Nice touch.”

            She continued gazing at the instruments. She had never learned to play sadly, and it was the one thing that she regretted more then anything. She had taken piano lessons for three years as a child but despised them greatly, throwing tantrums until her mother finally pulled her out and enrolled her in ballet. Looking back, she really wished that her mother had made her stick with it. If she had chosen to major in music instead of dance, then maybe she never would’ve met Joon Gu, and she wouldn’t have as many classes with him, and half as many problems.

            _____ sighed and turned around. She had better be leaving. After all this wasn’t her room, and she knew how possessive music majors tended to be about their practice rooms. She was about to walk in the direction of the door when she felt a chilling breeze coming from the left. Turning her head she saw that one of the windows was open. Instead of heading out, _____ instead went over to the window. It was pretty chilly outside, and the forecast did call for scattered thunderstorms. If the owner of the room came back and the floor was wet they would probably be pretty upset. Not to mention the risk of damaging the instruments.

            _____ grasped the handle connected to the window pane, ignoring the window sill that was piled with random knickknacks and papers, and pulled in; but the window didn’t budge. She tried again, this time giving it a firm yank, but still it stayed locked in place. Frustrated, she checked to make sure that the window wasn’t locked, and noting that it wasn’t, she knit her eyebrows and decided to give it one more try.

            She propped her foot up against the wall just below the sill, extending her arm so that it reached the handle. Using all of her body weight, she pulled back, continuing to do so until…

 

---CRASH!---

 

            “Ah,” _____ rubbed the back of her head that had slammed against the floor. Pulling her hand back she gasped.

            A large gash had appeared on her hand, blood steadily flowing out coating her hand and trailing down her wrist. “Ahhhhh!” _____ screamed at the sight and searched the floor, spotting a broken glass figure a few feet away from her. She slowly crawled over, being careful to cradle her injured hand, and noticed that the figure seemed to be a china elephant. Large chunks of glass were scattered around the area, with small powdery shards mixed in, creating a mess of useless rubble.

            _____ could see the painted eye on one shard, and the headdress on another. As she examined the pile of ruins, out of the corner of her eye she saw a chunk with blood stained on the sharp edge. Kneeling down, with her good hand, she gingerly picked up the tainted shard, and identified it as the trunk – or what was left of it.

            “Oh no,” _____ whispered as she used her bad hand to trace out the detail on the trunk. “Ahhh!” She pulled her hand back as she extended it too far, opening the still untreated wound. Just as she was thinking of a way that she could treat her hand and clean the mess as quickly as possible, she heard the gentle creak of door hinges and she felt her heart drop into her stomach.

            “What…have you done?” A male’s voice boomed through the room causing _____ to shiver. “What the hell are you doing?”

            _____ turned to see a familiar looking boy with shaggy black hair and crazy eyes storm her way, a deep frown carved on his lips. He carelessly shoved her aside causing her to fall onto the floor. She landed on her bad hand causing her to yelp in pain, but chocked back the painful gasps. The boy didn’t seem to notice, too absorbed in the ruined china figure.

            “What did you do? Are you an idiot? Why the hell are you in this practice room anyway?” His voice grew louder with each question causing _____ to cower with each word even though he still wasn’t facing her.

            “I…I’m sorry. I was being chased, and I…well I –”

            “You what? You just run into somebody’s room and break their belongings! Do you even know who I am?”

            “I –”

            He turned his head so that his face was now fully facing her…and then she remembered. It all clicked. All of the pictures that Minah showed her. The posters in the courtyard and all over campus. The school blog’s front cover story almost every weekend. She hadn’t just run into the practice room of any average music major…she ran into the private and excusive practice room of the Korean National University of Arts’ star prodigy band and music majors – CNBLUE.

 

            If she thought she was dead before…it was nothing compared to now.