I ran and ran. I didn’t have a destination in mind. All I know is that I had to get away. Wherever my feet would take me, that was the route I would take. The searing pain in my left arm was unbearable but I tried to ignore it the best I could. I turned a sharp corner and hid in an abandoned alley way. I pressed my body against the solid, brick wall as soft murmurs could be heard from the deserted streets. They were getting louder and louder as they neared my hiding place. I held my breath while at the same time trying to calm my beating heart. I clutched my chest to ease the panic circulating through my body. The dark figures ran closer and closer and my eyes widened seeing them stop just next to the alley. They went bent over, leaning on their knees trying to catch their breaths. One had his steel gun held tightly in his fairly large hand searching the area. I covered my mouth with shaky hands as my breathing grew louder and heavier. Suddenly rattling noises could be heard behind me and I quickly turned my head to that direction. Panic started to rise in my body once again, thinking who or what could’ve made that noise. Before I could even take a step, one of the men spotted me and hurriedly ran towards me. I cursed under my breath and began running again.

After what felt like eternity of running, I quickly turned around to survey my surroundings. I sighed in relief as they were no longer chasing me. I slowed down before coming to a complete stop. With tired footsteps, I dragged myself towards a flight of cement stairs and slumped down. I rested a trembling hand on my chest, taking deep breaths. I wiped the beads of sweat that formed on my forehead with the back of my hand. I rested my wounded arm on the stairs railing, still ignoring the stinging of the gash and the amount of blood trickling out of my arm. I closed my eyes for the briefest moment wondering how my life ended up like this. It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. I clenched my hand into a fist, knuckles turning white, nails digging into my palm. I could feel myself trembling with hatred for Park Eun Joo, the one I was supposed to call ‘mother’. 

For 12 years I spent my life running. Running from the world. Running away from the past and I was doing it alone. No siblings, no other relatives. My dad passed away when I was young, so I never really knew him. I always thought to myself, “Don’t depend on anyone, Sandara, because even your shadow leaves you when you’re in darkness”, and I was always kept in the dark. No one to defend myself but me. That was until I met him. Before I could think about it any further, I heard what sounded like a garbage can being knocked over. I hurriedly stood up and was ready to defend myself from whatever there was to come. 

From a distance, I could see a silhouette of what seems to be a man exiting a dark alley. Tall, broad shoulders, built, muscular physique. I would notice that man anywhere. Jiyong. Dropping my defensive stance, I waited for the figure to come closer. He stopped a few meters away from me before shooting me one of his heart-warming smiles. I sighed tiredly and smiled back. He stepped closer and pulled me into his comforting arms. I winced in pain totally forgetting about the large wound on my upper arm. Blood was dripping onto the concrete pathway creating a pool of dark redness. I was soon slipping in and out of consciousness at the amount of blood loss. I wavered in my place threatening to fall onto the hard ground when a pair of strong arms held me tightly by the shoulders. I didn’t need to look up to see who it was. Jiyong held my injured arm with one hand while the other wrapped itself around my waist to steady my walking. He led me to his beige coloured house that was a few blocks down the road. The streets were quiet. The only sound audible was the dragging of our feet, and a few cars driving past once in a while. 

After walking through his white picket fence, everything that happened afterwards was a slight blur in my memories. I woke up the next morning with a clean bandaged arm and painkillers on the bedside table with a tall glass of water next to the tablets. I inwardly thanked Jiyong for always taking care of me and immediately took the tablets. The cool water quenched my thirst as I placed the cup back down onto the coaster. This is what my life has been life for the past 4 years. Him always looking after me. I didn’t want to be a burden to him, but after he insisted in doing so, I didn’t have the heart to turn him down.

Months passed and the both of us living as happy as can be. The chasing stopped, but the nightmares didn’t. We were silently walking hand in hand along a narrow footpath, when the sound of bicycle bells woke me up from my trance. Turning around, I saw a fairly large bike heading straight for us. I quickly pushed Jiyong out of the way, against a brick wall as I stepped back onto the road, both of us successfully avoiding the speeding bike. I looked in the direction of the cyclist only to see a slight smirk plastered on his face as he stared at me. I brushed away the uneasiness I was feeing as I made my way back to Jiyong who had a confused expression printed on his face. 

The sound of screeches caught my attention as I turned my head to the right to see a black tinted car driving like the wind in my direction. With wide eyes and a rapidly beating heart, I made a move to get out of the way, but it was already too late. The sound of Jiyong screaming my name filled my ears as I was thrown into the air and onto the back of the car. I rolled off the boot of the car, that had no intention of stopping, and landed with a loud thud on the the cold concrete road. Breaking bones were heard as it echoed around the busy city. I lay there, on the hard floor. Not daring to move an inch as the pain coursing throughout my body was too overpowering. I could feel the energy slowly being drained out of my system. Something wet was rolling down my face. It wasn’t tears, but blood. Jiyong’s angelic face welcomed my line of sight. His words were slurred as I couldn’t progress anything that was happening. I knew who was to blame for this, and I cussed just thinking of her face. “Park Eun Joo, you will soon get what you deserve”. Before my eyes completely closed, Jiyong’s voice entered my ears, “please don’t leave me Sandara”. I inwardly smiled to myself before I was soon engulfed my darkness. “I’m sorry Jiyong”.