Day 18

It'd been two days since Rainy had moved into cabin 100 with Zuri. Truth be told, Rainy had been the girl that Taemin was looking for. The girl that he saw playing the music box, the girl he took a picture of. But even after Zuri promised that she would introduce her to Taemin, the storm had passed and was now long gone, and Taemin still dosen't know anything. Zuri hasn't told Rainy anything about Taemin. Only that there was someone that she should meet.

"The plane is going to crash!!" Zuri said in the seat next to her mother. Everyone started to panic at her sudden accusation. Zuri's mother turned to her. "No it's not, honey. The pilot is just having a hard time flying the plane.. That's all.." her mother said frantically. Looking around at the chaos that was slowly unfolding in the small plane. "Mommy. We're all going to die" Zuri started to cry. "No, we're not. Just think of happy things.. Okay? Think of daddy, think of your little sister" her mother pleaded with her to stop the tears, but to no avail. Out of nowhere, there was an explosion in the plane that ripped a hole in the cabin. Passengers started to fly out likes feathers. Zuri could only listen to their screams as she buried her head in mother's coat. Tears refused to stop falling. "I don't want to die like this" she heard her mom whimper. Zuri looked up to see her mom's face one more time. Suddenly, the plain started to falling head first into the ground. Speed started to pick up fast. Zuri looked out the window of the plane and saw the ground coming closer and closer. She looked back at her mom, but she was gone. "MOM!!!" she screamed and cried. The plane started to move up and take a landing position just before it hit the ground. Finally, Zuri heard a loud BANG!

Zuri sprung up out of bed and let out a small scream. Her breathing was intense, her heartbeat refused to slow down. She looked around at her surroundings to find out that she was back her room on the ship, sleeping on the top bunk. After she realized that it was all just a nightmare, she took deeper breaths and laid back down on her bed slowly. "I'm sorry if I woke you up" Zuri said to her roommate, Rainy. She looked down at the bottom bunk to see that Rainy was gone. Zuri started to panic. "Where'd she go?" she squeaked. She opened the door of her cabin, only to be greeted with the calm wind slapping her in the face. She poked her head out to see that there was no one in the halls. She didn't want to venture any further, so she closed the door and worried. A piece of paper on Rainy's bed caught Zuri's attention and she picked it up to see that there were words written. She read a loud 

Zuri, I can't sleep so I'm gunna take a walk around the ship for a while. Don't worry. I'll be back soon. I love you! - Rainy

Zuri took a deep breath, now realizing where her roommate was, she crawled back into bed and fell asleep.

Day 19

The day went on as usual. Zuri got out of bed, went to the cafeteria, ate breakfast. Surprinsingly, nobody approached her that day. She ate, went back to her room to get her books and went to her first period class. Was greeted by Jungsu, still didn't talk to Key. She was still waiting for his apology, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Key watched again as Zuri walked right past him. Again, he wasted another chance to apologize. "Good going" he yelled at himself inwardly. Zuri walked up the steps to the nosebleed section so she can sit next to her translator. Class went on as usual, she listened more to the teacher than her translator. The more she heard two people talking to her at once, the harder it was to concentrate. She turned to her translator. "What happens when I don't need a translator anymore. I can understand almost everything he's saying. And you trying to talk over him is distacting. I don't think I need a translator anymore.." she informed calmly. The woman that had been translating everything nodded proudly and stood up. "It was nice working with you" she said and shook Zuri's hand. She started to walk down the isle of the seats. Zuri watched as she talked with the teacher for a while, and finally walked out of the classroom. Zuri's Korean still wasn't perfect, but she felt as if she couldn't learn with two people talking to her at the same time. The girl who was sitting in the seat in front of Zuri turned around and smiled. "Thanks, I couldn't stand her voice" she rolled her eyes in relief. "Yeah. Pretty hard to focus, huh? But I don't need her anymore" Zuri smiled down at the girl. The girl smiled again and raised her hand up to shake it. "I'm Sulli. Nice to meet you" she said. Zuri reached down to shake it. "I'm Zuri. Nice to meet you too" Zuri said back. 

"AHEM!!!!" 

Sulli looked back down at the teacher. "Choi Jinri, is there anything that you would like to add??" his voice boomed in the huge classroom. Some kids laughed quietly and some kids just looked. "No, sir" she said. Zuri could tell she was embarrassed. She knelt down close to Sulli's ear. "Sorry about that" Zuri whispered. Sulli strected her neck out closer to Zuri. "It's okay" she said with a smile. After that, the two girls shut up and continued to work. Zuri was in her third period class writing down notes. The only person she knew in the class was Jonghyun, but he was on the other side of the room, so she felt isolated. Class was going on as usual until a kid came through the door. "Sorry I'm late, sir" the boy bowed to the teacher. "You're the one who got his schedule changed, am I correct?" the teacher stopped his lesson and asked. The boy nodded. "Right". The teacher looked around and his eyes landed on Zuri. "Take that empty seat next to her" he pointed to Zuri, who indeed was sitting next to an empty seat. the boy nodded and climbed up the stairs. When he sat down, he immediately looked over at Zuri. "Coolio! I get to sit next to a foreigner!" he chirped and bounced in his seat. Zuri laughed at his weirdness. "Yeah, I guess so" she agreed. The boy looked over with wide eyes. "And you speak korean? That's great" he smiled. He had a real baby face. Zuri laughed to herself. "Oh. Hi. I'm Jong-woon. But you can also call me Yesung" he introduced. "I'm Zuri. Nice to meet you, Yesung" she smiled and went back to writing down notes. 

Rainy walked around the ship without a destination. She sang to herself and looked up at the blue sky. She closed her eyes and felt the breeze on her face. School was out and the kids went on with their usual business. She hummed her favorite music box jingle over and over. She finally decided to look out at the sea. It was only after she squinted and focused that she saw a small island.. What scared her slighlty was that there was smoke rising from it. "Hey look, an island" she said to herself. A member of the crew was walking by when he heard Rainy. His eyes widened and he looked over at the girl. "Did you say island?" he asked again. There was clear panic in his eyes. Rainy was caught off guard by the crew member's mood. "Y-Yeah. Look" she said while she pointed out the small piece of land she saw moments before. The crew member couldn't deny it. He saw the island too. "Come with me" he said to Rainy as he pulled her away. 

"Tell him what you saw" the crew member said. Rainy was taken to the captain. "I saw an island. So what? It looked oval shaped. And there was smoke. I saw smoke" Rainy explained. The captain grabbed his face in annoyance and left the room. "What's going on?" Rainy asked. Another crew member came up to her. "We weren't planning on it, but the island you saw was the mexican border. Apparently, there has been active volcanoes on the coast for the past few months. If we get any closer, we'll start to smell the smoke and it's unhealthy for everyone. We're gunna have to put the students on lockdown" the crew member explained. Rainy's eyes widened. "So, we're going the wrong way?" Rainy asked. "Yes. I think it's best for you to go back to your room, miss" the crew member informed and escorted her back to her room. When Rainy left the office, she could already smell the smoke. "It's already coming" Rainy coughed. "This is why we have to put the ship on high alert. We have a lot of students with asthma" he said, worried. Rainy looked up at him "Is it going to get worse?" she asked him. He looked down at Rainy. "Yes. That's why you must return to your cabin. And don't come out until we tell you to" the crew member warned. Rainy nodded her head.

Zuri sat in her room reading for the last hour. Rainy still hadn't come back yet, which made her worried. She felt lonely so she decided to go to Key's cabin. When she exited her room, everything was fine. It wasn't until she was out in the open that she wondered "Why do I smell smoke?". The smoke smell started to get worse as she walked halfway around the ship to make it to his room. She knocked, and Onew answered. Zuri looked into the room and saw Minho, Jonghyun, Taemin, and Ryeowook playing cards. Onew frowned. "He's not here" he sighed. Zuri was about to say something but was cut off by a siren. "What's going on??" Ryeowook got up and stood next to Onew. "I'm not sure". The three kids were lost in thought when Jungsu ran up to them in a panic. "Where's Taemin? We have to go back to our rooms" Jungsu coughed. "What the hell is happening??" Minho yelled from inside the room. Everyone started to smell the gases and smoke coming from the volcano on the mexican border. "What's that smell??" Jonghyun asked loudly. A crew member with a gas mask ran down the hall and saw Zuri and Jungsu standing outside the door and approached them. "Get in! It's not safe!" he yelled while pushing them all into the room together and slammed the door shut. Zuri was in the room with Onew, Jungsu, Jonghyun, Ryeowook, Minho, and Taemin. "Jungsu hyung. Do you know what's going on?" Taemin asked his cousin. Jungsu sat down and started to explain. "Our ship has been going the wrong way all this time. Our next stop was Rio De Janero, but we're on the mexican border. And there has been active volcanoes there for months. We got too close, and until we turn around, we're stuck here. They're trying to keep us away from the smoke" Jungsu explained. "Hopefully Key is safe" Onew sighed. Zuri sprung up. "How do we know for sure that he's okay??" she yelled. All the boys jumped. "Just calm down. I'm sure he's fine" Minho said taking Zuri by the shoulders and pushing her down in her spot. Zuri's heart started to race. "We better hope so. He has asthma. Just like Ryeowook" Jungsu stressed. Zuri held her head in her hands. An announcement came on the speaker that was set up in their room. In every student's room, there is a speaker for announcements. "Please remain in your cabins. This is not a drill. Please remain in your cabins". The warning went on and on when Zuri got a text from Rainy. 

To: Zuri

Hey! Where are you?? Are you okay??

Zuri rushed to reply 

To: Rainy

I'm in a different cabin. I'm fine. Where are you??

She waited for a minute until Rainy texted her back

To Zuri:

I'm in our cabin. Thanks for staying safe. I guess I'll see you later

Zuri took a deep breath and put her phone down. After she was done texting Rainy, another announcement came on, catching everyone's attention. "IF YOU'VE SEEN THESE MISSING STUDENTS, PLEASE CALL THE CREW'S CABIN IMMEDIATELY: KIM YONG SUP, CHOI SHIN HEE, PARK JUNG HYUN, KIM KIBUM...." "Oh no! KEY!" Jonghyun cried. "He's missing??"

"Oh god!"

"Not Key!"

"Please be a different Kibum!"

Everyone yelled and cried for their missing friend. While they were all in panic mode, they started to cough at the sudden smell of smoke. Someone had opened the door, and Zuri was gone. 

"Zuri! NO!" 

"COME BACK!"

"GET BACK HERE!" 

But it was no use. Zuri had left to look for Key.

Zuri looked around the ship frantically. "KIBUM!!" she yelled. "Please answer me" 

ONE HOUR EARLIER

Key was studying over time in his 6th period class because he had found out that his grade dropped down to a C-. He didn't want to have anything below a B- so he tried hard to focus. It was almost an hour after class was dismissed when his teacher stood up. "Yah, Kim Kibum." the teacher said. Key looked up at his teacher. "I'm leaving for the day, and you can't stay here without a teacher's supervision. I'm gunna have to ask you to leave" the teacher said calmly and pointed to the door. Key pouted. "You can finish your studies somewhere else. I'm happy you're trying to get your grade up. You're a good kid" his teacher smiled. "But this is the best place to be. It's so nice and quiet" Key argued. "Well I'm sure you can find peace and quiet some where else on this ship" the teacher said heading for the door. Key decided not to argue any further and followed the teacher out the door. When he opened the door, Key could immediately smell smoke, even though it was very little. "Hmm, strange" he said to himself. 

Key walked in the halls leisurely. Since he really had no where to go. He started thinking about something to do. Then Zuri popped into his head. "I should go look for her" he thought and hurried his steps, but was still slow. He made his way up to his room to drop off his books. When he went up in the elevator, he saw that kids were running around frantically, like they were being chased. Key's eyes widened. "What's going on??" he asked. As soon as the door opened, the smell of smoke and gases had gotten 100x worse. Key coughed and coughed. He could barely breathe, he felt his throat tighten and air couldn't make it through and into his lungs. He tried to make it closer to his room. But the smoke slowed him down. He felt his knees give in and his eyes start to water. It all happened so fast. He managed to crawl to a small spot in the space where he could breath a little better. The smoke wasn't even that bad for a normal person, but to him, a boy with asthma, it made it all so much worse. But it did get worse as minutes passed. He tried to call for help, but barely any noise could be heard come from his mouth. "I don't want to die like this" he cried. Key started to sob. He felt the air become more humid, and the sky turn a light grey color. He felt the smoke sting his eyes. He felt like he could only breathe through a straw. He weezed for air, but air wasn't air anymore, it was gas. He just sat there and cried for minutes. He heard an announcement coming from the speakers. He couldn't understand it very well, but when he heard his name, he had a feeling that nobody was coming to get him. He squeazed his eyes shut and sobbed. Then, he heard it. He heard Zuri's voice faintly, calling his name. 

Zuri walked around in circles screaming the same thing over and over. "KIBUM!!! ANSWER MEEEE!!!!". She coughed and coughed, breathing started to become more and more difficult. She could feel her body get more and more heavy, because her lungs were filled with gas. She looked through the smoke in the air and saw Key sitting in a corner, trying to stay away from the gas, but it wasn't helping. Key saw her and reached out his hand. "Over here" he whispered. Zuri rushed over to him and tried to pick him, but the fact that she couldn't breathe made her weak. "I can't do it. I can't pick you up. You're gunna have to stand up" Zuri said examining Key. "Are you hurt??" she asked him. Key grabbed her shirt and looked at her in the eyes. "I-I'm s-sorry" he stuttered. Zuri stopped what she was doing for a moment but went back into action. "There's no time for that! We have to get you out of here" She said finally picking Key's almost lifeless body up. She ran as fast as she could back to Key's cabin with Key on her back. She was barely able to, she even fell a few times, but she wouldn't give up. She had to save her friend. 

When she made it outside the door, she threw her fist against it as hard as she could. Only a milli second later, Minho opened the door and dragged them both into the room and shut the door. "Oh my god! You're crazy!"

"Why did you do that?"

"You almost killed yourself!"

"You're so stupid!"

Zuri got scolded as Jonghyun and Onew gave Key his inhaler. Zuri just watched patiently as she coughed out smoke on Onew's bottom bunk bed. Key started to cough up smoke and gas as well to free up space in his lungs to breathe in air. Jonghyun decided to give one take of Key's inhaler to Zuri. The two finally could breathe again, but still would cough profusely every now and then. "I still think we should take them to the nurse" Onew insisted. "No!" Zuri screamed in between coughs. Everyone looked at her. 'I-I'm fine. And I don't like hospitals" she argued. "Okay, maybe not you. But Key, definitely" Taemin snapped back. 

They called the first aid hotline on the phone in their room and told them the situation. In minutes, paramedics showed up and gave Zuri and Key real oxygen in their room. Out of curiousity, "How long is this going to last?" Ryeowook asked. One medic looked up at him and sighed. "Most likely for another 24 hours. School has been cancelled and we insist that you stay in your room until the smoke is entirely cleared" he explained, then continued to monitor Zuri. After the medics determined that the two teenagers would be alright, they left.

Key slowly opened his eyes. "What happened?" he thought. He looked at his surroundings. To his left, he saw his room. Ryeowook and Jungsu slept on the ground together while Jonghyun slept on the couch. Key looked at the foot of his bed and saw Onew sleeping in a sitting position. To his right was Zuri, sleeping dangerously close to him. She's... She's

" her thumb!" Key chipred quielty. He couldn't comprehend her aegyo. Yes, she was indeed, her thumb. Key also realized that she was snuggling with his arm tightly, as if it were a teddy bear. He felt a little uneasy at the contact, but after a while, he decided not to panic, since they were friends. And if she's a fan of skinship, so be it. "Well, I guess we're not strangers anymore, huh?" he said while he watched Zuri's sleeping body beside him. "If you tried to be like this any other time, I'd probably feel weird. But I guess I'll let it slide this one time" he thought as he looked up at the top bunk bed, where Taemin and Minho were sleeping (2min moment). Zuri's chest moved up and down slowly. Key's breathing was synchronized with her's, which made him sleepy once more. That's when he remembered everything. He was stuck in the smoke storm, left to die. But Zuri saved his life. He remembered how happy he was to see her there. How happy he was to know that he wasn't alone. Key looked back down at the the sleeping girl beside him and sighed. He admired her courage. "You're one, special, brave young woman. I hope you know that" he said out loud. None of his comments woke Zuri up, so he decided to tell her again when she did wake up. It took a while, but after he closed his eyes, Key finally fell back asleep. 

While this was happening, he looked up at the sleeping couple. He watched how Key looked down at her and smiled. How he gushed over her her thumb. How he said those things to her, knowing well that she wouldn't wake and reply. He laid back down and sighed. Jealousy slowly making it's way into his entire being. "What I would give for that to be me" Jungsu pouted.

The night went on slowly and painfully. Kids could hear rumbles from the volcano which kept them up at night. Kids without food in their cabin started to starve. It had been 24 since the lockdown began, and everyone was tired and hungry. 

"I just want some water.." Jonghyun sighed. The boys(except for Taemin and Key) sat in a circle and told each other about their complaints. How they were hungry, tired, feeling sick. Taemin was sleeping on the top bunk while Key and Zuri sat next to each other by the vanity. "How do you think your roommate is doing?" Key asked Zuri, who could barely speak because she was so weak. "She's probably fine. Me, being a fatty, I bought a ton of snacks and stocked up in my room. She's probably not hungry, which is good. But the silence and not being able to talk to anyone is probably eating her alive" she explained. "Is she the talkative type?" Key asked. Zuri thought for a minute. In all honesty, Zuri still didn't know Rainy well, but soon she would. "Sorta" she guessed. "But don't you think after 24 hours of being alone, wouldn't you go mad?" Zuri asked him. Key looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Do you worry about her?" he asked. Zuri closed her eyes. "Yes. Even though I've only known her for a short while, I care about her. I guess I'm good at making friends" Zuri confessed. "You are. You don't need to guess. You're friends with all of us" Key said, looking around the room. Zuri just nodded. The two stopped talking for about ten minutes until Key spoke up again. "Hey" he started. Zuri looked up. "I'm so sorry.. About what happened after we left Chile. I didn't mean anything I said. I don't know why I said it... I wasn't having a good day and I.." Key stopped when he looked at Zuri's smiling face. "I forgive you. Your friends came to me and explained everything" Zuri replied. Key's eyes widened "They did? They didn't tell me" he said. Zuri just nodded. She took Key's hand and held onto it. "You don't need to worry about it.. I forgive you. 100%" she reassured him. Key smiled and held her hand back. But shortly after, they let go, feeling awkward. "Uhh, sorry. I think it's uhh.. I'm hungry. And I'm not thinking right.." Key tried to make an excuse for returning her affection. Zuri was equally embarrassed. "Yeah, that must be it.. Sorry" she apologized. And for the rest of the day, they didn't touch each other once. "Why did I do that?" Zuri thought. "Why did I do that?" Key thought.

While Zuri was lost in thought. She started to hear piano music play in the small room. She looked around and saw that Taemin was awake, playing a song on his phone, most likely on a piano app of some sort. Zuri took this chance to talk to Taemin about Rainy. When Zuri walked up the tiny ladder up to Taemin, she saw his face and her heart broke a little inside. Baby Taeminnie looked like a zombie, as did everyone else. Zuri made her way to Taemin's side, sitting, watching him play the song on the small screen. "I have some good news" Zuri interrupted. Taemin continued to play the piano on his phone. "I'm listening" he said. Zuri finally got to tell him. "This is it" she thought. She cleared . "Her name is Rainy" she said. When he looked up at her, she smiled. His expression gave both of them a little more energy to survive. "Who?" Taemin asked, even though he already had a good idea who she was talking about. "Mystery girl. Her name is Rainy. She's your age, and she's brazilian" Zuri filled Taemin's head with information. He smiled. "How do you know all this?" he asked. Zuri was overjoyed at Taemin's reaction. It was everything she wanted and more. "She's my roommate" Zuri finally confessed. Taemin took a sigh of relief. "Wow.. And just like that?" he asked a rhetorical question. "Just like that." Zuri smiled. "When this is all over, let's meet her" she continued. "Can't wait" Taemin giggled. 

After 30 long hours, the smoke had finally cleared and kids were aloud to roam the ship. The crew personally brought free food to every room. Both students and faculty. The administration decided to take another three days off to recover. So school remained on hiatus.

Rainy opened the door to her's and Zuri's appartment to see Zuri smiling at her. "YOU'RE ALIVE!!!" Rainy exclaimed and rushed to her friend to hug her. "I'm so glad you're okay" Zuri said while she was choked by Rainy. She started to realize that was inflicting pain on Zuri so she let go. "Sorry. I just missed you a lot". Zuri grabbed her neck and let out a few coughs, "It's okay. I have someone here that I'd like you to meet" Zuri said calmly. "New friend??" Rainy jumped up and down and clapped. Zuri didn't answer since she took her gaze off Rainy and pulled Taemin from behind the wall shoved him in the doorway. "Rainy, this is Taemin." Zuri said behind Taemin. Rainy looked up at Taemin with big puppy eyes. "Hi there" Rainy said.. Taemin felt odd, like he was meeting a celebrity."I've wanted to meet you for a really long time" Taemin smiled. "Really?" Rainy giggled. "Wow, he's really cute" she thought. "Wow, she's more beautiful up close" he thought. Next thing they know, Zuri was gone, leaving the couple to stand there and look at each other. Rainy blushed madly while Taemin just gazed at her.

Zuri turned the corner and met eyes with Onew and Ryeowook. "So how'd it go?" Ryeowook asked. "Did it look good?" Onew asked smiling. Zuri just clutched her heart and sighed. "I think I just witnessed the start of something beautiful"

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw0wFChNe5E&list=LLbI_IcBFsDuxb7BIpI1sH3A 

This is the song Taemin played on his paino app ^^^