Everlasting Fire - Chapter 2

"Mum, what is this?" Mihyun asked, confusion crossing her narrow face. She'd think that she would have received a much smaller gift like a barbie doll set like every other year but this year it was obviously not the case for her.

"For you!" Her mum laughed and Mihyun pointed to herself obliviously, not knowing why a gift was this big and what was in it. She nodded and gestured her only child over to open it. Mihyun's parents would always spoil her since she was the only child and wanted to look after her and care for her but be disciplined in the most reasonable ways possible.
 
Mihyun obediently went over and slightly opened the box, sticking her small hand in. She felt something warm and furry but being the unmindful child she was, hadn't had a clue. She opened it fully and a dalmatian puppy jumped out and started her hands. She giggled at its adorableness. 

"Thanks mum! Thanks dad!" She thanked them. She ran up to them with the small puppy in her arms and kissed both of her parents cheeks.The pup started to her nose and she giggled as she raced up the stairs to go show what her parents had bought her.

Large black dots outlined the puppy with one of them covering one of its eye, looking as adorable as ever. It felt small and fragile as she held in in her arms, wriggling around as Mihyun tried to keep and grip onto the young pup. 
 
"Guys, look what mum and dad bought me!" Mihyun squealed as she entered her room with the new puppy in arms. Everyone else squealed with her as they saw the adorable little animal in her arms, squirming and trying to Mihyun's soft face.
 
"Can I hold it, please?" Min asked, her eyes trained desperately on the puppy. Mihyun bent down and released the him as it ran towards Min. It pounced onto her lap and started her face. Min fell onto her back as the puppy her face. Every laughed at the girl who was trying to control it.
 
"Does it have a name?" Asked Sumin training her attention back to Mihyun who was still smiling and giggling with the others. Snapping out of her thoughts quickly, Mihyun looked at Sumin in a questioning manner, silently asking her to repeat what she had asked. 

After a few moments, Mihyun open in realisation. She placed her index finger on her chin, thinking. "I might call him Spotty. I know it's original but it suits him. Or should I call him Channie?" She had though out loud, grabbing everyone's attention instantly even the girl who was being attacked by cuteness. 
 
"Who votes for Spotty?" Eunji shouted suddenly, deciding to make a vote. Most of the time, they would always decide with majority rules. No one raised their hands. Not one dared moving or saying anything. Everyone knew exactly what the answer was going to be now. "Okay then, who votes for Channie?" She asked again and this time, everyone raised their hands. 
 
"Well that is decided. His new name is Channie!" Junghee announced, getting an applause from all the rest. What a quick and simple way to sort things out, aye?
 
"I'm going to take Channie for a walk now." She informed everyone, making their head quickly turn towards her. 

"Can I-"
"Those two need bonding time so leave them for now, okay?" Suyun started but got cut off by Hyori. She said it in a friendly tone so Suyun just nodded 

"You have to take me next time." Suyun warned jokingly and Mihyun nodded obediently with a hysterical laugh added at the end and a smile plastered that girls face.   
 
"I'll go ask mum and dad if I can go, you guys do what ever you want but please don't break anything or do anything silly," She smiled and left the room with Channie on a blue leash. The other girls all bid their goodbye as Mihyun had left the room. She'd only be gone for a few minutes so there was nothing to worry about. 
 
"Mum, can I take Channie for a walk?" She asked her mum when she had reached the last step, trailing behind the dog by a fraction. He was trying to escape her grip but she had a strong hold on the leash.
 
Her mum looked down at Mihyun with a questioning looking. "Channie? Who's Channie?" She asked puzzled at who this 'Channie' person or creature was.
 
Mihyun nodded and told her. "Yeah, Channie, the puppy's name. Me and my friends decided on the name all together." She nodded this time but still had worried look plastered all over her face. There was definitely something bothering her. 
 
"But it's late I don't want you to get hurt." She said bending down to reach Mihyun's height. Being the tall women she was, Mihyun's mum had to bend down quite a lot to reach the child's height.
 
"Mum, I promise I won't get hurt. I know my defensive skills and it is only and ten minute walk up to the park." She begged as her mum cupped her soft cheek into her warm hand. It was true though. The park was only a five minute walk to and from so it wouldn't take that long for Hana to teach Channie a few tricks, would it? The loud chatters and laughs of other parents was heard as the birthday girl and her mother were staring at each other intensively. 
 
"I know but-" 

"Honey, let her go," Her dad interrupted. "she knows how to protect herself and its only a five minute walk to the park. Besides, she needs to 'bond' with... Channie, was it?" He continued as if he didn't care about what the pup's name was. Which obviously, he really didn't. 
 
She contemplated. It was always so hard for Mihyun to change her mum's mind. After a bit, she sighed and nodded. "Be back as soon as possible, okay? I'm still going to be very worried about you," She warned, pointing her finger in the child's direction. "Oh and take this." She said taking off her ring that Mihyun  had always been seen on her mothers finger. Never had it been taken off. "This is the way I'll know you will be safe and I'll always be with you." She gave Mihyun the ring and Mihyun slid it on her own ring finger. It was unusually cold for a simple ring.
 
"But isn't this ring yours?" She questioned. "I've never seen you take it off your finger and its something that you hold close to you, isn't it?"

Her mother giggled at her child's wide curiosity and smiled. "That's exactly why I'm giving it to you. Just to make sure your always safe and with me even if I'm not there, next to you." 

Mihyun nodded with a wide circled mouth and understood perfectly why she wanted her to take it. She kissed both of her parents cheeks. "See you soon!" She shouted, taking her pet to the park. She took her black hoody off the coathanger hook swiftly and left the house. 

"We love you!"

Even though Mihyun knew her parents would never let her go out of the house by herself unless she was going to school. Again, being a careless child she was, Mihyun didn't mind going to the park alone. In fact, she felt free. Free from adults. Free from crowded places. Free. 
 
"This is going to be fun," She told Channie excitedly, holding his leash securely so that he wouldn't run ahead. This was surely going to be fun. Just Channie and herself, messing around in the park. She paused for a second and swung the jumper around her shoulders, pulling her arms through and zipping it up.
 
Channie started barking at her and wagged his tail happily as she grabbed ahold of the leash the was in between her thighs that were squeezed shut. She laughed cowardly and loudly at him. He started racing forward at the sound of her laugh and she staggered after him but regained her balance quickly and ran along side with him. 
 
They came to a steady slow as he kept barking loudly. She carelessly giggled again. She started to hum a little song that had been stuck in her head ever since the start of the day. The hums of the beats slowly started to progress into lyrics. "I don't need no dreams when I'm by your side. Every moment takes me to paradise. Darlin', let me hold you, warm you in my arms and melt your fears away, show you all the magic that a perfect love can make. I need you night and day." Mihyun belted out the famous Michael Jackson song and she skipped along the pathway.

When they were close to arriving, she had finished the song and started humming a tune that she thought sounded good. as she entered the enclosed park with the gate closed shut behind her, she realised that there was no one there. "Looks like we got the park to ourselves." She whispered to Channie and let him off the leash. He ran wild around the park, barking loudly at Mihyun as they had a state down.
 
She wrapped the leash around her hand, knowing that she wouldn't lose it if it were there. Channie barked at her again as she smirked. Slowly but steadily, she started to chase him around the park until she caught him. "Gotcha!~" She sung into Channie's ear making him bark once again. 
 
She hadn't had a clue of what to do with him. Besides she didn't even plan she was going to go here. She murmured quietly to herself and tapped her chin thoughtfully. Maybe training? She thought finally and that was what she going to do. 

She sat up onto her knees and looked at the pup in the eyes. "Stay." Mihyun ordered seriously as he looked at the puppy chase his tail round and round in circles. "Channie," She said in a businesslike manner and she knew it was her parents genes kicking in. His ears perked up but didn't stop what he was doing. 

"Hey, Channie!" Mihyun half shouted, grabbing the puppy's attention instantaneously. He looked at her with pride, something that she thought she'd never see in a dog. "Sit." He looked at her confusingly. "Sit, Channie." She said again. 

Channie, with a stricken look on his face, slowly and scarcely sat down onto the grass, at least a metre in front of his new owner. Mihyun smiled brightly and clapped her hands happily and tilted her head to the side, adored by the pup. Seeing the girls reaction, Channie sat up quickly and barked loudly, jumping onto his owners lap and tried her face which she in return, giggled and swiped him off instantly.

"Hey, hey!" She laughed. He barked again as he wagged his tail excitedly. She pulled the dog into a tight embrace and rubbed the top of his head hard but not enough to injure him.

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"That was so much fun!" Mihyun exclaimed while laughing, taking ahold of the leash that was now clipped onto Channie's collar. "I'm going to show mum and dad what I taught you today!" All she got in reply was a loud bark from the smallpup. She smiled widely and returned his happiness. "Only if I knew how to talk like you too." She said but kept walking straight ahead.
 
The next thing she saw was ambulance trucks. From her memory of school today of counting to ten, she knew that there were three vans and two fire brigade trucks. The sirens wailed loudly to the point where it hurt her ears and the flashing of the blue and red lights nearly blinded her. Channie barked over the top over the sirens and Mihyun picked him up, hushing him to be silent.
 
"It's alright, it's alright," She whispered soothingly I n his ear making him become much less quiet again. I wonder what happened, she thought, placing the dog down on the cold pavement again. It must be really bad if it had all these different type of cars and vans.
 
In the distance, she saw some thick black smoke rising up from a house with flames coming out rapidly. Mihyun quickened her pace and instead started to lead in front of Bacon. She really wanted to know which house it was, even though it was super dangerous.
 
The trucks and vans stopped in front of the house that starting crumbling under itself, like a sinkhole. Flames buried the house with smoke and debri. She started to jog towards the house only realise it was hers. 
 
She stopped running suddenly, her breathing hitched up and she felt heavy. She could feel the cold ring around her small finger beginning to feel warm. She let the leash go, not seeing where Channie was heading. All she head were the sirens wailing and Channie barking madly as he ran towards the trucks. 
 
Instead of staying to watch her life disappear before her, she decided to run. Run away somewhere, somewhere Mihyun could be alone, forget about it all. But how was she supposed to? She can't just let go of her family and forget everything that happened. How can she? How cruel was it to forget her lived ones?
 
She turned and ran straight down the street, not looking at anything or anyone. She ran as fast as she could go, not willing to slow down her pace. Mihyun could feel eyes boring into her skull and she knew bystanders stared at her oddly, as she had done that. She ignored everything. She kept running and along the way, her ballet slippers skidded off of her feet but at the moment she didn't care.

A short period of time had past and Mihyun entered the nearest forest that her parents had shown her around about a year ago for her birthday. She turned back making sure nobody was around and flipped the black hoodie over her head.

She had slowed down to a power walk and kept going. This was the only forest Mihyun knew probably the closest one too. The one that could calm her down. Hopefully. A short distance away was a small brick house that her mum and dad made before she found out about the camping trip.

The rest of the distance she sprinted down between the trees, leaping over sticks as tears streamed down her face. Mihyun never imagined this would happen to her and her family, who were no more with her. She crawled inside the house and curled up in a corner. Burying her face in the crest of her arms, she sobbed loudly. "Why?" She wailed miserably. "Why?!"

She pulled on her hair in frustration and arrogance. Why did it have to be her? Out of all the people in the world, why? Why couldn't God take her with him? She was only young. Mihyun tumbled onto her side, using her arms to cover her eyes. She wept and cried.

The sun was setting on the horizon and she'd already fallen into deep sleep. The most important thing, she figured, is to never forget the ones you truly and deeply love.