Chapter 4

“New Friend”

Thought I’m tenterhooks all weekend, there are no more strange voices or noises, and by Sunday night I’m able to sleep fairly well in my new room. 

Before I know it, it’s Monday morning: my first day of school here in Korea. I’m not nervous, just a little self-conscious.

I stand in front of the mirror in my room, inspecting myself in my new uniform. It consists of a white long-sleeved blouse, a black pullover sweater, and black-and-gray plaid skirt, black tights, and black shoes. Not my style at all, but I can deal with it. 

Mom peeks her head in. “Good morning, sweetie, almost ready for breakfast?” she asks. “Oh,” she cries when she steps all the way in. “Look at you!” She claps. “Are you Gryffindor or Slytherin?”

I smile. “Slytherin for sure.”

Mom laughs. “You look very. . . Korean, honey. And adorable” 

I frown at her in the mirror.

Mom crosses the room and pulls me into a hug. “Everything will be okay, sweetie. They’ll love you,” she kisses my temple and glances at me in the mirror.

I smile and pat Taeyeon’s arm, “It’s okay, Mom. I can handle it if they don’t all love me like you and Dad do” 

“Am I interrupting something?” I heard Dad’s voice. I turn around and see dad standing in the doorway.

“No Daddy,” I say and smile at him.

Dad smiles and walks towards us. “Well, look at my little Princess, Ready for school?” he asks. Even though I am 17, Dad never stops calling me “My little Princess,” and I think he would keep calling me that until the day I die. 

I nod my head and he smiles even more. “Okay then I’ll hurry up and start the car.” he says and walk out.

I look over at Mom, “Just be yourself and you’ll be fine”

If only it were that essay.

 Eventually both Dad and Mom drive me to school, Taeyeon saying something about dad not knowing the roads and probably getting lost. 

Korean Foreigners High School is average size and is three stories tall, with a huge soccer field that sits off to the side. As Dad comes to a stop in front of the school, I take in the sea of uniformed kids. The boys wear white shirts with black ties and black sweater-vests, and the girls are in outfits like mine, though some wear leggings underneath. 

Taeyeon was right; I feel like I’ve arrived at Hogwarts. Too bad this school won’t be nearly as fun.

I say good-bye to Mom and Dad and get out of the car. I take a deep breath and sling my backpack onto my shoulders, bumping into a girl with long brown hair.

“Yah, watch it,” she says. “You nearly took me bloody head off with that thing”

Embarrassed, I give a hesitant smile. “Sorry ‘bout that”

Her eyes widen. “Oh, you are American,” she says, and inclines her head. Then she smiles. “I’m Sooyoung”

“Tiffany,” I reply. “I’m new”

“Well, Tiffany, come on, then. I’ll show you to the front office so Headmistress Kim can give you your schedule”

I follow Sooyoung inside, careful not to hurt anyone else with m backpack.

“Where do you live anyway?” Sooyoung asks me as we come to a stop in front of an office door.

“Um. . .” I hesitated a little. “Park Rachel’s Mansion”

“No way” Sooyoung’s eyes widen so much I’m afraid they’ll pop out. “I’ve heard that-“

“Okay, Sooyoung, you two might want to hurry along now” A boy our age says as he appears at our side. He’s tall, with dark hair, brown eyes and white skin. He glances at his watch and raises his brow. “You don’t want to be late. Right?” he smiles at me, then a little longer at Sooyoung, then walks off to speak to another group of kids.

“Xi Jongdae; mostly known as Chen,” Sooyoung says, looking after him. “One of the perfects. He’s not too bad”

I watch the groups of younger kids disperse the moment Chen walks up.

“I think I read about prefects in Harry Potter,” I admit, feeling childish.

Sooyoung grins. “Oh, yeah. Well, they’re kind of like. . . patrolmen. Chen is in our grade, and he sort of helps keep the younger ones in hand. But he’s right,” she glances at her watch. “Better go to class. You can go in and see the headmistress. See ya ‘round, ok?”

I nod grateful and relieved. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but Sooyoung seems like she could be a friend.

This gives me the courage to enter the headmistress’s office. Mrs. Kim is a welcoming middle-aged woman with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. While I sit in a chair across from her desk, she prints out my schedule and hands me a small map of the school hallways.

“So tell me about yourself, Tiffany,” she says as she walks me to my first class. She knows all the basics about me; where I’m from and where I’m living now, since Taeyeon was the one that enroll me in this school. 

“Do you play sports? Music?” She asks me. 

I glance at her. “I play the flute”

She stops and looks at me. “Is that so?”

Smiling, I nod. “Yes, ma’am. Since I was three”

Her eyes light up. “That is marvelous! We have extra-curriculum music on Thursday afternoons. There’s also a music festival in the spring. Only the elite are chosen to play, and there’s actually a contest for young people who play the flute. Miss Jasmine Choi will be judging, and the winner will be given a private lesson with her. It would be a great opportunity for anyone who is looking to advance their music”

Excitement vibrates through me at the thought of playing at the festival, especially in front of Miss Choi, a supper famous flute player.

“Thank you, ma’am,” I say. “I look forwards to finding out more”

And I mean it. Back home there weren’t as many opportunities like this. In fact, my flute teacher in California usually chided me for playing music that was too unconventional, too weird. I wonder if here, people might be more open minded to a little strange.

My first class is biology, and the teacher, Miss Kwon, is pretty cool. But I have to concentrate really hard to catch everything she says about the parts of a cell. 

I have to translate every single word in Korean to English and by the fine I’m done with one sentence she is already finishing the next one. Even though my dad was Korean he would not speak that much Korean at the house so I am not use to this language.

Sooyoung also seems to have appointed herself as my personal tour guide, and finds me in the hallway after class. “Well, little mushroom,” she says, glancing at my schedule. “We shared the next three classes. Come on, then. Off to World History we go” 

We move into the class and find seats next to each other near the center of the room. “Time to manage the Aztecs”

I don’t even mind sitting in class an taking notes-it feels ordinary. Familiar. I could almost be back in my old school back home, far from the spooky mansion and its eerie voices.

I’m glad to have Sooyoung close by when lunch rolls around. “Let’s go grab a sandwich and sit in the Common Room,” she suggests. I follow her lead as we make our way to a small, self-serve café. 

Back in California, Michelle and I would be waiting in the long lunch line for mushy mac and cheese. Here, Sooyoung takes a mug of hot tea, an egg-salad sandwich, and a bag of chips. I grab the same, along with some cookies that look almost as the ones Kris brought me the other night. Then we head to our grades Common Room and sit at a small table.

“So, Park Rachel’s Mansion,” Sooyoung says, tossing her long hair over her shoulders. She stirs sugar into her tea. “Your dad married that woman’s granddaughter? Kim Taeyeon, I think was her name?”

“Yeah,” I answer. I bite into the soft sandwich, which is actually pretty good. “You are right, her name is Kim Taeyeon. She is a really nice person, not like her grandmother, I think of Taeyeon as my real mom” 

I don’t tell her about the spooky goings-on of the weekend because she’ll think I’m crazy. Instead, I tell her about life back in California, and my flute playing. Sooyoung tells me that she has a fine ear when it comes to music, but she’s also into the music I hear. She’s lived in Korea all her life, and she’s an only child, too. I already feel at ease with her.

I’m just thinking about how nice and normal our conversation is compared to my life the past few days when Sooyoung casually asks, “So, seen anything weird at the mansion?”

I pause mid-bite. “Um. . .why do you ask?”

“What’s weird besides you, Sooyoung?” a stocky boy asks as he approaches the table. He’s joined by a girl who look like a shorter version of him, with the same wavy brown hair and brown eyes.

Sooyoung rolls her eyes. “Right, you’re full of chuckles today, eh? Tiffany this is Lay and Hyoyeon Kim,” Sooyoung announces. “They shared a womb”

Fraternal twins. Lay, the boy, flicks Sooyoung on the ear, and then smiles at me. “You’re the only American in the school,” he says. “Nice to meet you.”

“You must me Park Rachel’s step granddaughter” Hyoyeon, the girl, says. “I hear that place is wicked spooky”

“We were just getting to that, isn’t that right, Tiffany?” Sooyoung urges. “So come on. Anything?”

I squirm, not wanting to sound insane. I can’t tell them about the moving vines or my dancing flute. Or the voice. “The mansion’s. . . dark,” I answer. “Not too bad, though”

Now that’s an outright lie. I glance at all of them. “Why? What’ve you heard?”

Sooyoung leans forward, lowering her voice. “My great-auntie, who die many years ago, worked as a maid there once. She swore that rooms turned icy cold, and that things wouldn’t be where she left them last.”

“As in things moving around?”Hyoyeon asks.

“Mhm,” Sooyoung confirms. “She said her cleaning supplies, which she kept in one specific closet, would disappear and turned up in strange places, like an upstairs bathtub. She could have sworn there was a dark spirit at work. She also says a young man and his little sister were murdered there, countless years ago. I bet his and his sister’s ghost are the one hunting the house” 

I find myself trembling but I try not to let my fear show. I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. “I hadn’t heard anything about that” 

Sooyoung regards me. “You never know, Tiffany. Keep your eyes open” 

“So have you seen anything?” Hyoyeon asks.

“I have heard some things,” I answer hesitantly. I’m careful about what I say. I don’t want to come off as freakish my first day of school. “Could be the wind, though. It whips through that old mansion like something out of a horror movie”

“It’s rare that the wind is not roaring in that place,” Lay says with a grin. “It  can play tricks on ya, though. Don’t let your imagination run wild”

“True,” his sister chimes in. “But that Mansion is full of magic, too. There’s no telling what’s going on for real.”

“I know,” Sooyoung says, but she’s looking at me more serious than the other two. “No telling at all”

The bell rings, and the twins gather their stuff. They wave to us and head off. As Sooyoung and I gather our book bags, she looks me in the eye.

“You can tell me,” she whispers. “What’s really happening in the mansion?”

My heart skips a beat. I’m surprised by her insight. “I didn’t want to make a big deal in front of everyone,” I explain.

“You can trust me,” Sooyoung offers. “I swear”

I look at her for several seconds. I like Sooyoung already. There’s a blatant honesty about her that I relate to.

“Okay,’ I whisper as we walk out of the Common Room. “I know it sounds nuts, but there’s this . . . voice. Someone keeps telling me to leave the mansion. And,” I stop for a second. “There’s a heavy, I don’t know, presence in the air. It’s not always there, just sometimes”

“Like what?” Sooyoung asks. Her face is drawn in concern. No mockery at all.

I think. “It feels like someone is watching me. also my new grandmother isn’t the sweetest of old ladies,” I add. “I mean, she is in her nineties, but boy, she really doesn’t like me” 

“Do you think it’s her?” Sooyoung asks. “Maybe hissing those things, telling you to leave?” 

I shake my head as kids file past us, hurrying to classrooms.

. “I’m not sure. It sounds like a guy’s voice,” I stop and look at Sooyoung. “And. . .” I really hesitate to tell her this.

“Go on,” she urges.

“I swear I saw my flute hovering in midair, playing on their own”

I expected Sooyoung to laugh at me but she only nods. “Doesn’t surprise me one bit. Not after what my auntie told me” she says and inclines her head. “Doing anything this weekend?” she asks. “We could hang out. Maybe at your place? We could investigate the situation”

A sight of relief escapes me. “So you don’t think I’m crazy?”

“Oh,” Sooyoung says, heading into math class. “Of course I think you’re crazy” She grins. ‘But so am I. We’ll check it out together. Two is better than one, right?”

“Definitely,” I say.

By the end of the day, Sooyoung and I have exchanged cell phone numbers and she’s urged me to text her if anything weird happens at the mansion. I officially have a friend here. I’m in such a good mood that it takes me a second to notice that it’s just Dad picking me up in the car.

“Where is Taeyeon?” I ask, buckling my sea belt.

“She doesn’t feel well this afternoon,” he answers. “How was school?’

I tells dad the truth: The first day was better than expected, and Sooyoung, Lay, and Hyoyeon seem very nice. Dad looks pleased, but then, “You own me $20, Fanny. I won the bet” he says and grins.

“I know, Dad. You have won your daughter. And your only daughter now has to pay you $20 out of her allowance,” I said while pouting. 

“I’m not going to fall for that one again. So make sure that by the end of this week I get the money, understand?”

I cross my arms and lean back. “Fine,” I say. 

When I get back inside the mansion, mom is sitting on the sofa beside the hearth, covered in a blanket and reading a book.

“You okay mom?” I ask her, a little worried. Mom rarely gets sick.

She smiles up at me. “Sure, baby, just felt a little off, that’s all. Probably jet lag” 

She ask me about school, and I fill her in on Sooyoung and the twins, and my classes. When I finish telling her all my day she seems so happy, because she jump off the couch, surprising me and dad, and saying she feels better now. Mom and Dad then tell me they are going out to check out some house that they are interested in and I just nod. 

Mom says that they’ll be back before supper and kisses me good-bye. Dad tells me to be a good girl and behave. I sling my backpack over my shoulder and head for the kitchen. I’m hopping to say hi to Kris and maybe get an afternoon snack before going to do my homework upstairs.

But in the shadow of the staircase, I run into Rachel.

She’s watching me. Wordlessly. Cold eye. That white-gray bun. I swear she must use a wrench to tighten it.

“Hey,” I say, trying to break the ice a little.

“Good afternoon,” she says crisply, correcting me. “You’re my granddaughter now, young lady. Behave as one”

I’ve had about enough. I’ve not done one thing to this woman, and she hates me. Hates me! As I walk by her, I stop and look at her. “I’m not your granddaughter” 

“Well, then,” Rachel says behind me. “If you feel that way, you might be better off locket in your room”

What?

I stop in my tracks and slowly turn to look at her. Her thin lips rise in a sinister smile. “Don’t you think?”

I turn and hurry away, not answering. I don’t hear her heels clicking on the floor behind me, so I figure she isn’t following. Good. I’ve had enough of her treats.

The kitchen is empty. “Kris?” I call. I’m dying to vent to him about my latest encounter with evil Rachel. I set my backpack on the table and head to his room behind the kitchen, and lightly knock. No answer.

“Guess he must be out getting groceries or something,” I say out loud to no one. I begin to search the cabinets for some crackers, and that’s when I notice the big walk-in freezer door is ajar. Thinking Kris may be inside; I walk to it and open the door wider.

“Kris?” I call, peering inside.

Suddenly, I’m shoved hard from behind and I fall to the floor of the freezer. The door slams behind me and the lock flicks. My mind whirls. What just happened? I turn and stare blankly at the freezer door. Luckily, there’s still a light on here.

“Hey!” I holler. “Hello? Let me out!”

No on answers. The door won’t budge. The freezer is shut. My heart starts to race.

I try the handle. But it won’t budge. The freezer is locked from the outside only.

Banging on the door, I yell louder. “Kris! Rachel! I’m in the freezer and I can’t get out!” I bag on the door again and again. “Help!”

No one comes. And my cell phone is on my backpack. On the table.

Panic seized me. Who pushed me? I didn’t trip, something shoved me. yet I didn’t hear anyone come up behind me. Could it be Rachel? She wanted to lock me in my room. But I was alone in the kitchen.

The coldness sinks in through my school sweater and grips my bones. My lips start to feel numb and I’m shivering. I back into the corner and sit on a big box of beef and wrap my arms around myself. 

I start cataloging the contents of the freezer, just to keep my mind busy. Three boxes of king crab legs, five boxes of Angus steaks, and seventeen bags of chicken . . . my eyes begin to drift shut. I’m so cold, inside and out . . .

“Miss Tiffany! Tiffany, wake up!”

Hands shake my shoulders. I blink and open my eyes. My vision is blurry at first, and it slowly focuses. Kris is standing over me, worry lines creasing his face. The freezer door is wide open now. I feel a rush of relief.

Over Kris’s shoulders, in the kitchen, I see a movement. There’s someone else there. A boy. A boy about the age of 21. Light brown hair and a loose white old-fashioned-looking shirt. Our eyes meet, and all I can think is, Wow, he is really cute. But he’s frowning fiercely at me. I blink and he’s gone.

Or was he even there?

“Miss Tiffany,” Kris pleads. “Can you stand?”

“I think my is frozen to the box of beef,” I say, and it strikes me funny. I start to laugh.

“Miss Tiffany, you’re delusional,” he answers, and tugs on my elbow. “Come on. You need to get warm”

I stand and Kris guides me out the freezer. “How did you trap yourself in there?”

My body is reacting to the change in temperature, and my shivering increases so much that I can barely speak. “I-I-I d-d-didn’t,” I stuttered. “S-s-someone p-p-pushed me.”

“Come again?” Kris asks, and he leads me straight to the hearts in the living room off the kitchen, where a nice fire is blazing. Kris drapes a plaid woolen blanket over my arms. Slowly,I start to warm up. 

“I felt someone shove me,” I say again, and look at Kris. “And then slam and lock the door behind me”

Puzzlement glazes over Kris’s face. He frowns. “The freezer wasn’t locket at all, miss. It was unlocked”

I shake my head. “No. I tried the door. It was locket”

Concern etches into Kris’s features. ‘Yes, miss. I shall look into it. But for now, you stay here and warm yourself by the fire”

I nod, immediately grateful. “And Kris? There’s no need to tell my Dad and Mom about this,” I say. “They’ll just freak out. I don’t know what happened, but I don’t want to worry them. Okay?”

Kris stares at me for several moments. “If I notice one single sniffle from you, I’ll tell them both. I’ll not have you coming down with pneumonia, miss”

I nod. “Deal. And thanks. Kris”

“Of course, young lady. Now let me fix you some tea,” he bustles off into the kitchen.

I turn my gaze to the fire, and as I stare at the orange flames,  try to come up with a logical explanation for what’s been going on. If I rule out Rachel, I can only think of one other thing that could be plaguing me with such malevolence, and I won’t lie, it scares me.

It must be a ghost.

The thought is absolutely absurd. But considering what Sooyoung and the twins said at school. .

If it’s not a person who’s out to get me, it has to be something supernatural.

I think of the handsome boy I saw in the kitchen moments before. Why was he scowling at me? And why did he disappear as quickly as he’d appeared?

Was he the one who had pushed me?