“Morning hun,” Ana chimed cheerfully as she swiped the last knife of butter onto a piece of toast and slid it across the kitchen table, eyeing her daughter as she fumbled her way downstairs, eyes half open. Her smile promptly turned in a frown as soon as she noticed how unstable her daughter’s movements were—a conduct the Soh family knew too well by now. She was in the middle of a hangover.

            Jia slumped onto a chair, barely able to keep her head up as she messily stuffed bits of her breakfast into —leaving trails of crumbs all over her lips. Her head began to ache as she struggled to simply grab ahold of her cup and take a sip out of it.

            Ana crossed her arms in deep disapproval, but acknowledged in defeat that if she even said one word about her daughter’s behavior, she’d immediately snapped at and shut out—that’s how it always goes, ever since Jia turned thirteen. Sighing heavily, she grabbed the remote and switched on the TV in hopes of finding something to keep her mind off of how terribly chaotic things were currently running in the family.

            “…No suspects have been found, but once again the victims were left with four deep bite marks and there is—,” Jia suddenly regained a bit of alertness as she tried her best to tune into the morning news of a mysteriously reoccurring murder scene. However, Ana quickly switched channels, refusing to let her daughter listen in for any longer.

            “What the hell? Switch it back,” Jia demanded.

            “JIA! Watch your mouth, I will not—“

            “Mom, just PLEASE switch it back, alright?” Jia pressed, squeezing her eyes shut in frustration.

            Ana sighed.

            “…what seems to be—an imprint of a simple lotus flower in the center of the bite marks. Investigators have not been able to find much evidence, if any at all, but are still watching closely. There will—“

            The door forcefully swung open, slamming against the freshly painted wall. Tao, Jia’s stepfather, peered his tiny head through the doorframe and scanned the room until his eyes landed on Jia, “Hurry up kid, you’re going to be late—“

            “I know, Tao,” Jia rudely interrupted before swinging her schoolbag over her shoulder and pushing past him. Before walking to the car, she warned, “And please. Don’t call me ‘kid’ again.”

            Tao looked at Ana with censure and watched as she rubbed her temples in concern, but the two understood Jia well enough to say that her attitude, at this point and under these current circumstances, was impossible to fix.

            As soon as her shoes hit the metal doorframe, the bell rang. But of course, Jia was in no rush to get to her dreaded seat; she took her sweet time as the professor made her way back to her desk to take attendance. Shortly after the lesson began, Jia asks to be excused from class to make a trip to the bathroom.

            The repulsive smell of urine and who-knows-what else was never so liberating to the girl as she lit up the last fresh cigarette, carelessly tossing its crumpled up package into the waste bin. Jia took a deep inhale out of the stick and closed her eyes in pure bliss and relief.

            “Jesus ing Christ,” she muttered to herself in ecstasy.

             Back in the deeper stalls, Jia heard voices.

            “Babe… Slow down,” a female’s hushed giggle echoed throughout the empty restroom. A masculine chuckle shortly followed afterwards, “Damn, those are some nice knockers you got there… Heh.”

            Jia rolled her eyes in disgust as she was forced to listen in on the couple’s and the quick-paced shuffling of their clothes, watching in nausea as the girl’s school skirt flopped onto the bathroom floor.

            “Out of all motherin’ places…” Jia thought as she took another huff out of her half-consumed cigarette.

            When the grunts and jagged breathing began to pick up in intensity, Jia pulled out her ear buds, quickly untangling them as she tried to keep the loathsome sound of the couple’s intimate time out of her head before she hurled in her own mouth.

            “That’s right baby… Mm, you—“

            The girl’s obnoxious moan was shortly cut off by her own bloodcurdling scream. Soon, a loud thump against the laminated stall followed—before dead silence was restored in the restroom. The last thing Jia remembered was the sight of a blood-stained wrist chained with a premium-looking silver charm bracelet lying—cold and unmoving—on the floor, before she left the scene in fear.

            “Attention students of Busan International High School,” the loudspeaker vibrated throughout the filled campus, “You are all now dismissed due to a murder offense on campus. It is in your best interest to notify a parent or guardian and return home immediately. Please steer clear of all ambulance trucks and make way for any police officers on your way out. Thank you, and we will further notify you all tonight of whether school will take place tomorrow or not.”

            Jia pushed past the suffocating crowds of students celebrating the cancellation of school whilst desperately trying to figure out who the casualty was—making her way off of campus, the thought of the bloody wrist vividly etched in her mind. As soon as she reached the school gates, she bumped headfirst into Daisy Park—her best school comrade.

            “Yah Jia, do you have any idea who it was…? I heard Daniel Lee is missing, but based on what SeoHyun told me, the victim was a female,” Daisy was forced to holler over the hundreds of other students to get her message audibly across to her friend.

            “Huh? Oh, uh no—I don’t,” Jia responded, still disturbed, for she was the only witness of the murder scene. At the corner of her eye, she spotted Tao’s black Mercedes pull up from several yards away. “Daisy, I-I gotta go. I’ll catch you later or something okay?”

            Daisy noticed the oddly washed-out appearance of her best friend, but did not get a chance to ask if she was okay considering how far away Jia had already walked at this point.

            Jia lightly jogged towards the car, but stopped midway when she noticed a ambulance truck parked across the street—surrounded by a flock of grieving students. She squinted her eyes and stood on the tip of her toes to get a better view of the person lying on the hospital stretcher. As several students moved out of her view, she noticed a familiar looking arm slip out from underneath the sheets. An even more recognizable silver charm bracelet slipped down to the thinnest portion of the wrist—revealing the, now, dry but still slightly blood tainted wrist. Several feet away, Jia heard Tao honking at her—beckoning her to get inside the car for the sake of the line of other drivers waiting behind him.

            Jia forced herself to look once more before she left. The last observation she was able to make, and the only thing she would ever be concerned of after, was the horribly well-known symbol of the lotus—firmly printed in the middle of the wrist with four deep bite marks fenced around it. 

Hello guys! Here is the first chapter~ ^^ If you enjoyed it, please subscribe and don't be afraid to leave me any type of feedback in the comments section below. Thank you so much and I hope you all have a wonderful day~