She hit the water smoothly and started to swim, focusing only on the space intended for her. The sound of moving water filled her ears, her breathing kept on a steady pace. She lifted her face and plunged in again.
“Nana! Faster!” she heard Mr. Kim say.
She flipped and touched her feet on the wall, turning to make another lap. But when she looked in front of her…
She gasped for breath and threw up all the water she took in. Her heartbeat pumped faster as she coughed continuously.
“Nana, are you okay?” Jaejoong asked her, patting her back.
She drowned. All the other swimmers gathered around her. She looked at the pool hoping to see a trace of what appeared before her but saw nothing more than the clear water.
“Seohyun…” she whispered biting her lower lip before slapping the water. She stood heading to the culprit herself.
“You placed that there didn’t you?” she grabbed Seohyun’s hair and pulled hard. “You bitch! What do you want from me?!”
She saw it when they took her body…that doll. That black doll, it was there in the pool too when she was swimming. And she knows that this girl was the one who was scaring her.
Jaejoong pulled her away while Hara hugged Seohyun who was already crying.
“Are you trying to scare me? Wae? Because you want to be the best here?!” She tried to reach her once more but Jaejoong blocked her. “Seonsaeng~nim, that girl tried to kill me! She distracted me! Didn’t you see that doll on my lane? I’m sure she placed it there!!”
Hara threw a harsh breath. “What the…are you out of your mind? Seohyun was swimming two lanes from yours, Nana. If you’re to blame her, blame me instead, idiot!”
“That’s enough, you hear me? Enough!” Jaejoong looked at Nana. “I haven’t seen anything like that Nana, you just panicked, and that’s all. I think all of you are tired. Let’s just go home, training’s done for tonight.”
~♥~
“She’s really crazy, that Nana.” Hara wiped her hair while Seohyun was packing her things.Nana already left ahead of them and used the other shower room. She really turned paranoid after the incident.
“Hara…I saw her too…” Seohyun looked at her. “That doll I saw her too.”
Hara sat beside her and patted her hair. “You know what Seohyun~ah? When you hair changed, some screws from your head fell off. Maybe it will be better if you go back to the frizzy hairdo. Araso?” She lifted her own things and stood up. “You’re heading for the library again tonight?”
Seohyun nodded and watched Hara leave. She touched her, she was not lying. She saw that doll, too…
~♥~
“Where are you? I’m waiting for almost half an hour here, Siwonie!” Nana shouted at the phone in her hand.“Mianhae, Nana…but I can’t fetch you tonight? I am—”
“Siwon?”
Static intercepted his words that it became inaudible she almost threw her phone. Why now? She sighed. She rubbed her hands on her cold arms. Is it just her or the night grew colder than it ought to be? Maybe it’s just the climate…it was autumn afterall.
She walked to the street and dialed for a taxi. Since they usually end practice really late, the last bus must have passed already. But after a few tries, she still cannot connect to the operator.
“Shit...” she whispered and clenched the phone on her palm. It must be broken then.
All the bad luck fell on her that day. After that sneaky girl used all the chemicals in the world to straighten her frizzier than frizzy hair, she became like this. She got scolded by Mr. Park for not passing her assignment, she almost fell down the stairs just to attend a meeting and now she almost got drowned. Yeah, she’s partly the one to blame, but hey! That girl got lucky? Uh-uh, that’s not fair.
She stomped and headed towards the main streets, only a few people can be seen and almost no cars, no vehicles around for her to hitch. She stood under the streetlight and crossed her arms on her chest. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.
Somebody laughed a sinister laugh making her open her eyes. And then, she was somewhere she wasn’t before.
It was a dim lit street where the only light was the place where she was standing. She started to panic, where is she? What the hell is this?
“Who’s there? Yah, Seohyun~ah are you really trying to scare me?” she said.
Instead of an answer, somebody wrapped a cold hand around her neck. It was really cold…as cold as ice…its nails were longer than anything she could imagine that even if she wanted to scream, her voice was trapped inside her throat and wouldn’t come out.
“You like scary things don’t you?” whispered a voice that is vaguely familiar…but still, she cannot recognize. “Let me show you what scary is, Nana…”
Its long nail grazed her waist…tearing the shirt she was wearing. She wanted to scream when the nails started to dig slowly on her skin but her voice will only come as a muffled one.
AAAHHHHH!!! HAJIMA!!! HAJIMAAAAA!!! She wanted to scream aloud.
She closed her eyes tightly but as she did, she felt the pain all the more. Those nails, as long as it was, felt like butterflies inside her stomach. Touching every organ inside her abdomen that she started to feel the blood coming up her throat, tears trickled down her face.
“Are you scared Nana…? Is it painful?”
Hajima…
The hand pulled out of her numb body and dug another heart wrecking wound. One after another, those nails dug in her like a butcher cutting a cow’s meat. Omma…she can’t do anything but try to wriggle out of that pain. Blood flowed endlessly from her wounds which were as deep as a cliff, she coughed blood and her eyes twirled in agony.
“Let me end this Nana…”
The fingers around her throat wrapped tighter clutching every piece of skin and muscle it can take…pulling her throat...and then…silence filled the air when her body fell down the almost empty street. Blood drenched and almost lifeless…Nana gagged on her own blood, while the same doll looks at her, eyes as cold as crystal. Another mysterious smile formed on those lifelike lips.
~♥~
“Youngwoon~ssi…”Youngwoon turned and saw a woman waving a hand to him asking him to come closer. He can’t see her face, but he knows that she studies at the same school as he because of her uniform.
“Who was that?”
He was on his way home after staying at school for another one of those late night study sessions where all you do is stare at your book and pretend to study. Well, everyone in Korea does this so it doesn’t really matter to him if he comes home really late. He looked at his watch, 11:30 PM.
He looked at the girl again and saw her waiting for him at the main streets. What does she want from him?
“Youngwoon~ssi balli…” she waved a hand at him again.
He doesn’t know why he did but he followed the girl, his bicycle by his side. “Who are you what do you want?” he said while walking closer.
The girl just nodded and pointed somewhere to her right and asked him to follow her. When he turned to the street where she disappeared, what he saw almost made his insides come out. Because right there, lying under a street light, was a girl his age. If he remembered it right, it was Nana from the other class. Her body wrecked as if by a wild animal.
He threw up and has forgotten about the girl who brought him there. All he knows was that…it was familiar. That scene…it was too familiar. Oh, yeah…it looks just like that girl he saw last time. Go Yu Hee. Fuck, why does he always intend to see dead people on streets just like this?
