Limited Days ｜Sweet Home Fanfiction

～2

My morning stared off terrible from the moment my alarm went off. It was 7 in the morning when the sound of my obnoxious alarm filled the room. Curse me for forgetting to remove it. I'd been setting my alarm for 7 every day so I would be able to study a bit more, but since the exam was over, there was no need for me to be getting up this early. I shut it up and closed my eyes so I could try to fall back asleep, but it was no use, I was now wide awake. I wanted to do something fun today, treat myself for all my hard work. I'd been so stressed these last couple of days, I knew it would feel really good just to get out and do what I wanted. I'd already planned out my day in the five minutes I'd been awake. First I would get some coffee at that nice coffee place, yes the same one where I studied at. Call me crazy, but they serve the best coffee in the whole city. It tastes delicious and it's strong enough to keep you awake for a while, especially when you need to study. Then I'd go thrifting. Say what you want, but thrifting rocks. It's eco friendly and great for people like me who can't afford all these highly priced clothes. But then again, even if I could afford it, I probably wouldn't buy it. I never understood why people lost their shit over designer clothing, most of it is ugly anyway and I feel like people know that too. They simply want it for status, to show that they're rich enough buy it and brag in our faces about it. Oh how I love this world we live in. I suddenly remember that I'm running low on food so I'd have to stop by the store. Right at the end of the day, after all the commotion, I'd go to the arcade. I loved that place. My parents used to take me there all the time. Do I have emotional attachment to the arcade? Yes. But I don't just go because they used to take me. I mean sure, part of me goes because it helps me feel connected to them, but still, I've been going there long before my parents adopted me. It was my happy place, my sanctuary, the one place where I could forget the outside world and just focus on anything other than my crappy life.

You're probably wondering how my exam went. Did I pass? Did I fail? What happened? Truth is, I don't even know how I did. Some of the questions I knew the answers to, others I didn't. I always think that I've failed so that I don't get my hopes to high up. But enough about the exam. It's over with, it's in the past. There's nothing I can do, but move forward. It's the only way.

I throw on sweats and a random t-shirt I found in the back of my cupboard. As I walk towards the elevator I'm buzzing with all the ideas of what I could possibly do today. I'm so lost in my own thoughts I takes me a while to realize that the elevator hasn't open. I glance at the button.

Under maintenance.

I check the next one.

Under maintenance.

Great. The stairs it is.

I'm walking down the stairs, silently cursing under my breath because I hated using them, the elevators were just more convenient. As I walk towards the base of the stairs leading to the next one, I see someone lying down. I walk approach slowly. I'd seen this scene in horror movies a thousand times. The chances were 50/50 that this person would turn around and attack me. I easily could have left them, but I just couldn't. That was my moral compass kicking in. I get closer and see it's a girl. She turns over as she hears my footsteps. She looked about 16. For a second I see something like relief in her eyes, like she was glad I was just a regular person and not like a serial killer or something.

"Are you okay?" I ask. I don't know what else to say.
She just rolls her eyes. "Why would you care?"
Wow, rude much. "Excuse me for being a concerned citizen."
"Well, go and be a corcerned citizen somewhere else."
Okay, now I was getting angry. All I did was ask I genuine question and this girl just brushes me off like nothing. But then I think to myself: why am I letting her get under my skin? Why am I getting upset? This is what happens when you don't cope with your emotions in a healthy way. You let the slightest inconveniences take the biggest toll on you. I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around and see it's a man. He has an ugly scar running right across the right side of his cheek. That combined with the wild look in his eyes, he almost looked like a gangster. Almost.

"What's going on here?" he asks.
I shrug.
"Just go. I'm chilling, okay?" the girl says, obviously talking to the man. Okay, so they've met before. No way would someone address a stranger so casually. Just as I'm about to leave to get to the next flight of stairs, I hear a growling. Next thing I know some thing's jumped on the man's back. It looked human, except it wasn't. It was bloody and battered and had fangs and many others things I couldn't describe because in that moment I was paralyzed with fear. I back into a corner with the girl. There was only thought running through my mind at that moment: we were going to die.

The man had somehow managed to get it off his back and throw it down the stairs. He touched his shoulder. Blood. That thing had bitten him. But that wasn't the most important thing right now. We were safe, that was. I was wrong. So so wrong. The creature tried to pounce on the man again, but he held it in a choke hold. He smashed it's head on the wall and it fell to the ground at his feet. It twisted in all these weird positions. Then it's eyes settled on us. Just as it was about to launch itself on us and I was sure we would be this thing's breakfast, the man pushed it into the wall. He started banging it's head in. Repeatedly. Blood was getting everywhere. Blood landed in my eye and I could feel the stinging sensation filling my socket. The creature looked at us, and we both screamed. This only angered the man even more and he started hitting harder. What seemed to go on forever, finally ended. The thing fell back, haven taken one to many blows. The man gave it one more look of disgust and then he left. I just stood there for a few moments. I was still trying to process everything. I turned to the girl to see how she was doing. She looked terrified, but when she saw me looking she straightened herself out and walked after the man, as if she didn't what me to see her scared. I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

We walked in silence the whole way down to the first floor. Thankfully we didn't encounter anymore monsters. Because the man had been walking way in front of us, I didn't see what had happened. All I know is, I walked in and saw him lying face down on the floor with someone standing behind him holding a taser. He was tased. Most probably because of the bite mark. I didn't even get to say thank you. As the girl and I stand side by side watching everyone gasp over the man lying unconscious on the ground, someone comes up behind the girl and wraps a plaid t-shirt around her. She almost immediately throws it off and walks away. I wonder what that was about. I studied him, but he didn't seem to notice. He was tall, with black hair and glasses. He looked relatively young, maybe in college?

Blood. I suddenly remember. I still had this thing's blood on me. I needed to find a bathroom, which wasn't very hard as there were directions all across the walls. I stopped in front of the door. As I'm about to open it, I hear something coming from inside. Breathing. Heavy breathing. Someone was standing inside there, hyperventilating almost, as if they're trying to calm themselves down, but it was failing miserably. It occurs to me that there's a good chance that the person inside is the girl from earlier.

"Can I come in?" I ask. I hear the breathing subside. I don't wait for an answer though. I open the door and make my way inside. I was correct, it was the girl. She was standing at the basin, cleaning herself up.
"I never said yes," she piped.
"You never said no either," I replied.
"Are you okay?"
"That's the second time today you've asked me that." she said while scrubbing the blood of of her t-shirt.
"And I still haven't gotten an answer."
She glares daggers at me.
"How are you doing, really? That was a pretty scary attack."
"Maybe you should worry about yourself. I wasn't the only one there."
"Yeah, you're right."

You're probably wondering why I don't just let her be. Why am I so persistent? Truthfully, she reminds me of someone. Me. Well rather my past self. Always acting tough, putting up a front acting like you don't care but in reality you actually care very much. Just once would I have liked for someone to ask if I was doing alright, because most times, I never was. Maybe that's why I got so angry earlier. Because seeing her act exactly like me when I was her age was something that I'd much rather forget. I didn't want her to become like me. Feel like you had to act tough all the time. I wanted her to know it was okay to let your guard down a little.

I chucked softly. "You know what I just realised?" I asked her. She now looked straight up at me. "We don't even know each other's names. I'm Haena. Seo Haena."
She took the plaid shirt from earlier, which I was surprised she still had and would've assumed she threw away considering her reaction, and stomped to the door. Just as I thought she was about to leave, she stopped. She slowly turned towards me.
"Eunyu. My name is Eunyu," and with that she opened the door and left.