𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗛 𝗪𝗜𝗦𝗛, 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗞𝗜𝗦𝗦. jungwon

ten : changing room

opening her locker tiredly, haerin let out an exhausted sigh as she took her bag out of her locker. after today her energy disappeared in a blink

she just doesn't feel like going to her volleyball practice at all these weeks

at first, she tried volleyball cause she was both interested and because she wanted to stay away from her parents as much as possible. but then, hanni decided to join the school's volleyball team and not give her a second to breathe

she started to befriend the small number of friends she made and basically make them all hate her for the smallest reasons ( which most of them weren't even true )

so her social life, well, it's dead. she has officially given up on finding someone that she could trust and rant her problems to. minji, yeah she's her friend but she doesn't trust her enough to tell her all her problems without being scared she is gonna use them to blackmail her or anything

she swung her bag over her shoulder, letting another sigh slip out of her mouth while making her way to the changing room of her school

just as she was about to push the door open, the sound of a notification made her take her phone out of her bag and check it for any new message but nothing except the hour and day popped on her screen the moment she pressed the 'on' button

she was honestly hoping to find any message asking for her help so she could skip her practice

one last sigh left her lips before she opened the door of the changing room hoping her teammates will be a bit nicer to her today

< ♡ >

haerin wiped her sweaty forehead, waving her hand up and down trying to get the heat off her body as she walked to the changing rooms. she was the last one to leave, as per usual.

she'd practice more than the others and nobody really wanted to stay with her but she was fine alone

the hallway was eerily quiet and she instictively looked around, unsure why she felt almost like somebody from somewhere was attentively watching her every move

she stopped a couple of steps away from the changing room.

the door was open

she was sure she had closed it, after all, she was the only one that used the changing rooms all this time since her teammates don't like changing in the same room as her

an uncomfortable feeling crept its way onto her skin, giving her goosebumps as now all her senses were in alert as she took careful steps towards the small room

haerin held her breath back as she slowly pushed the door open, peaking her head inside the dark room, her hand blindly reaching for the light switch

the room was soon illuminated by the old yellowish light bulb but the sight made her slap a hand over her mouth before she could let out a scream, stumbling back until her back hit the wall and she slid down the latter, her whole body shaking in terror

pham hanni's body laid lifeless on the floor of the changing room, a pool of her own blood soaking her hair and clothes

the sight was disgusting and disturbing, and haerin felt all her muscles tensing up in fear

her skin looked paler than it ever had and her eyes were still open, an expression of terror painted on her face as if she wasn't able to know peace till her very last breath

haerin gathered all her courage and got up from the ground, trembling like a leaf as she stepped inside the room, crouching next to hanni and pushing her hair to the side, revealing two holes dug in her neck

she paused for a good moment, looking at her corpse.

she was standing so close to hanni and for the first time in years she wasn't doing anything. not saying anything.
she wasn't going to do or say anything ever again

pham hanni was gone for good

that thought froze her completely.

for good? was it even okay to say something so heartless about someone who died?

yet haerin didn't feel bad. she didn't feel any kind of sad emotion hitting her like truck

she didn't think that she was gonna miss her or cry over her dying body

she rather felt a lot more . . relieved?

she felt like a weight was taken off her shoulder and for once in years, her heart felt light

she felt happy. she shouldn't.

but why can't she feel bad about it? why can't she seem to find any tiny feeling of emptiness or sadness inside her? she feels free

"hanni are you done" her friend entered the changing room looking at her phone, stopping on the doorframe and turning off her phone to put it in her backpack, her eyes meeting with her lifeless body as the water bottle she was holding fell from her hands and a high-pitched scream left her mouth

"hanni!" the girl fell on the ground in shock, crawling backwards scared but her teary eyes couldn't get off the dead girl

"y-you! you did this to her, didn't you?" she shouted at haerin with her trembling voice, pointing her index finger at her while her lower lip started shaking

"i knew you were one of them but, i-i never thought you would go this far"