Fire & Silk

22. Long Road to Recovery

It was dark and cold. Gravel crunched beneath as footsteps grew closer and closer. Jeongyeon turned quickly and was met with... nothing. She spun around, realizing there was nothing but darkness surrounding her. She tried to call out for someone. Anyone. But she couldn't get any words out. She took a hesitant step. Then another. Another. She kept walking until she saw the smallest sliver of light. It seemed so far away but she didn't want to be in the dark anymore. It was so cold and unforgiving. The small sliver of light got gradually bigger as she got closer and closer. She could almost see some shadowy figure. She didn't know what it was but it seemed better than being alone in the dark.

   Jeongyeon nearly made it when she heard a gentle voice. She stopped in her tracks and looked around, the light now illuminating the nothingness of the space surrounding her. She looked up and all around her to see where the voice was coming from or what it was saying, but she couldn't make it out. She tried calling out again but it was no use. She wanted to keep walking into the beam of light but the gentle voice was so enticing. It made her feel a little less scared of being alone, so she opted to just crouch down. She felt small. She looked down and could now see her hands. They were tiny. Much smaller than she remembered them ever being. She took the time to inspect the rest of her body and noticed that the rest of her matched her hands. Did she shrink or something?

   Jeongyeon quietly stayed where she was, her knees hugged close to her chest. She listened intently to see if she could make out anything the gentle voice was saying but it was muffled. She didn't know why but she felt like crying. Before she knew it, tears were freely streaming down her face. But they didn't land. Once they dripped off her chin, they just disappeared.

   She looked up again, tears still steadily flowing, and saw someone in the darkness in front of her. The light illuminated the face well enough and she saw Jihyo. But she was smaller too. Her face was much younger. It was almost like when they first met. Jeongyeon slowly got up and waved her arms, trying to get the girl's attention but Jihyo didn't move. Jeongyeon took a few steps forward and soon found herself running towards her friend. She kept running but Jihyo didn't get any closer. Jeongyeon took one more step and her body felt weightless.

She looked down again and the dark gravel she had just been running on kept getting further and further away. She was floating. She looked all around her again and saw Jihyo, still motionless. She waved her arms again but still no response from the girl. Eventually, Jeongyeon gave up. She curled herself up into a ball and stayed that way. She thought to herself, 'I guess this is my life now. Why don't I feel scared though?'

The usually loud sounds of Seoul were dampened by the thick windows and walls of the hospital. It was late and Mina refused to leave Jeongyeon's side. She had already been asleep for two days. The doctor said that her body was just exhausted from the amount of stress, pain, and blood loss she had gone through and that Jeongyeon would be okay, but Mina still worried. The poor woman looked so pale and thin. Her mid section was tightly wrapped in bandages and there wear all kinds of tubes sticking out of her to keep her stable.

After the ambulance left with Jeongyeon, Jihyo ran over to Mina. Mina didn't remember anything due to the amount of shock she was in but Jihyo told her about how she held Jeongyeon. How she stayed with her until the medics arrived and how she held so tightly onto Officer Kim, her knuckles turned white.

The ride back into Seoul was also something Mina barely remembered as well. All she could picture was Jihyo holding her hand and the terrified look on her face. They had both seen things that no person should ever experience. Things Mina thought she had prepared and steeled herself for. But she was wrong. How was she supposed to get the noise of those gun shots out of her head? How was she supposed to get that image of Jeongyeon's almost lifeless and blood stained body from behind her eyes? How was Jihyo able to forget seeing her friend get shot twice? How was she supposed to forget being held at gun point by a killer?