Outside The Box [English Ver.]

Box 1: My Bedroom

BOO! RISE AND SHINE!" She yelled straight into my right ear, threw away my blanket across the room, and shook my body in her attempt to wake me up.

"SHUT UP! Can't you do it more gently?!" I threw my pillow to her face. Aha, one target down.

She threw the pillow back at me but the combination of her bad aim and my professional skill at dodging could only meant one thing: She missed.

"Last time I tried it that way, you wouldn't wake up until lunch time. The current method has been proven effective, based on my one week experiment. Fact! Or would you rather me to use water tomorrow?" She grinned. I swore, I saw a shadow of devil horns just now...

"No, thanks," I sat on my bed, still didn't have the motivation to fully get up. I stole a glance at the alarm clock on my study desk.

"So? Why did you feel the need to wake me up at 5 AM? For your information, today is SATURDAY. Which means WEEKENDS. Which means I can sleep whole day peacefully so now please get out of my room and let me continue where I left off..."

"Nuh-uh. Come downstairs. We have to see Mom off. She is going far away for business and will be back on Monday," She grabbed my arm, dragging me outside my bedroom. I followed her in defeat.

"Rather than go through the hassle to wake me up, you can just show up twice, you know? We have identical face, body shape, hairstyle... Everything. Mom wouldn't realize," She let go of my arm, folding hers into a gesture that means she disagreed with me.

"Are you stupid? Of course she will realize. She IS Mom. Duh," She rolled her eyes.

Mother spotted us from the front door. "Aww, my little girls seeing me off? Thank you. I'm so happy. Aren't my Karen and Karin the cutest?" She hugged us briefly.

"I don't have much time or I'll miss my ride. Please be nice girls, watch over the house, don't let strangers in, and most important thing is... Don't make the house messy too much, okay? I'll bring some snacks. The city is famous with their fish skin chips! See you girls later!"

***

I managed to close my eyes for 5 minutes before my twin sister started to annoy me again.

"Karen~ Help comb my hair, please?" She sat down beside my bed, facing to the front. A pink comb was ready to use on the top of my pillow. Definitely not mine. I didn't like pink. It was her favourite color.

"Can't you do it yourself?" I asked without moving an inch.

"Nuh-uh. I want you to do it. I can comb your hair too in return if you want!" Karin looked at me excitedly. "Oh oh, can you braid me too after that?" She attacked me with her best weapon: Puppy eyes.

I got up from my bed for the second time today and started to comb Karin's hair before she added another requests. The earlier I did it, the faster I could get back to sleep.

Her long hair was silky smooth, clearly better maintenance than mine. I thought I can even comb it with just my fingers alone. I could smell a faint strawberry-like fragrance.

"Hey, Karin,"

She looked up at me and asked, "Random question of the day?" She knew me so well.

"Don't you think a house looks like a big box? It is made of rooms like small boxes. Do you feel trapped? Or do you feel safe instead?" Karin took a while to think.

"Now that you mentioned it, I do think it does look like a box. For the second question... Hmm. Yeah, I feel trapped sometimes. I'm curious how big the world is. I wish Mom will let us go out someday, not just to go play in the garden..." She paused.

"...And I'm also interested to the boy who always pass in front of our house. It's always the same time. 3 PM every weekdays, 5 PM every weekends. I wonder where he is from and where he is going to. Although, I do have my guess since he brings a ball. I wish I can ask him directly but all I can do is to look at him from my window," Her tone became softer when she talked about the mysterious boy.

Karin looked like she just realized she had rambling out of topic, then asked, "How about you, Karen?"

Her cheek a bit red from embarrassment so I decided to not tease her about it. Well... Not today, but maybe tomorrow.

"I'm the latter. I don't mind staying inside forever. It never cross my mind to leave." I answered without wasting any time to think.

"And sleep whole day, huh?" She chuckled.

"And sleep whole day, indeed," I put the comb down, now continued to braid her hair.

"I always envy you, Karen. You have a healthy, normal body. You can literally do anything I can't due to my weak body," Karin squeezed her arm.

"I understand. Mom probably prohibits me to go outside because of my condition. Karen is different. You have freedom to chose, you know?" I couldn't see her expression, but I could feel her jealousy from her tone alone.

"On the bright side, me staying 'inside this box of ours' means that I have the time to spend with you. I'll always be here whenever you need me and you won't ever feel alone. Now, you can thank me by letting me sleep in peace. Please," She chuckled at my answer.

I finished braiding her hair and finally she let me sleep for the rest of the day.

***

I woke up on my own. I wanted to pee, but I also didn't want to get up for the third time. The alarm clock showed the 11 PM on its display screen.

I was a scaredy-cat. Should I go to Karin's room and ask her to accompany me? But she would laugh at me and said I act like little kid. I didn't have much time to think on it as I couldn't hold it anymore. I made a run to the bathroom.

***

On my way back to my room, I saw a dim light from Karin's room. The door was left ajar. I peeked inside, planned to prank her a little...

But the view that I saw shocked me until I was left speechless.