The stewardess went back to her spot and the speakers pumped up, announcing that the plane is about to run on the runway and fly off the ground. My seatbelt was already secured and I didn’t know if I should be eager to go away from this country I was reluctantly born in: a place where my own parents who gave birth to me has turned their backs.
A while ago, my best friend came. I thought she came to accompany me on getting a new life in Korea, but my expectations were too high, and high expectations only lead to disappointment. She just came to say goodbye.
The plane moved. It has started to walk on the wide runway. I stared at the window on my right, as I sighed, saying goodbye to the place where I was raised. The smell of peppermint filled the air, and I concluded that it was my plane seatmate, maybe chewing some gum.
The plane flew. I sighed again. I guess I should move on. When I’ll reach Korea, I must live a new life. A life without the hatred that always struck me. I should live with all the joys that I haven’t felt, and all the happiness I’ve been kept away from. I should be a new person, no longer lingering in the dark. I’ve been given a new life, so I must happily take it.
One look at my seatmate, and the optimism of trying to refresh my life faded away. “Unni, do you want some gum?” he asked handing me some gum wrapped in a fresh green cover. It was the guy in the restaurant, the one who ordered a spicy breakfast for me. He was smiling like in just a little while, it would break into a long laugh while I sat there with an annoyed face. Anger was filling me and I thought that seeing me angry would make him back off and apologize but it only made him laugh loud. “Unni, you should really look at your expression. You look like you’re going to eat me in a split second. Did I do something wrong?” he said in between annoying laughs. I felt my breath heating up, the holes of my nose getting wider, my teeth gritting, and my eyes squinting in hate. “Ya Unni, if it’s about a while ago, you should be thankful because I ordered a special breakfast even though it was supposed to be unavailable. The chef worked hard to cook it.” He continued to say but I still can say he was just bluffing. “You, if you don’t stop laughing—”. He cut me off. “You will what? I’m already scared.” He said and I knew that it was to annoy me. He continued his long unstoppable laugh while I sat there still staring at him like any minute I’d kill him. Almost a minute had passed and his laugh still hadn’t faded. His friend who sat next to him in the opposite side had told him to stop it but he also ended up laughing when he saw me. Finally, his friend stopped and he also stopped.
“Are you finished laughing now?” I said sarcastically while rolling my eyes. His friend held up a hand, signalling that he wants us to shake hands. I stared at him questioningly. “I’m Leeteuk.” I responded involuntary, shocked by what he has done. He smiled and we shook hands. I was emotionless. It was the first time I shook hands with someone I barely know. I noticed his dimples showing up and thought he looked cute with them.
“What’s your name?” the guy whose name I don’t know asked in a funny Korean accent. “Oh, it’s Raven. Raven Smith.” I said almost spitting the words. “I’m Marcus Cho. Nice to meet you.” He replies back, handing his hand for a handshake. I reached for his hand, unbelieving that I actually was socializing even though he made the chef put chili on my breakfast. I almost laughed at the thought of it. “So, Raven, why are you headed to Korea?” Leeteuk asked, his dimples showing again. His question was like a stab on my throat, I couldn’t speak. “I—I was instructed to go there.” I stammered. “Instructed? By whom?” he says. I bowed down my head as I said, “My father.” “How long will you stay there?” Marcus asked. I clasped my palms together and felt them sweating. “Maybe all my life.” I finally said. “Really? But you’re not a permanent resident, are you?” Leeteuk asked. “My—My mother is—was a Korean citizen…so logically I am one.” I answered with my voice trailing off. I just mentioned my mother, my dead mother. “Oh. I’m sorry about that one.” Leetuek said. Marcus, who was humming a while ago, stopped. They noticed how uncomfortable the topic was. What came after was a sudden awkward silence, and it was one of the scenarios I’ve always had problems with. I don’t know how to break silence after a conversation, and I never had. This is bad. I should say something. I rubbed my palms, which is a habit I do whenever I get uncomfortable or nervous. I was on the verge of saying something when a girl passed by the aisle and looked at my seatmates. She screamed and covered her mouth instantly, with her eyes wide open. My two seatmates were shocked by the girl’s scream that they covered their ears. The girl on the other hand, took out her phone and took photos of the two, while the two posed like they were stars or idols or models or something. A stewardess wearing a surprised look came over, running to see what has happened. Finding nothing, she warned the girl about screaming on a plane. The girl in turn wore a frown and went away.
I stared at them in disbelief. “What was that?” I asked what was on my mind. They looked at me back, but I found them unsurprised of what just happened. “Are you guys, models or something?” I asked. Marcus raised his hand and showed me a blue baller. I looked closely and found the words ‘Super Junior’ written on it. “Super Junior?” I said, still not getting what he means. His jaw dropped in disbelief. “Hyung…(says something in Korean)” he said, facing Leeteuk. I stared at them questioningly. “What?” I blurted out. “I can’t believe you don’t know Super Junior. Do you live in a cave?” Leeteuk said, half-joking. What? I’m confused. I don’t get it. I took out my phone from my bag and searched ‘Super Junior’ in Google. It took a moment for the browser to load the information. The two stared at me, Marcus with his jaw dropping slightly, and Leeteuk half-smiling. Finally, the information cleared and I read it out aloud. “Super Junior is a boy group formed in South Korea….” My voice trailed off and I looked at them in surprise. Marcus raised his chin and looked at the ceiling of the plane. Leeteuk just laughed a little and let out a sigh. “Ya, do you now know that you’re sitting next to a star?” Marcus said, his hand touching his raised chin and eyes still looking at the plain white ceiling. I flinched at what he said. “If you’re really a star I would’ve recognized you, like I would recognize One Direction, Miley Cyrus, or Taylor Swift, but how come I didn’t?” I said, raising my chin too and rolling my eyes at him. “Those are English singers! We’re Korean. Only those who live under stones don’t know us.” He replied back, more like scolding me, but the way he looks suggests that he was just joking. “Aigoo… You two better stop that and get some sleep.” Leeteuk said, putting on a night eye mask with the words ‘I <3 Super Junior’ written on it. I looked at Marcus and we exchanged looks of war. Before long, my eyes felt heavy and everything went black.
I stood in the dark. There was no one there, nothing to be heard except the echoes of my own footsteps. ‘Are you afraid of the dark?’ a deep voice spoke out from nowhere. For a moment, I looked at my right side where I assumed had heard the voice, but found no one. I couldn’t see anything. Everything was dark, plain black. A gust of cold wind swept my hair to my back and I hugged myself for warmth. A sharp pang of fear made its way to me and my eyes stayed wide open as I felt my heart pound against my chest. ‘No, you’re not afraid of the dark…..’ the voice said again, this time, from my back. I turned around and faced where the voice came from but found nothing in the bleak darkness. ‘Or are you?’ a whisper from my left reached my ear and my whole body shook in fear. I turned to my left but for the third time, found nothing. ‘You are afraid of what’s in the dark...’ the spooky male voice trailed off, and for a moment, I could see the things around me, though not so clearly. Everything was still pitch black. I was in a room, a big room. I walked as I heard a hum from behind the walls. As I approached where the pleasant singing was, dark crawling things crawled on the ceiling. They were large hairy things. There I lie, staring at my greatest fear… big spiders. I stood there, stuck on the floor as the first spider hit my face with a bone-marrow-freaking touch. My body trembled and I whipped the spider’s long prickly legs off my face when the next spiders began to drop too. I jumped in great disgust and fear as their creepy bodies fell on me. I slapped my face and did everything just to remove the spiders but there were too many of them, maybe hundreds, no, thousands. Continuing to slap my face and screaming with all my might, there was an evil voice…the voice I’ve heard before, but now, it wasn’t much spooky, it was laughing, laughing at my struggle.
My mouth opened and let out a screeching sound. The vision brightened and I realized that I was on the plane, screaming, and now, the passengers were looking at me. My hands were still on my face, and I felt that my hair was messy. ‘Oh no, this is embarrassing.’ I told myself as I sat back on the plane’s seat, and calmed myself. “I’m sorry. I was just having a nightmare.” I said apologetically at the woman who gave me a cold look. I just smiled at people who looked at me with anger because it was a fact that my scream had woken them from a difficult sleep which was rare to attain in a plane at flight. Finally, all the curses from the people came to a halt and I’ve calmed down. I looked at Marcus and noticed that he was covering his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud. ‘What the hell is he laughing at?’ I stared at him. That was when he pulled out a long blue feather from his pocket. My jaw dropped. “What the hell?” I said in great disbelief. As he laughed that incredibly annoying laugh of his, he waved the feather at me, and I realized that the feather he was holding was the weapon he used to disturb my sleep. “This is so not great.” The words slipped out from my mouth as I shook my head and squinted my eyes.
