LIGHTHOUSE ° you . kth

prologue

ʽ UNCANNY ʼ ˑ ₀
━━━━━ 〈 零 〉 ━
「 present day ▴ cloudy 」

YOU wanted to call it the 'uncanny valley', though you honestly didn't really know if that was the right phrase to describe your bustling surroundings. Your friends and peers certainly seemed human enough, but the way their smiles tugged across their faces, and the way their voices reached you in a sickeningly sweet lilt betrayed otherwise.

A steady breath fell from your lips as your tired eyes travelled to the pale clouds drifting beyond the windows of your classroom. You had already accepted that school was far from the vibrant, cherry-coloured existence portrayed in television and fairytales. You had welcomed the exhausting monochrome of reality with all the cynicism and angst of a twenty-first century teenager.

After all, that was life. Magic and fantasy only existed in your dreams.

So you rubbed your eyes in disbelief when distant classmates sent compliments your way for the silliest and most trivial of things. You looked far from beautiful and yet, only affection dripped from the lips of your peers. Your work ethic was average at best, but you may as well have been the next Einstein with how much your friends and teachers praised your so-called intelligence.

Of course, it felt good.

But it also felt off. There was something different about the class. It was as if the universe had concocted a grand master plan, and you were the only one left in the dark as the world bowed at your feet.

You supposed any other normal teenager would've appreciated the attention. Perhaps after years of sliding beneath God's radar, you were finally reaping the benefits of life. Because, hell, you had never been privy to luck and you were beginning to think it had just been a foreign myth spun by adults who wanted an easy way out.

"Isn't Mr Song acting strange today?" You whispered, resting your chin on the back of your palm as you stared at the middle aged man at the head of the class.

"Hmm?" A noncommittal hum swept past the desks as your friend, Taehyung, gave you a modicum of his precious attention (sarcasm very much intended.) In any situation, you would've been annoyed, but you very much welcomed anything that didn't resemble the inside of a Hallmark card.

Your distracted ramblings were cut short by an audible scoff at the front of the room. A classic clearing of the throat meant to silence and caution disrupters, and for once in your life, you breathed in this moment of discipline - this fleeting moment of constancy that had disappeared from your life.

"Oh, Seonhwa. That was you whispering?" The teacher asked, his adam's apple bobbing down in an apparent gulp.

You nodded, wondering when gentle questions ever played a part in a teacher's everyday interrogations. It seemed like only weeks ago when a piece of chalk would've been flung at your desk as his instinctive response to your negligence.

"Then, please continue." A wry smile creaked onto aged features and the older male turned his back toward you as his bespectacled eyes fell back on the textbook.

Your mouth hung open in disbelief and you felt all the more like a masochist - a perverse child waiting idly for punishment. In what sort of universe had you been trapped in?

Blinking out the confusion that had taken reign of your sight, you spun from your seat to face the studious side profile of Taehyung, mouthing out a blatant profanity, as you tried to grab his attention. But as he passed you a cursory glance - the weakest validation that he was actually listening - you didn't see the usual mischief glistening in the golden specks of his eyes.

That was when you realized. Kim Taehyung was hiding something from you too.

▃ ▃ ▃
AUTHOR'S NOTE

jksanfakjsf. finally a new story!
and this one is actually completed
in draft form!! although i need to
do some heavy editing LMAO.

♡