The Ace (Stray Kids Kim Seungmin)

6

"What have you done?" Harri growled as she glared at Melody.

"Nothing," she responded, digging her shovel into the ground.

"Nothing? Rayne is currently trembling in the shed and mumbling incoherently under her breath. You call that nothing?"

"Why do you assume I did something, huh? Why do you always think that everything that goes wrong or isn't up to your standards is my fault?"

"Because most of the time, it is. Face it, you've been a bad luck charm since you arrived. Life was so much better when we didn't have you messing everything up!"

"Rayne had a dream, okay? And you can cuss and claim its my doing all you want but at least I tried! I tried to convince her it was nothing and I tried to help her. What have you done apart from scream at me all morning?"

"A dream?" Harri scoffed. "We've all had dreams before. They don't drive anyone insane!"

Sweat dressed Harri's face, making her short blond hair stick to her forehead and cheeks as a scowl clung to her lips. There was a glint of hatred in her eyes when her gaze fell on the other girl.

Melody only shrugged.

"Well, this one did. I don't know what more you want me to say."

Pulling her shovel back out, the Ace released a quiet huff. She was drenched in sweat and could feel her clothing of a beige shirt and thin black trousers stick to her body.

In all the time she had been living in the Pen, Mel swore today was the hottest. Work was slower than normal and whenever she tried to speed up, black dots would be painted across her vision, forcing her to take a seat.

She felt lightheaded and her legs and arms ached. Some clouds would be a luxury now, or maybe a breeze but the midday sun showed no mercy. They showed no mercy.

"I'm going to get water," Melody announced, dropping her shovel immediately and walking away.

Harri paused, processing her words before her scowl grew.

"No, you're not! Come back here! We have holes to dig!"

"I'm exhausted, Harri!" Mel finally snapped. "If I spend one more minute in this heat, I might faint!"

"And when you do, then you'll get water. But until that happens, you better grab that shovel and dig."

"If you love digging holes so badly, then why don't you do my part, huh? I've tried to be reasonable with you, Harri, but you just don't want to! I'm trying to meet you at halfway but you refuse it even go half of that. What did I ever do to you to make you hate me so much? Nothing! Ever since day one, you refused to give me a chance. So if you want that hole dug, may as well do it yourself because I give up!"

With that, Melody picked up her pace. A smile crept on her face at the realisation that she finally did it: she finally stood up to Harri. But that soon faded when she felt a hand warp around her wrist and forcefully turn her around.

Before she could even process what was happening, she found herself lying on the ground, cheek pressed against the dirt as a stinging sensation grew on her cheek.

Her brain was muddled and there was a liquid falling from her nose to stain the ground. Blood. Harri had slapped her.

The world seemed to still around her as she lay motionless against the ground, feeling as though she was walking across a thread between consciousness and unconsciousness.

The black dots returned and her head was spinning. Half-lidded eyes wandered over the ground and walls from her position as she felt all prior energy she possessed leave her body. She could hear Harri talking although, in her confused and utterly shocked state of mind, the words sounded foreign.

But Harri wasn't alone. There was another voice. Aira. They weren't far from the shed so Mel guessed she had seen the interaction. The voices grew louder with each passing moment and increased in number as more of the girls arrived to see what the fuss was about, to see why their ace lay half-died on the ground.

But Mel's attention was elsewhere. Gaze fixated on the crack in the East wall, she couldn't help but notice the rumble quaking intensely before falling. Driven by slight fear, she managed pull herself up into a seated position as all the background noise seemed to fade away. There was something behind the east wall, closing the gap between them at what felt like lightning speed.

Her eyes widened as she noticed a wave in the ground quickly approaching them followed by a quake beneath the surface.

The creature peaked around the rumble and Mel found herself staring directly into its yellow-brown eyes.

"Something's wrong," she muttered. And then everything went black.