Dream Me a Sonatine

19 - One Centimetre

The next morning sloshed languidly into existence, awakening the twelve girls with a frosted burst of sunlight. There were no windows in the old house, but the decaying slits and fissures in the wood provided more than enough openings.

Hyunjin woke cautiously, hoping it had been a dreamless night. She had no room — literally — to be careless anymore. Thankfully, she clutched nothing strange in her fingers.

'Is the night in France always this cold?' asked Haseul. An uncomfortable silence followed.

'Not usually,' said Vivi finally. 'But we don't usually sleep in battered wooden huts.' She laughed. Haseul nodded seriously and Hyunjin imagined her mentally noting it down: it is unusual to sleep in a wooden hut.

'It's not a problem, by the way,' said Haseul cheerily. 'I'm used to cold climates. Well... not anymore, I guess...'

'Haseul, can you wake Jiwoo and Yeojin's lazy asses up,' interrupted Hyunjin. Her heart was already hammering. Cyclops nuzzled her hand with a wet, black nose.

'My ass is up,' grumbled a different girl — Jiwoo? 'That's Sooyoung.'

The twelve of them trickled outside, still clad in sleeping bags and blankets to avoid the unfriendly December morning. Jinsoul and Jungeun were already dressed and armed to the teeth with sesame seed bagels. Hyunjin's mouth watered, but the others looked unexcited at the prospect of bread.

They perched upon gravestones or rocks, eating the world's blandest breakfast (a delicacy in Hyunjin's opinion) and a frigid silence descended over them, the aftermath of last night. The blonde girl, Jinsoul, kept pulling crumbs off her bagel and sprinkling them into a water-filled plastic bag. Peering closer, Hyunjin saw a tiny fish catching the crumbs in its 'o' shaped mouth.

'How much sleep did you get?' Heejin asked, settling down on a headstone next to Hyunjin.

'2 hours, max.'

'20 minutes,' said Hyejoo through a mouthful of crumbs.

'Beat 5,' countered Jungeun.

'That explains why you bought plain fucking bagels for breakfast.'

'There wasn't much choice and we were in a rush, seeing as it's not safe to even leave this place.'

'Simmer down, you lot,' murmured Yerim. Out of all of them, she looked the most exhausted. And a lot younger than yesterday. Sometimes, Hyunjin forgot she was a whole year younger.

Whilst savouring the bread, Hyunjin thought about London. She'd never been to a European country outside of Austria — except France now, obviously — and she wasn't sure what to expect. She certainly wasn't expecting a supernatural sleeper and another Cabeswater. She could still barely comprehend the existence of more than one.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by another raised voice: '—none of your business.'

'Calm down, skeleton-girl. You gonna tell us what last night was all about, anyway? That was some creepy shit.' Hyejoo laid a hand on Cyclop's head like some moustache-twirling supervillain.

'I said—'

Hyunjin considered stuffing the remainder of her bagel in her ears. A nudge at her elbow interrupted her.

Heejin whispered, 'Can we go somewhere quieter?'

'Yeah.'

Unnoticed, they headed to the alleviating shade of some trees, sitting on two slate-grey headstones inscribed in gold lettering. A grey tabby slinked into view, eyeing them warily. Hyunjin let it cock its head at her and edge forward to sniff her palm. It smelled odd for a stray, flowery like... Febreze?