CHAPTER 4:
Haerin's POV
I was once again awake during the night. Lately, I've been having many strange dreams. I often wake up scared. This is so annoying; honestly, I never understand anything. In the dreams, I'm walking in a very strange place. It looks like an empty field, with no flowers or anything. In this field, there's only grass and a few hills. I walk and walk, and I have the feeling that I'm being followed. And then, I wake up scared.
I grabbed my phone and saw that it was 2 a.m. I wanted to talk to someone, so I thought about calling Minji, but I didn't want to wake her up at this hour to talk about my nightmares. I could pass the time by the window talking to Hyein, but she wasn't home since she went to her aunt's house. I can't believe she knows Hanni.
I sit by the window, gather courage, and send a message to Minji.
KH:
"Hey, it's me."
I waited a bit, and nothing. I sighed, opened the window, and looked at the sky. It was full of beautiful stars. This calmed me down a little. When I looked down at the dark street, my heart almost leaped out of my chest when I saw someone behind a power pole watching me.
I couldn't see their face, but it was clear that someone was staring at me. My hands started to sweat, and my heart raced. I didn't know what to do, and fear also kept me from moving. My eyes kept staring at the mysterious figure, but I didn't move at all. I got distracted by the fear, blinked, and the mysterious figure vanished before my eyes.
- Damn... Was that the person Hyein talked about?
I murmur and sigh as I see that the stranger had disappeared when I hear knocks on my door and turn abruptly.
It couldn't be my mom at this hour, could it? And what's going on? Am I dreaming? I didn't respond or move, and the knocks sounded again.
My breathing quickened, and I found the courage to ask:
- Mom? Is that you?
Suddenly, silence fell, but soon the person on the other side knocked three times again without answering me.
- Whoever you are, stop, please, go away!
Silence again, but the knocks grew louder and more urgent, and the doorknob started to turn. I leaned against the bed and felt my hands grow cold, and my breathing became irregular as the knocking persisted and the doorknob turned as if someone really wanted me to open the door, until I heard a sound:
"Beep! Beep!"
It was my phone. I was holding my phone tightly when I saw a message from Minji.
KM:
"Don't you sleep, Kang?"
After reading, I look at the door and notice that the noise and the mysterious person are gone. Everything was calm again. Without thinking, I immediately replied to Minji.
KH:
"Minji, there was someone in my house."
KM:
"What do you mean?? A burglar?"
KH:
"No... I think it was something else. Someone was watching me at the window and tried to enter my room... I'm scared."
Minji took a while to reply, but then the phone rang again.
KM:
"What do you mean? How did they get in? Are you sure it wasn't a nightmare?"
KH:
"It was so fast... I'm sure that this time I was more awake than ever."
I got out of bed, gathered all my courage, and opened my bedroom door. There was nothing but the darkness of the night. I closed the door, curled up, turned on the bedroom light, and looked at my phone again.
KM:
"Try to sleep, Haerin, and don't let go of your phone. We'll talk at school, and if it happens again, call me, please."
I smiled a little, sighing. It wasn't like she could help me at this time of night. I thought about talking to my mom and sleeping in her room, but I think she'll say I'm already grown up.
And everything that happened seemed like magic. Was the stranger at the door the same as the one in the street? I don't know... I replied to Minji and fell asleep.
KH:
"Thanks, Minji..."
***
Hanni's POV
After school, my mom came to pick up Hyein and me. She's my cousin. Hyein is always cheerful, and I find her very cute. She always visits my house, and I don't mind; honestly, she keeps me company. When she got into the car, she gave me a tight hug. I hugged her back and had to listen to her talk about how exciting her new school was and all that.
I smiled, nodded, and asked a few questions when I had doubts. When she spends the day at my house, we usually watch TV and eat sweets until we fall asleep. My mom doesn't mind much since, when Hyein is with me, my mom always wants to be the fun and easygoing mom. So, I take advantage of that.
Before bed, we were in my room. I was finishing some school assignments. I needed to improve my grades since the teachers were keeping an eye on me. Hyein was drawing something in an old notebook, super focused.
- What are you doing?
I asked, looking at her and closing my notebook, sighing as I leaned back on my pillows.
- Drawing...
I sighed at the obvious answer.
- I know that. I want you to be specific, what are you drawing?
- An alien!
I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my head.
- You've been obsessed with these things lately. I'm almost sure I've heard you talking about aliens since last week.
Hyein looked at me and stopped drawing.
- That's because I'm a researcher, and they're interesting, don't you think?
I shrugged, put down my notebook, grabbed my phone, and started browsing social media.
- Don't you like mystical things, Hanni?
- I've never really thought about it. But I like normal things.
Hyein rolled her eyes and said:
- How boring, I like adventure and investigation!
I just sighed since I didn't want to argue with Hyein and continued messing with my phone. Hyein made an angry face and got closer to me, whispering.
- I know two friends who are secret agents, but don't tell anyone.
- Secret agents? Sure. I'll pretend I believe it.
I said without looking at her.
- It's true! There's even a third secret agent, but he's so secret that he doesn't even show up.
I looked at Hyein. I was bored but didn't want to take the cute hope out of her eyes and smiled.
- Ok, ok. Tell me more about your aliens and secret agents.
- Sometimes, during the night, I see a strange person on the other side of the street, hiding. It looks like they're watching someone.
Hyein said, making her voice scary, like in a horror movie.
- I see... And why do you think it's a secret agent? Couldn't it be a crazy stalker?
- No, no! I'm sure it's a secret agent.
- What makes you think that? Have you seen their face or clothes?
I asked, getting closer.
- Not yet. Ah... How annoying! Usually, they show up really late at night, so I can't go out and ask what they're doing.
- Don't do that, not even as a joke! It could be some crazy person. Does this happen often?
- No... Sometimes I see them, sometimes I don't. Once I stared at them through the window, but they took too long to move, and I fell asleep.
- Your calmness about strange things amazes me. But now I'm curious. Let's plan a day for me to sleep at your house, and we'll wait for this weirdo.
- That sounds fun. You'll see that I'm serious.
I took a deep breath. Hyein isn't one to lie. If she saw someone, it's because she really saw them. But for some reason, this worries me a lot. I hope we don't get into trouble. Some things are better left unknown.
***
Author's Note
Hello, thanks for reading. Sorry for any grammatical errors I missed, and leave your vote.
:) 👽