"The clock laughs at me, it does not give a single error. I'm a mess, I don't even know myself, my future is colored darkly"
We begin in the city of S.L.A with a boy with blondish silver dreads and dark skin wearing a purple blue t-shirt titled "Breakthrough" and black joggers sleeping on a subway train headed through the rainy city full of high rise buildings, flashing lights and millions of different sounds. The boy would suddenly hear a soft speaker woman's voice say "Open your eyes quietly please open your eye this stop is S.L.A Mid City District, This is Mid City District S.L.A....".
The boy woke up to the voice and looked around for the source of where the voice was coming from, yet he could not find the source. After taking time to get organized the boy got off the train with his bag and looked at his phone. There was an address on it "Shinchon road and West Olympic Blvd, Violeta Pastry Shop", as he looked for the address he approached an officer. "Excuse me sir, do you know where Violeta pastry shop is?" said the boy, "Oh, it's down that street over there", he pointed to the green street sign labeled titled 신촌로 (Sinchon road). The boy squinted at the sign confused because he couldn't understand Korean, the officer chuckled, "Oh sorry you must not be from here that street is called "Shinchon road". The boy nervously chuckled a little before beginning to head in that direction. "WAIT!", the officer yelled, "what's your name kid?", "It's Yeri!" he yelled before turning around and heading down Sinchon road.
Yeri walked down Sinchon road taking in the different sights, he looked at the street signs waiting for West Olympic Blvd to appear in his sight. As he walked down he over heard some conversation between an old man and a businesswoman, "Did you hear, they found another dead guy with bullet holes and burn marks" the old man said, the businesswoman sighed, " I just hope that doesn't happen in this neighborhood they have the best lunch options." Yeri continued down the road until he arrived at West Olympic where he noticed a two story building with the words "Violeta Pastries" plastered on it. He looked nonchalantly at the window where the entire inside could be seen through the window, he went to the door with a sign spelling "Open" before heading through it.
As he headed through the door he was met by the rich smell of bread and dough as he looked around noticing the tables and the counter displaying many different pastries. He walked in and notice an older group of women drinking tea and eating soft powdered donuts, and a tall middle aged woman with a short bobbed haircut and defined eyebrows leaning on the counter with a very moody face. It was mostly silent if not for the speaker playing some hit new song by some group of girls called Blue Velvet and the news broadcast playing on the monitor hanging from a corner. The middle aged woman noticed Yeri walk in noticing the large bag before standing up and walking around the counter, "Oh right, I was wondering when you'd show up kid." Yeri looked at the woman not noticing because at first she was leaning on the counter that she was slightly taller than him, "Umm...Is Elaine Eun-bi here" said Yeri before with a short response Elaine replies "Yeah, you're looking at her, you must be Yeri Kyle. Right before we could say anymore the group of older women got up slowly and headed out the door with a soft thank you before exiting.
Elaine let's out a loud sigh, "Thank god they went home, anyways I think you already know but after your mother passed and your father couldn't really take care of you, you ended up here." Yeri looked away as if still trying to adjust to that fact. "Don't worry about it kid, come with me I'll show you where you'll be staying," Elaine pointed to the stairway near the counter leading upstairs.
Yeri followed the woman upstairs to what seemed to be an entire living room and bedroom space, Yeri noticed most things were lined with dust but it was quite spacious, it had a desk, couch, table, bed and bookshelves, it even had a kitchen and fridge. Yeri looked slightly happy that he wasn't living in some attic or rundown place with a bedroom and a couch. "Sorry about the dust, It's been a while since someone lived up here, after I got a house there wasn't really a use for this place.", said Elaine while looking around. "So this will be your living space deal with it or I'll kick you to the curb," Yeri looked nervously confused before Elaine laughed "I'm just kidding kid I'd only kick you out if you start eating the pastries downstairs or you bring a girl home, your reaction was jokes though." Yeri nervously laughed at the thought before asking "So how do you know about my parents if you don't mind me asking?" "Oh you don't know well umm... let's just say.. me and your parents use to hangout a lot..." Elaine knows Yeri's parents because they use to be drinking buddies and would party often in college, but she couldn't tell the boy that, Yeri took this as his parents being very good friends with her. " I know it must be tough for a 16 year old to deal with something like this but just know I'll keep you safe here, the comforter and sheets are in the cuboard, your dad sends you money right so you don't have to worry about stocking the fridge, there's a market near by where you can get groceries. And you should probably clean up since this place hasn't been used in a while." Before she could continue a ringing sound could be heard from her pocket, "Ah crap, I gotta go but before I do. I did stock your fridge just this once but it's up to you to maintain it. You're gonna be attending Miroh high tomorrow make sure not to be late!" Before Yeri could ask any questions Elaine was already halfway downstairs she grabbed her things and headed home. He watched her quickly disappear down a street before sighing and heading back up stairs.
He put his bag in his room before looking at the dusty place, he thought he should probably keep it clean or Elaine might say something. Before anything he began cleaning running into multiple spiders along the way but most things were easy to clean. After cleaning for hours, Yeri looked around satisfied by his work. After organizing the contents of his bag, he took a hot bath and he changed into his loungewear.
Yeri headed to look out the window taking in the
new city he would be staying in. Right before he turned around he notice a figure jumping across building rooftops bathed in the moonlight, before they disappeared into the night. "What the fuck, this place got ninjas? Or maybe I'm just tired it was a long train ride... Yeah I better sleep before I start hallucinating or something." Yeri laid down on his new bed thinking about his new life, he opened his smartphone, "Miroh High..., I have to take the Olympic bus down..", He looked as his route to school before shutting off his phone and putting it on a charger. Yeri looked up at the ceiling thinking about that strange voice he heard on the subway, "Open your eyes, quietly Open your eyes, what a weird thing to say must've been some old person". Yeri's eyelids felt heavy as he soon fell asleep, with millions of thoughts swirling in his head he knew this new life wouldn't be like living in New York. His new life without parents...
"The clock laughs at me, it does not give a single error. I'm a mess, I don't even know myself, my future is colored darkly"
Till Chapter 2, April Fools