"Seon-yun, you have to come to our party this Friday. It's going to be the event of the year!"
I hesitated, remembering the boy's warning about facing unexpected consequences in my dream.
"I can't, Soo-jin. I have to study to keep up my grades."
Soo-jin's eyes narrowed slightly, but then she batted her eyes, a playful smile on her lips.
"Oh, come on. It won't kill you if you skip one day of studying! We're The Queen Bees not The Drama Queens bitch!"
I bit my lip, feeling the urge to go to her party but the nagging doubt in my mind.
"I should study..."
Soo-jin's face darkened for a moment. "Suit yourself, Seon-yun. But don't say I didn't warn you about missing out."
Hana and Eun-ji exchanged worried glances but said nothing. As Soo-jin sashayed away, I felt a chill run down my spine. Something about her reaction didn't sit right with me, but I pushed the thought aside, focusing on studying instead of going to the party.
Friday evening, I stayed home, my textbooks spread out in front of me. But I couldn't concentrate. Soo-jin freaked the absolute shit out of me and the boy's warning would forever haunt me. I decided to text Hana and Eun-ji to relieve my stress.
"Hey, are you guys at the party?" I typed quickly
Hana responded immediately. "Yeah, it's pretty wild. Soo-jin's in her rare form this evening."
I frowned at my phone. "What do you mean?"
There was a long pause before Eun-ji replied, "Just...be careful Seon-yun. We'll talk on Monday.
I put my phone down, my stomach began feeling uneasy. Something was definitely off, and I couldn't shake the feeling that staying home had somehow put me in some kind of danger.
A knock on my bedroom door washed my troubles away. Father pushed the door open and sat beside my bed, "You've been studying hard. Why not take a break and eat your dinner? It's getting cold."
I nodded my head and followed him to the living room so I could have his scrumptious kimchi, they were to die for!
"You never fail to make me proud Seon-yun," he said as he disheveled my hair.
I never heard him say those words before. Every day he scolded me for skipping a day of studying and...his words made me sniffle. I wrapped my arms around him and he hugged me back.
"Thanks for dinner Dad I'll be back in my room," I grinned, my mouth full of kimchi.
"No problem," he nodded.
Back in my room, I scrolled through TikTok. My eyes eventually got heavy and before I knew it, I was asleep.
Monday came, I trudged into school. As soon as I saw Hana and Eun-ji, I hurried over to them.
"What happened at the party?"
Hana looked around nervously before speaking. "Soo-jin was really mad that you didn't show up. She was saying things about you, trying to turn people against you."
Eun-ji nodded. "Yeah, and Jae-hyung...well, let's just say he wasn't too happy either."
I felt a lump form in my throat. "Why would they do that?"
Hana sighed. "Soo-jin doesn't like being refused. And Jae-hyung...he's a dickhead. We tried to tell you but we didn't know how."
Their voices kept ringing in my ears, and I realized that this so-called world that Kyung-ho had created for me was starting to reveal its cracks.
As the day went on, Jae-hyung's eyes followed me wherever I went, and Soo-jin started hitting me with her dagger eyes again. The reality of my situation began to sink in, and I knew I had to be careful.
That night, I lay in bed, my head aching. I had thought that Kyung-ho's gift was a blessing, but now it felt like a curse. The boy in my dreams cautioned me about unexpected consequences, but what exactly did I do? I needed someone to help me with whatever mess I got myself into.
I closed my eyes and opened them again, that was rather strange...I usually fall asleep instantly. I stuffed my face in my pillow and groaned. Why can't I go to sleep? I began violently banging my head into my pillow and at last, I was asleep.
I found myself surrounded by suffocating darkness. Everywhere was pitch black, with no shapes or forms to support me. Panic began to creep in as I searched for any sign of the boy or any hint of the world I crafted. But there was only darkness, and the silence was deafening. My heart raced, and my breath came in shallow gasps.
Suddenly, from the abyss, three enormous eyes emerged, floating ominously in the void. Their gaze was penetrating and cold, filled with an intelligence that was far beyond my understanding. They pierced through my very soul. The eyes were surrounded by an eerie glow, and their presence was both mesmerizing and horrifying. They observed me with a detached curiosity as if waiting for something or perhaps judging my every move.
The sight of these eyes was dreadful. Were they watching my every thought? Were they looking straight at my soul? My body trembled, and I could feel a cold sweat breaking out across my skin. Their stares were almost unbearable, but I struggled to look away.
In a sudden jolt of panic, I shot awake, my heart pounding in my chest. The sweat on my forehead was cold and clammy. I sat up in my bed, gasping for breath, the remnants of the nightmare still vivid in my head.
The vision of the three eyes lingered, a haunting reminder of the madness trying to consume me. As I tried to calm myself, the realization that my world might be an illusion was driving me insane. The boy's absence and the presence of those ominous eyes hinted at a deeper, ghastly truth.
What had happened to the boy? I truly don't know...but I feared that my nightmare was only beginning which made it impossible to return to sleep.