Late replies ☾ Mark Lee

☾63

The silence was oddly familiar to her, lonesome in the walls of her apartment yet she found herself too deep in her thoughts to the point Yeonhee could visualise the young girl confined by the four walls.

Light steps against the wooden floorboards echoed around the upper floor, the ten year old girl had woken up from her restless sleep. The sun had been beaming through her purple curtains, the teddy bear clutched in her hand tightly.

"Mum?" She called out first upon hearing nothing, blinking away her tiredness and rubbing at her eyes while checking her mum's room.

No one.

Then she checked her Dad's room, still no one.

Of course they weren't here, it was likely they were preoccupied with work, so the ten year old girl began to walk towards her brothers room on the opposite side of the hallway.

A yawn ripped through her, pushing open the door to see the bed unmade, his pyjamas were thrown onto his bed indicating he had gotten changed and the lingering scent of his overpowering deodorant wafted through the air.

Yeonhee halted, wondering if he had left already but she shook her head, knowing he wouldn't just leave.

So she continued, stepping down the stairs to the first floor and eyes falling to the shelf which held the shoes.

His weren't there.

Right then, her heart dropped. It sank so far she thought she could throw it back up.

A panic ripped through her, eyes wide in confusion and slight unease, her pace quickening as she checked every single room before stopping in the hallway.

The house was silent, not a sound.

She stood there, facing the door with just the teddy bear clutched in her hand that was falling limp in the realisation she was alone.

"Jae-jae?..." she trailed off, hoping he would jump out of nowhere yelling it was a prank and that her face looked so funny.

There was no sign of life, except the messily scrawled note plastered on the mirror.

I'll be back soon, I'm out with a friend.
I got your favourite cereal, mum and dad aren't coming home today. Keep the doors locked and don't open them for anyone.
-Jaejae :)

Yeonhee scrunched up the note in her small fist, a heavy breath of air escaping her lungs in anger. But not long after the static of silence, her bottom lip trembled along with her chin wobbling and irrepressible tears spilled out of her eyes and sobs went unheard.

That was the first time she had been left fully alone in the presence of no-one. Usually Jaewon would be looking after her, doing his work in his room while she played in her own one. More than often the two of them would watch movies in the living room, laughing in the presence of each other.

He was fifteen at that time, coming to the age where he would go out more frequently and rebel against the commands given to him but he was a sweet kid and loved his sister dearly.