Beautiful Deception

O N E

word count: 3, 372
pages (paging mode): 22
warnings: language, some violence

mae
It was just another quiet, ordinary fall morning in my little hometown, when the grocery store blew up.

Confused? Here, let me start from the beginning.

***

Tuesday, September 10th
8:12 AM
location: student housing, off-campus. downtown pyongston, korea.

"Love you too, Eomma, Appa." I ended the call and tossed my phone onto my bed, bouncing on top of my sunflowered covers.
I missed my parents, so much. They'd been living in Canada for almost 3 years now, and I only ever got to see them on FaceTime.

We'd decided- or rather, I'd pushed hard enough to convince them- that when I graduated from high school in Canada that I would continue my education here, in Korea; and I was more than happy with that choice. But earning my degrees in medicine meant being away from my only family, my mom and dad.

I sighed, checking the time, and my eyes widened in horror. It was already 8:12 AM, and I had classes at 8:45!

I'm gonna be late I'm gonna be late I'm gonnabe-

I frantically dashed around the house, tugging on my shoes ten minutes later to catch the bus.

Sadly, I didn't make it.

Shit.

I waved my arms wildly above my head and hoped the driver would see. "Hey, wait!" I shouted. But it was futile- the bus was long gone.
I groaned in defeat, resigned to having to walk to school. I shook off the disappointment of being late and set off again; this time not running like the wind.

I listened to the sweet chirping of the birds as they sung in the trees, leaves of many colors spiralling down to the pavement. I smiled at the picturesque morning, even though I was a little behind schedule.
Seeing the corner grocery store in the distance, I knew I was fairly close to campus, so I picked up the pace a little and shifted the bag on my back. The sounds of downtown drifted towards me as I drew nearer, a mix of car tires, bus exhaust, chattering, and doors shutting.

*Although I'd grown up in Ontario, we usually had all four seasons, but sometimes the weather decided to skip fall and head right into winter. Now that I was back in Korea, I was glad to see the changing leaves painted on the trees around downtown, falling gently to the ground where they crunched beneath my feet. I breathed deep in the crisp autumn atmosphere.

I was just about to reach the corner where Leeteuk's Convenience and Grocery store was- when the unmistakable noise of a gunshot rang out from my left.

Please don't let this be what I think it might be.

Adrenaline shooting through me, I hit the ground crouching, thinking that it had truly been a gun.

There were no screams or anything after that, but I stayed down anyways, crawling to press myself against the brick store exterior. There were muffled voices audible inside... and it sounded like an argument. A very intense and violent one.

I heard a shout and flinched as another shot pierced the air. Panicked, I looked around for someplace safe; the search came up empty. There were no allyways to duck into, and past the store was merely open streets.

Mae, you are so screwed.

Fear didn't even come close to what I was feeling in that moment.

I was beyond scared, and I hadn't a clue what to do; so I just stupidly clung onto the wall and hoped to hell that whatever this was wouldn't move outside. If I was lucky, this was all just a very bad dream, and I would wake up any minute now, right?
I closed my eyes and willed myself to wake up.