Buttercup | r. tozier

↠ jasmine jeong

The sun was slowly setting down, emitting its vivid, warm orange hues. It was a pretty sight when I just arrived, wearing a light blue day dress. She was on the front porch as usual and sipped her tea while waiting for me.

"Oh, Moony, you are here." She opened her arms to hug me.

"Auntie Lily, what are we going to learn today?" I asked with beaming curiosity.

Her voice was as gentle and jolly as ever, but what I yet to notice was her wicked grin as she caressed a bouquet of red and white flowers.

"We are going to learn about the poppies."

"Alright," was all I respond.

After we passed by the living room to go to the backyard and opened the back door, I was stunned as I looked at the blood-stained grass and soil and contemplated on this gruesome scene and how it came to be. As I walked further into the garden, I got a few glimpses of the bloody corpses hidden inside the bushes. Then I realized that they were all my friends.

"Jasmine, look at me," Auntie Lily told me.

I asked in disbelief, "Auntie Lily, what just happened? Did you do something to them?" The grin on her face became creepier as she gave away some of her teeth.

"You see, I am the one who will feed on their bodies and their blood as my sustenance."

Panic increasingly grew within me. "What about my appa (1) and eomma (2)?"

"I had eaten them," Auntie Lily growled menacingly, "and you are next!"

She grabbed my arm with brute force towards her mouth, revealing its glaring red eyes.

"Andwae!" I screamed in terror as I collapsed from a sudden spasm before everything went pitch black.

Strangely, when I expected to feel pain throughout my body, I only felt the fluffiness of my bed clinging to my body as I opened my eyes. However, when I tried to move my arms, I could not. Million things were swirling in my mind while my body remained frozen. Could my parents and my friends be really hurt by now?

"Aegiya (3), tea's ready."

I knew it must be eomma from the faint aroma of barley tea downstairs. My mouth watered a bit the moment I thought about it. Nonetheless, my body was still in shock, trying to figure out the meaning behind the imaginary trauma.

Eomma's voice called for me again, "Aegiya?"

I really wanted to go and hug her, but my limbs were still too weak to move on their own.

"Are you in your bedroom?"

"Yes," I yelled as loud as possible before I heard a door downstairs swinging. It was appa coming home from work.

After some talking, I could hear footsteps coming towards my room. Appa and eomma opened the door and saw me with worried eyes as I crouched in anxiety.

"Aegiya, what's wrong?" eomma softly asked. Her worry could be seen from her face.

"I just had a really bad nightmare."

Eomma pressed on, curious despite feeling dismayed. "About what?"

"It's about Auntie Lily and that eomma, appa, and my friends were all dead," I said as a tear dropped from my right eye.

With a reassuring look, appa said as he and eomma hugged me, "Aegiya, those nightmares are not real. You, me, eomma, and all your friends are safe."

"I-I-I hope they are doing fine," I quivered, "But Auntie Lily was so scary."

"You know, aegiya, that the Auntie Lily in your dream was really not her. If I'm not wrong, she can also turn into a clown. I don't know much, but remember this. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear," appa said as I began to feel slightly better.

"Are you feeling better, aegiya?" Eomma smiled once more.

"Yes, eomma, I'm ready for some tea," I replied as the three of us broke off the hug.

-

Note

(1) "appa" (아빠) means "dad"

(2) "eomma" (엄마) means "mom"

(3) "aegiya" (애기야) means "baby" or "sweetie"