Silence

2

Mina was incredibly excited that it was her childhood friend. Sana squealed, hugging Mina tightly in the hallway before signing rapidly to her best friend. Even though she had moved away, she still learned sign language, wanting to be an interpreter when she grew up because of her best friend.

"I've kept up with lessons, everything got so much harder." Sana frowned while signing to Mina.

"Well yeah, it's a new language to you." Mina rolled her eyes, earning a playful smack on her arm from the older.

The two were back to being inseparable, the two continuing to talk to one another, Mina watching as Sana had explained everything that had happened while she was gone.

Sana's father worked at a multi-billion dollar industry that had many, many franchises everywhere. When he took a promotion, it forced her entire family to move. When he took another, he was able to choose where he wanted to go, ultimately choosing where they used to live before uprooting his entire family.

With Sana being back, it worked out perfectly. Mina had her best friend back, and no longer sat by herself during lunch. She smiled more, felt better and was much happier getting up every morning knowing that she had someone who would be there for her. The two would walk home, signing away about their day and how much they hated the homework load their teachers gave them. It worked in their favor, the two living only a few houses away from one another instead of direct neighbors.

--

Sana sat in her room, trying her best to drown out the yelling from downstairs. Her parents were always at each other's throats. She tried to even her own breathing, knowing that their fighting wasn't her fault. Her mother hated how much her father worked. Her father hated how much her mother nagged her about it. Both of them hated the fact that their oldest daughter had ran off to pursue her dream in music. Both of them hated the fact that she herself had a mental illness and needed help.

She looked around her room, seeing everything neatly in place, perfectly cleaned and untouched. The one thing that was really left untouched was the medicine container on her desk. She had exactly eighty-seven pills left after taking the prescribed one a day for three days. She didn't like how they made her, and hated how they made her not care about a few things.

"My fault?! It's your fault she's that way!" Her mother screamed.

Sana shut her eyes tightly, clutching the edges of her bed tightly. She felt her chest tightening as she listened to them scream about her again. She knew it wasn't right to hyper focus on things in front of them. It always made them upset. Always.

Her phone vibrating dragged her out of her mind. She felt like she was glued to her bed as her eyes landed on the phone. Her sister's name popping up on the screen. Right before the call could end, she picked it up, answering it.

"Hello?" She answered with a quiet voice.

"Hey, just checking in. You okay?" Her sister asked quietly. Sana felt the tears coming when she heard those two words. She was far from okay. Sana broke down on the phone, moving to her closet so her parents wouldn't hear her cries. "Sana, breathe... What happened?" She asked.

"Fighting..." Sana managed to spit out.

"Okay, okay.." Her sister sighed. "Remember what your therapist taught you? Center yourself, happy place Sana. Where is it?" She asked quietly. "Tell me about it."

"Um... It's... It's the place... We went to as kids." Sana sniffed. "The beach." She whimpered.

"What are we doing Sana?"

"We're.. Looking for shells on the beach... Perfect ones." She whispered, closing her eyes tightly.

"Good. Focus on the happy place, and everything that we did there." Her sister whispered. "Are you taking your medicine?" She asked. Sana was silent with her answer. "Sana... Please tell me you're at least going to therapy."

"Mom won't drive me." Sana whispered. "They tell me to snap out of it." She frowned. "Seulgi... When are you coming home?" She sniffed. She heard her sister sigh through the phone. She knew the answer. She knew she wasn't ever going to come home. "Seul?" Sana whispered.

"When I get a place of my own... I promise to come get you. I promise to take you away from all of it." She whispered. "Okay?" She asked.

"Okay..." Sana answered. She knew Seulgi wanted to take her from everything, but she didn't keep her hopes up. All she wanted was her sister back home.

When Seulgi was home, before everything had gone south, it seemed normal. Their parents didn't fight as often, and everything felt normal. Besides Sana's severe OCD tendencies. She had been to a doctor, then a psychiatrist, then a therapist. Every single one of them diagnosing her with OCD, specifically one dealing with Symmetry and Order along with extreme anxiety. Seulgi felt terrible for Sana, knowing she was struggling to get better, but their parents only made it worse.

They had lashed out on Sana, telling her to snap out of it, that everything was just an act. They told all of the doctors that she was just an overly organized person and that was normal. But Seulgi knew she needed help. She knew her little sister couldn't even begin to function unless things went a certain way. She would become extremely stubborn and refuse to do things until they were right in her mind. It was like that for a long time until their father snapped, striking fear into his daughter's souls.

Sana had then forced herself to be 'normal' around only her parents at first. No one at school seemed to care too much about her OCD until it came to actual school work. The way she took notes took forever, causing her to be behind in class because they had to be just perfect at all times. If they weren't perfect then she wouldn't be able to go back and study later. She needed them to be perfect.

After her phone call with Seulgi, she got herself ready for bed. She didn't have too much homework since it was the first week of school and didn't really have anything to study just yet. As soon as she turned off the light and climbed into bed, she felt somewhat relaxed. Hidden away from the world under her duvet. She held onto her stuffed dog plush as her eyes landed on the medicine container on her desk. She didn't like the way the medicine made her... But she knew she needed it to get better.

For Seulgi at least.