"Try again Y/N."
You groaned, setting your head down on the desk in front of you. "I can't." You mumbled, the sound lost in the wood.
"You can." Hands poked at your shoulders gently. "You did a question a moment ago. Start slow, what's the first step?"
Batting the hand away, you huffed. Pen tapping against the paper pad in front of you, you scrambled through your brain. How do I do it? Come on, Y/N! Nope, nothing. "I'm sorry. I really don't know."
"Like this," he said, leaning over you and prying the pen gently from your fingers. "The curve also goes under the x-axis, so you integrate both parts separately, then switch the sign for the part underneath. Remember?" Meeting your eyes, he mustered a small smile and set the pen back down.
"Why did I ever take math? Can't we just hang out?" You pulled out your best puppy dog eyes, tucking your hands under your chin.
"Your parents don't pay me to hang out with you," he laughed, pink gums and smile lines appearing. "Plus, you need to get this down for the finals. Your parents would kill me if I let you get a bad grade." He continued to smile, but it left his eyes. "Try these questions for next week, hm? Just do as many as you can, and we'll go over them when I-"
"Y/n." A voice rumbled from the doorway. At the sound, you leapt from your chair, a wide grin pulling your cheeks apart. You leapt into your father's arms, and he caught you, spinning you around in a wide arc before setting you down between him and the open door behind you. You could see Sung-hoon, your math tutor, still sat at the table from over your father's shoulder. His eyes bore into yours, something simmering inside them that you couldn't identify. "How's my girl, huh?" Your father set his heavy hands on your shoulder, smiling down at you as he brushed your hair from your face.
"How come you're back so early?" An elated laugh worked its' way out of your mouth at seeing him. He was around so rarely these days, always away on business trips or speaking at conferences abroad.
"I missed my girls. Where's your mom, by the way?" His hands became firmer, turning you toward the doorway as if to lead you away.
"Oh dad-" twisting around, you glanced at Sung-hoon again. He was packing up, sweeping pencils and textbooks into a leather satchel. "We weren't finished." Your father glanced dismissively over his shoulder.
"Nonsense, darling. Finish early today, hmm? I want to spend some time with you. Your tutor can see himself out, can't he?" He looked pointedly at Sung-hoon, waiting and expectant. 'Your tutor'? Didn't he even know his name? Sung-hoon's mouth pressed into a grim line, but he picked up his bag and walked toward you anyway. Meeting you in the corridor, he nodded respectfully toward your father.
"Of course, sir. See you next time, Y/n."
Your father grinned down at you once more, leading you down the corridor in the opposite direction to Sung-hoon. He chattered away about how you were finding your studies, a solid hand on your back. You cast an apologetic glance back to Sung-hoon, but the small smile on your face fell quickly. He was stood, ram-rod straight and knuckles white as they clutched the strap of his bag. His eyes were locked onto your father, flitting between the back of his head and where his hand was pressed the middle of your back. There it was again: that strange, surreptitious light in his eyes. You opened your mouth to ask if he was okay, to ask if he wanted seeing out.
But your father pulled you around the corner, and Sung-hoon was gone.
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"Y/n, honey? Do you not like it?" Glancing up from where you were pushing green beans around on your plate, you met your mothers soft eyes.
"I do, mom, I'm just not too hungry at the moment. I had some snacks not too long ago." Not totally true. You had snacked recently, but you suspected that the lack of hunger was more to do with your mind still being stuck on Sung-hoon's peculiar exit from earlier that day. Why was that look on his face? What even was that look? Despite spending hours mulling it over in your head, you still couldn't put your finger on it. Now wasn't the time though. Now was family time.
Your parents went back to their conversation, laughing and joking around with one another. You tried to pay attention, but your eyes strayed from them, landing on the huge, French windows that looked out onto the fields and lake behind your house. It was dusk, and the remaining orange and pink light from the sun caressed the horizon, clouds strewn sporadically across the distant landscape. You felt a quite sort of calm settle into you at the beautiful sight. It was one of your favourite things about this house. Not the marble floors, or the in-house cinema room. Not even the pool in the basement, surrounded by pillars streaked with gold. No; the surrounding landscape was always the best thing. Your parents had wished for you to grow up surrounded by nature and not by a concrete jungle. It was also why you had taken all your high school, and now college classes online. 'A childhood untouched by the outside world' they had said. 'A childhood where you can grow up happy'.
And it had worked. You were happy. Most of the time. Of course, you were allowed out and about into the nearby cities to go shopping, or see a movie, but your mom was always with you, hand on your arm and eyes on the people around. She was just protective. You were grateful to have parents who loved and wanted to look after you so much.
It didn't stop you from wishing, though. Or wondering what it would be like to have grown up normal.
Sung-hoon was the first person even slightly close to your age that you had ever hung out with more than once. Or not hung out, as he was so keen to keep clear. You considered him a friend, with his quiet demeanour and rare grins. The first friend you ever had. So why had he acted so weirdly earlier, with your dad? The first time he had ever met him?
"Will you help, sweetie?" Your dad's low voice brought you back into the room. Your mother was on her way back to the kitchen, empty bowls in hand. He gestured toward your plate.
"Of course. Sorry." You began to follow your mother.
"Very distracted today, Y/n. Is everything okay?" His voice and his footsteps followed closely behind, and the warm light of the kitchen enveloped you both as you entered.
"Yeah, it's good, Dad. I'm just tired, I guess."
"We were going to watch a movie." Your mom added as the loaded the plates and cutlery into the dishwasher. "Want to join?"
"I don't think so. I might head to bed." Your mom nodded, standing to her full height and pulling you in for a quick hug. "Okay. Goodnight lo-"
Strong arms came around the both of you, and your feet left the floor as your father squeezed the both if you into his chest, laughing as he did.
"Dad!" You howled, being jostled around. How he was so strong, you had no idea. Setting the both of you down, he laid a gentle kiss on your forehead.
"Shall we have breakfast together tomorrow?" You and your mom both nodded, and you headed toward the hallway, ready to put your mind to rest and sleep through until very late tomorrow morning.
"Can we make it brunch, dad?" You grinned, pausing in the doorway.
"Sure. We'll make pancakes. Goodnight, Y/n."
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You awoke to a very still, very quiet house. Shafts of moonlight peeked from behind the chiffon curtains, which rustled in the wind. Strange. Hadn't you closed those before you went to bed? Unease settled deep in your stomach, and you cast a worried glance toward the digital clock on your bedside table. 2:46am. There was no room for irritation at your uninterrupted sleep as you slid silently out of bed on silent feet. You'd seen movies like these; the girl wakes up in the middle of the night, finds her window open, thinks nothing of it and goes back to sleep. Only to realise that someone had snuck into her room and was hiding in her closet. Then, she usually died.
Well hell no. Not today, murderer.
Grabbing a thick, empty mug from your desk, you crept toward your wardrobe. Unfortunately, it was built into the wall, and definitely roomy enough for a creep to hide inside of. Testing the weight of the mug in your hand, you let your other hand rest quietly on the handle. Sucking a deep breath in, and steely resolve settling into your belly, you struck.
"Ragh!"
Your war-cry landed on deaf ears. Or rather, on no ears. The wardrobe was completely and utterly devoid of rampaging, murdering psychopaths. A laugh bubbled up in your throat, anxiety dissipating from your stomach. Flicking on the light-switch, you headed over to the window, pulling a random hoodie over your head as you went. Your bedroom window faced the same direction as the dining room windows did: out onto those serene, peaceful fields. Moonlight skittered off the surface of the lake, and disappeared under the canopy of the nearby woods. Tonight was a perfect night for one of your little... expeditions. Adventures. Excursions, if you like. After all, your parents may have wanted to keep you safe and tucked away inside your house, but that didn't mean you didn't take matters into your own hands sometimes. On nights like tonight.
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The soft click of the back door sounded as the door shut on its hinges. Essentially silent, especially if you were sleeping upstairs and on the other side of the house like your parents were. Slipper-clad feet met soft grass as you made your way toward the lake. It was still, and glistening, and welcoming. A peaceful smile took over your face as you breathed in the clean air, calm settling throughout your body.
The thick, gnarled log beside the lake came into sight. In your childhood, you had clambered over it with your mother, imagining it was a bridge to a fantasy, faraway land. In your teenage years, and early adulthood, it had become a midnight companion. A place to sit, surrounded by nothing but nature, and be alone with your thoughts. It was a solace. Because, as quiet as your house usually was (except when your parents had friends over for poker nights and copious amounts of alcohol), it was too flawless sometimes. Too grand, too beautiful, too clean. Sometimes, you wanted to escape being the perfect daughter of perfect parents in your perfect house. Sometimes, you just wanted to be you.
And there, settling onto the log, you felt like yourself again. Peering down into the lake, you recognised yourself once more. You looked like yourself in a way you didn't always at home. The lake reflected your true self back at you.
Then, your reflection began to waver. As if something was creeping up toward you, toward the surface. Confusion bloomed. You hadn't ever seen creatures in this lake before, at least not this close to the surface.
Confusion became dread, and the air became far too still. Because you hadn't ever seen a man's reflection in the lake, either. Leaning over you.
"Looks like you came straight to us, Princess."
And the world went black.
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