(be careful listening to this song (Gloomy Sunday by Billie Holiday) if you aren't very happy and music has a strong effect on you, this song is very depressing and has been linked to a number of suicides)
Jisoo rubbed her tired and strained eyes, struggling to even function properly after several days of little sleep. She wasn't alone, in fact the entire group of girls were also dependant on extra strong coffee and energy drinks to keep themselves awake, all wearing combinations of sweat pants, t-shirts and tank tops, nobody having enough energy to dress properly. "I've triangulated the sites where the bodies were found and been staring at this map for over 24 hours and I cannot see a pattern, there isn't one" Jisoo groaned. "Come on guys, there must be something" Lisa replied trying to motivate her friends. The Thai had set them all on a large project - to help her find Jennie and Rocco's bodies so she could give them a proper burial. It was the weekend and the girls had no classes so they could dedicate their time into helping her, Lisa herself had stayed in present day Korea since Friday, not returning through the Time Door. Irene drained her coffee cup and slapped herself in the face to stay awake, "right, what if we calculate the distance from where the bodies were found from the victims' last known location and cross reference that to the last know location of all the missing people so we know what kind of radius we are working with and try and narrow it down from there". Joy wrapped her arms around Irene's neck playfully, "you are hot when you are being smart, forever putting the bae in Bae Joo-hyun". Irene stared blankly at her friend, unimpressed, "I'll be putting my fist in your face if you don't get off and help". The younger girl's eyes widened dramatically as she slowly removed her arms from around Irene's neck and backed away for her own safety, earning smirks and mockery from Yeri.
"She makes a very good point" Lisa said as she at the table picking up files. Sana nodded, "yeah Joy is right, Irene is hot when she's being smart". The group all stared at Sana, "what?..." she asked in a confused tone. "Lisa was referring to Irene's idea" Dahyun replied. "...oh" the Japanese girl responded, embarrassed. "Moron" Jeongyeon yelled while throwing a pillow at Sana's head as Nayeon shook her head and face palmed. "Guys can we focus" Rosé said in a serious tone after witnessing how frustrated Lisa was getting with distractions, this wasn't a fun group thing for the Thai, this was about finding the bodies of two people she cares deeply for, something a few members of the group just weren't getting. For most of the group this was fun and exciting some of them still not even believing Lisa really could travel through time, after all it was pretty far fetched and they were yet to see any concrete evidence so this was all a bit like role play to them. Momo huffed in both exhaustion and frustration, "as clever as Irene's idea is don't you think detectives would have already done the exact same thing hundreds of times over? Jennie died 54 years ago, they've had a really long time to investigate and they're professionals and still haven't her body". Jisoo and Chaeyoung looked at each other, both a literal worried about how Lisa was going to react to Momo's statement. The Thai sat up and faced her Japanese dance partner, "we have something those detectives didn't have. Time", the brunette took another sip of coffee to keep her awake, "I'm investigating her death before it has even happened yet from the Time Door's perspective anyway. I even know where Philip West works, I can follow him".
"The hell you can!" Jisoo blurted out in anger, "there is no way you are following him, he could kill you too Lis". Lisa shook her head and dismissed her friend's concerns, "I'll be careful, he won't see me".
Rosé sat herself down beside Lisa who had gone outside for a breather, the Australian handed her friend hot chocolate she had made for her and wrapped a blanket around the Thai, "you shouldn't stay so long out here, it's freezing". Lisa shrugged her shoulders casually, "I don't really care to be honest with you" she sighed, "you believe in god right?" she asked. Rosé tilted her head, "yeah why?" she replied, curious. Lisa stared at her cold hands, "I think I get it. I mean if there is a God up there I think I pity him more than I pity humans. I love someone and I know something horrible is going to happen to them, I have the power to stop it but I can't because it's the way things have to go", the Thai felt her best friend's arms tighten around her shoulder as tears streamed from her own eyes, "is this what it feels like to be God? Because I wouldn't wish that on anyone". The friends remained out in the cold for several hours in total silence as Rosé held Lisa close, non of the girls inside wanting to disturb them.
"Everyone settle down" the disgruntled science teacher yelled at his classroom of hyper American students, "yes the Halloween decorations are very interesting but seen as you aren't in fact 4 years old can we get on with today's class? I don't know what drugs you all take over the weekend but do try to calm down". "Miserable old turkey" Jennie grumbled under her breath as she lay her pencil case out on her desk. Lisa smirked, "am I sensing somebody isn't enthused to absorb the knowledge this morning?". Jennie yawned and frowned while giving Lisa the middle finger, "I didn't get much sleep last night". "How come?" the younger asked. Jennie yawned again, "weird dreams keep waking me up". Lisa leaned in a little closer to the black haired girl so that the teacher wouldn't hear them talking, "weird dreams? Like what?". "A dark night, there's a car, I'm running from someone and really scared and then...something hits me and I wake up" the elder replied before trying to laugh it off with a false smile but in truth this wasn't the first time she had these dreams, they felt real and disturbed her a lot more than she was willing to admit. Lisa was also secretly concerned, knowing what she knew how could she not be? -Is Jen dreaming about her own death?- the Thai fought back tears and the urge to cry.
"Manoban, glad to see you on time this morning" the teacher said in a stern tone, standing directly in front of her desk, "I need to ask you something". Lisa panicked and patted over her body to see if she had her science homework in her pockets, which she didn't for 2 reasons. 1. Her yellow polka dot dress didn't have any pockets and 2. She never did her homework, she never does her homework. "Uh, so right ok what happened is, I did my homework right? And then I was like oh I better keep this safe in my pocket of my shirt but then there was all the snow and um". Jennie giggled and shook her head at her best friend who was definitely starting to sweat despite the cold weather. The unimpressed teach held his hand up in front of Lisa's face to signal for her to stop talking, "that's not what I wanted to ask". "Oh" the brunette replied with both relief and concern with the serious look on the man's face. The teacher leaned down across Lisa's desk, resting on his forearms, "the principle received a call today from Mrs Santoro, Rocco hasn't come home in several days and non of his friends seem to know where he is. She said he brought you home the other night, she was hoping you might be able to shed some light on where Rocco might be?".
Lisa abruptly stood up out of her seat causing the chair to scrape loudly across the floor, alerting the attention of the entire class. "Rocco is missing?!" the Thai yelled in distress as mumbles and whispers swept across the classroom. "Lis are you ok?" Jennie asked softly as she gently grabbed Lisa's arm. The brunette held both hands on top of her head, her body beginning to shake, "this can't be happening".
Tears fell from Lisa's eyes as she ran out of the classroom and through the corridors, she couldn't stop them. A loud bang echoed in the empty restroom from the force of the door smashing against the wall after being kicked open by the increasingly hysterical time traveller, "he isn't supposed to go missing for several weeks, what is happening. Something has changed, he's gone already?". She paced back and forth punching cubicle doors in frustration, "I can't deal with this. Rocco is dead already, I can't cope...I can't" Lisa collapsed onto the floor in floods of tears, there was no way she could handle this situation, Rocco was gone and sooner than he was supposed to and she knew she still had go through this again with Jennie which would be even worse. - I should just run, go back to Korea and never look back, never think about this place ever again -.
Though the thought was more than a mere sentiment to Lisa she really did mean it, she knew she was the only one who could find Rocco and Jennie's bodies. She had to stay.
"Lisa!" Jennie called out as she ran over towards the Thai whom she had just spotted walking across the campus. The Korean's outfit was far more practical for this cold weather than Lisa's, she wore a tight blue chequered sweat shirt on top of a black buttoned shirt, a grey skirt rested on top of thick black tights and fashionable white boots, a colour combo only a 60s rocker like Jennie could get away with. "Lisa are you ok?" the black haired beauty said breathlessly as she caught up with the younger girl. Lisa inhaled deeply, "Yeah, I'm sorry about running out of class like that, I'm just...worried about Rocco" she uttered the last part with guilt in her voice and in her mind, she had to pretend like she didn't know what had happened to him which made her feel awful.
The friends sat at their usual table in the school canteen, it wasn't the 'popular' table but not exactly the outcast table either, more like the place the unnoticed or uninteresting sat though Lisa was far from either of those in the eyes of most students. Pizza and pie was served for lunch, nothing exciting but the students didn't complain. Jennie's eyes widened when Elizabeth Dustin and her popular friends sat down at the table instead of their normal place. "Hey Lisa" Elizabeth's minion cheerleaders said cheerfully in unison, pep squad being peppy. Lisa was both puzzled and really not in the mood for 60s high school nonsense, "is there anything I can help you with?" she replied in an unenthused and sad tone. "Yes, your infectious happy sunshine personality" Elizabeth joked, "the football game is going ahead tomorrow night despite the snow so we have the gymnasium for cheer practice". The Thai nodded silently, she couldn't care less about the game or anything else at this point, Rocco was gone and something seriously bad had gone wrong for him to be missing this early, she was convinced this was her fault somehow. "Hey come on cheer up, pun intended" Johnny, Jennie's secret boyfriend quipped as he placed a stick of gum in the Thai's hand in a feeble attempt at improving her mood. One of Johnny's teammates and friends playfully pushed him, "careful Johnny, Lisa is taken, Rocco's greaser crew will beat the crap out of ya". "Yeah right as if they even could" the quarterback replied while flexing his muscles jokingly. It was apparent that Lisa was the only other person at the table who knew of Jennie and Johnny's relationship.
Elizabeth grinned and tapped Lisa's shoulder, "see you can stop being so miserable now, your man is here" she said as she pointed behind the Thai. The brunette turned around to see Rocco walking through the canteen doors, a little bruised but alive. "ROCCO!" she yelled while running towards him as fast as she could and wrapping her arms around his neck, "my God I was so...where have you been?! I thought something bad had happened". Rocco hugged the teary eyed Thai, "I'm real sorry Lis, I raced against some guys from the next town over, they got pissed when I beat them so we got in a fight, asshole cops turned up and locked me up in a cell for a couple of nights, they wouldn't let call nobody. I didn't mean to scare you". Lisa just cried, unable to speak under all the mental and emotional stress. Tears were all she had left.
"Wow Lisa must really be in love with Santoro" Johnny mumbled through his pizza slice as he ate. Jennie watched on with jealousy ripping through her body and settling in her stomach like bile, "yeah...I guess she does" she whispered under her breath unaware of the real reason behind the Thai's emotional display.
"She won't like you for this" a male voice said over radio communication that was placed in the passenger seat at the front of a car. "She won't find out" Mr Kim replied sitting in the drivers seat, "besides I am doing this to keep Jennie safe, I don't care if she likes me or not I am her father not her friend". "Yeah, her friend is the person you are spying on. I'm telling ya pal, you are going to have a monumental teen tantrum on you hands" the radio voice responded. Mr Kim sighed, "Jennie will understand when she has children of her own. This Lisa girl, if that is even her real name, is too specious to be who she claims to be. No ID, no immigrant documentation, no residence status, nothing. She could be anyone". The static from the radio crackled, "ok true it is obvious this girl isn't who she says she is but that could be for a hundred different reasons, she's probably just a run away, skipped town and left her parents you know what these hippies are like". Jennie's father looked through a pair of binoculars that was aimed at the school, "there are girls going missing in this town Adam, I am not going to allow my daughter to become another poster". "Oh come on, you think this Lisa is involved?" Adam, the radio voice scoffed, "she's just a kid and a girl". Mr Kim shook his head not that Adam could see him, "when I was in Japan risking my ass for you yanks I met a British spy that had been captured by the Japanese military she was a young woman couldn't of been any older than 25, she managed to get secrets on Japanese strategy plans but even after hours of torture she never told her interrogators anything. She was one of the toughest and most fearless people I have ever met. Don't underestimate women Adam". A laugh erupted over the radio, "well I guess we know who wears the pants in your marriage pal". "I am still the head of my house thank you very much, I'm in charge and my wife respects my authority" Mr Kim responded. "So your wife will approve of you spying on your kid's friends when I discuss it with her when you both come round to mine for dinner this week?" Adam said. Jennie's dad gasped and dropped his binoculars in a panic, "WAIT DON'T TELL HER SHE'LL KILL ME!!".
Gym class was even worse for the students that hated it than it normally was, both genders were mixed together along with the football team and cheerlead squad in the gymnasium, much to the anger of head cheerleader Elizabeth Dustin and her gang of clones who had been told they had the gymnasium to themselves.
"We cannot practice properly with all these distractions, this is discrimination against the cheerlead squad!" Elizabeth yelled at the gym teacher as they both walked past a miserable and irritable Jennie Kim who was sitting on the floor generally hating life. The black haired Korean was sad for a number of reasons, jealousy of Rocco, her love for Lisa, her strong hatred for gym class that was now amplified by a 100 now that the boys were there too being jerks like usual. All of these reasons for her low mood were trivial and childish considering what would be happening to her in a couple of months time, not that she knew of course.
"Elizabeth go and join your little girl club and shake your pompoms or whatever the hell it is you do because I have a class to teach you pain in the ass" the balding, over weight, middle aged gym teacher crassly snapped at the head cheerleader. Elizabeth's mouth hung open as she had an over dramatic temper tantrum, "this is bullsh-" the gym teacher blew his whistle to alert the rest of the class, blocking out the rest of Elizabeth's curse word. "Alright class we are playing dodgeball" he called out, "girls vs boys". The girls all gasped and protested, "you can't do that, they are bigger than us". One of the boys laughed and taunted the girls, "what's the matter ladies, scared?" he scoffed with an arrogant laugh. Jeannie Preston grunted in frustration and hurled a dodge ball off the boy's head. "Cortez you're the first out, sit on the side lines until the next game" the gym teacher called out, much to the amusement of both the girls and boys team as the boy swore under his breath. Jennie looked over at the cheerleaders and couldn't help but smile at the sight of Lisa, she was very talented and coordinated and looked hot in her cheerleading outfit. The Korean had been focussing so much on Lisa that she hadn't noticed she was the only girl left against a team full of boys, "oh crap" she mumbled. One of the jocks had the ball, a real asshole who was openly racist and regularly picked on non-white students, he was very tall and muscular and could easily hurt Jennie if he wanted to. "Do you think I could knock her out if I throw this hard enough?" he laughed as he raised his arm right back, ready to launch the ball violently at Jennie. The small girl whimpered, she had no protection what so ever, she looked over pleadingly at her boyfriend Johnny to help her but he just looked away for being both too scared to risk exposing his relationship with her and ashamed of himself for letting this happen. The gym teacher couldn't see what was happening as he was fending off another one of Elizabeth's tantrums.
"Back off buttmunch" Rocco said as he grabbed the jock's arm, pulling it down. The surprised jock frowned at him, "the fuck did you just say to me greaseball?" he said as he squared up to Rocco, getting right up in the other boy's face. Rocco ran his hand through his own hair casually and then pushed the jock backwards in his chest, "I said back off...buttmunch". The jock smiled as rubbed his chin lightly before throwing a punch that landed Rocco in the jaw, the greaser instantly responding with a punch in the jock's eye. Jennie and the other girls all ran to the sides of the gymnasium as a huge fight broke out between the greasers and the jocks. The black haired girl stormed off outside the gym when she saw Johnny happily fighting with greasers but unwilling to defend her.
Lisa came running out of the gym after Jennie, "hey Jen are you ok?" she called. The older girl felt her heart skip a beat at the sound of the Thai's voice.
Lisa approached the black haired girl was leaning up against a wall shivering in just a grey t-shirt with the school logo on and white shorts, "are you alright what happened?". "Your boyfriend punched one of the football team meatheads and then all hell broke loose" the elder replied. The brunette leaned on the wall right next to Jennie, "I'm sorry about that, I didn't see what was going on". Jennie shook her head and smiled, "Rocco was protecting me from one of Johnny's friends, he's a nice guy". The Thai smiled with sadness, her really was a nice guy and didn't deserve what was going to happen to him, "but wait" she said suddenly, "but Johnny was trying to pin Rocco to the floor when I ran past?". Jennie nodded and sighed, "yep". "I'm sorry" Lisa replied softly as she wrapped her arms around Jennie's waist to comfort her. The Korean's arms locked around the Thai's neck almost instantly, like it was a natural instinct as she rested her head against the younger's shoulder. Lisa gulped as the sensation of Jennie's warm body pressed against her and her scent brought back memories of the other night in Jennie's bed, "wow it's hot in here right?" she said awkwardly as she pulled away. Jennie raised an eyebrow suspiciously, "Lisa there's like 13 inches of snow outside it is absolutely freezing cold, even the snowmen are complaining". The slender brunette exhaled strongly, puffing her cheeks out in the process, trying to disguise her blushes.
Jeannie Preston nonchalantly walked over to Mr Kim's car after leaving the gymnasium, she leaned against it casually looking outwards towards the school and knocked on the window discretely. "You aren't an undercover detective in a crappy comic, kid" Mr Kim said as he rolled down his window to talk to her. Jeannie huffed, "I am TRYING to be inconspicuous". Jennie's father rolled his eyes, "you are standing out in the snow wearing shorts and a t-shirt, safe to say you stick out like a sore thumb, now what have you got for me". Jeannie held her palm out and raised her eyebrows while clearing her throat. The older man sighed and got out his wallet, placing $20 in the girl's hand. Jeannie the school gossip smiled brightly, "right ok I have major news, one of the jock assholes was totally going to throw a dodge ball at Jennie right but then Lisa's boyfriend was all like 'step down dude' and like defended her and stuff so like the jocks were all 'we are gonna kill you grease monkeys' and they all started fighting or whatever, so lame" she jabbered. Mr Kim groaned, "Miss Preston I am not paying you for absurd prattle, I want you to tell me what's going on with Jennie and Lisa". "Oh" Jeannie replied, "well Lisa made cheerlead squad, has started going steady with Rocco Santoro and watches him race sometimes and Jennie nearly had a mental breakdown during her chemistry exam when the chemicals exploded". "That's it?" he asked. Jeannie nodded and tucked her money into the pocket of her shorts and happily pranced back into school.
The concerned father and former spy rested his head back against his seat and sighed deeply while listening to Little Richard on the car radio. "Adam, you there?" he asked as he spoke through the handset of the radio on his front seat. "Affirmative" Adam said in response with some kind of baked food in his mouth. Mr Kim looked at the school with the radio handset resting against his chin, "I've just spoken to one of the students at the school, the one I'm paying for information. There's nothing interesting, just Lisa's boyfriends". Adam laughed, "what do you expect? This kid just thinks you're an over protective dad, she doesn't know you think Lisa is kidnapping girls or whatever it is you think is going on. I am telling you she is just some rebellious hippy that ran away from her conservative, controlling parents and gave herself an English name so she can live life how she wants to, just be glad she's keeping Jennie in school". Jennie's father put the key into the ignition of his car and fastened his seatbelt, "I think you're probably right, I'm just being paranoid". As Mr Kim was about to let go of his suspicion of Lisa and drive back to work where he is supposed to be at this time he spotted something a man like him couldn't ignore. "Who the hell is that?" he mumbled to himself in Korean as he saw a strange man too old to be a high school student lurking around outside the sports building. "Oh I don't think you work here do you big guy?" the former spy said out loud as he zoomed in on the lurking stranger with his binoculars. The strange man in question was Philip West.
Lisa neatened her bangs with a comb that she had specifically for bangs and nothing else which Jennie found impossibly cute, "are you coming to watch me make my fabulous cheerleading debut tomorrow night?" she joked. Jennie laughed and nodded, "yeah, it will be nice to actually get a hug from the big star or are you going to pretend you don't know me too?". Lisa rested her arm across the older girl's shoulders, "you know I'd never do that to you Jen, I'm proud to be your friend, you're amazing and-" Lisa couldn't finish that sentence, Jennie grabbed both of the Thai's cheeks with her hands and began to kiss the younger girl hungrily, Lisa didn't hesitate to kiss back, practically melting against the Korean's body as her hands settled on Jennie's hips grabbing lightly but firmly. Kissing Jennie felt like the most natural thing in the world to Lisa even though all things considered, it was anything but.
The girls pulled away from each other quickly when they heard the sound of students pouring out of the gymnasium, the kiss was only brief but both girls' hearts were beating insanely fast. Jennie wiped her bottom lip with her thumb before folding her arms and leaning back against the wall casually as though nothing happened. Lisa however was not very good at acting natural when her insides were erupting like a volcano and instead decided to swing her arms in front of her, clapping them together and jigging up and down as though there was music playing which there wasn't. "You ok Lis?" Rocco asked sweetly with even more injuries than he had the last time he spoke to the Thai. The brunette squeaked in surprise and jumped in the air a little when she felt her boyfriend's hand on the small of her back, "I AM GOOD!" she yelled much louder than intended, "good good goooood". Rocco stared blankly at her for a while, "are you sure you're alright? You seem...hyper". "Just excited for...Halloween! YAY" she responded with a huge grin. Jennie looked in the opposite direction while pulling the collar of her t-shirt up over her mouth as she tried not to laugh. Rocco laughed awkwardly, he was a little worried but decided just to leave her alone and proceeded out of the building.
"Excited for Halloween?" Jennie mocked with a light laugh. Lisa huffed and pouted, "you can just shut the effing eff right up ok?". Jennie giggled before feeling a pang of guilt as she watched the door close behind Rocco in the distance, "great...the guy saves me from getting hurt so I go and kiss his girlfriend". The Thai sighed, "I'm worse, I should go and thank for helping you" she turned to look into Jennie's eyes, "we'll talk ok just...we'll talk". Jennie nodded and forced another fake smile, something she was getting good at. -It's a good job nobody saw us- Lisa thought to herself as she ran after Rocco. However Lisa was incorrect, somebody did see her kissing Jennie. Mr Kim.
"Rocco! Wait!" she yelled while running through the snow in her cheerleading outfit. Rocco instantly took off his black leather jacket and wrapped it over his girlfriend's shoulders, "hey you shouldn't be out here without warm clothes, you'll get sick". Lisa looked up at her awfully sweet boyfriend who was now stood in just a white t-shit with his cigarette packet tucked into the sleeves and his dark blue jeans with oil stains on from the cars he works on, the cuts and bruises over his face just made the Thai's heart hurt. She held him tightly which concerned the boy, not that he was complaining about the affection he was receiving but there was something definitely up with Lisa which he didn't like. "Thank you for protecting Jennie and thank you for always caring about me and just thank you for being such a great guy" she said sincerely as she fought back tears again. The dark haired boy blushed and rubbed Lisa's back, "hey don't sweat it ok? I wasn't going to let those asswipes hurt my girl's friend". The teary eyed Thai kissed Rocco softly on the cheek, "I'll see you tomorrow, please stay safe tonight". Rocco held out his pinky finger and indicated for Lisa to do the same, which she did, he locked his pinky with hers and smiled, "I promise I'll be safe from now on. I'm not going anywhere". For the hundredth time this week, Lisa's heart shattered.
Lisa wrapped Rocco's jacket tightly around her after leaving the locker rooms and making her way across the snowy high school campus, her dress not providing her any more warmth than the cheerleading outfit had. She needed to get back to modern day Korea and talk to Rosé about everything that happened today and how to proceed with Jennie now that the two girls had kissed again, both times initiated by Jennie herself. The tornado of thought ripping through Lisa's mind clouded both her judgement and her perception causing her to get sloppy, something she had been careful not to do since she released she'd forgotten her cell phone in the locker and accidently bumped into Rosé. Something Lisa always did when entering the Time Door was to ensure nobody was watching, but not today, today the beautiful yet chaotic Thai was too occupied on everything that she'd gone through today.
Lisa opened the Time Door and walked through not realising there was someone right behind her, someone who was following her, someone that grabbed her arm and called her name.
"Lisa"
"Oh my God" she gasped as she burst through the time portal into 2018 Seoul, - someone just grabbed me, they saw me...oh my god -. Lisa began to panic extensively, her breathing completely out of control, "fuck fuck fuck" she choked as she paced up and down in front of the Time Door. Although one of her questions had been answered, she had always wondered if she was able to pull anyone through the door with her but evidently not as the hand that gripped her forearm disappeared as soon as she walked through. She didn't know what to do she had been caught in a situation that could have catastrophic consequences for the entire world, she should go back, she should go back and talk to the person and try to convince them that they hadn't seen what they had just seen, that it was all a trick, a prank. That's what she should do but she didn't...she ran.
Mr Kim fall backwards onto the floor panting heavily in fear and panic as his eyes darted from his hand that had just been gripping Lisa's arm and the door she literally disappeared through in front of his eyes.
"What the hell" he gasped in horror, "what the hell is going on".