Chapter Text
Kyungwon wakes up to her name being yelled up the stairs. She rolls out of bed and trudges her way down, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
It’s been a week since they found out about Minkyung. Yebin spent an entire day pestering her with questions and Nayoung spent a couple days away from them. She needed time to process everything that had happened. It took two days for them to find a haunted cottage, contact a spirit that ended up being Minkyung’s dead brother, learn about how Minkyung is actually dead, and find out that there’s an evil spirit in the forest the literally surrounded their city that kills people who go into it. There was a lot to think about and Kyungwon couldn’t blame her.
“It’s your friend Yebin on the phone,” her mom says when she walks into the living room.
Kyungwon nods tiredly and takes the phone to press it to her ear. “Yes?”
“Do you know what time it is? Get your ass over to Grand right now.” Yebin’s voice is just as demanding over the line as it is in real life.
“What are you talking about?” Kyungwon sighs. “Yebin, it’s nine in the morning, I haven’t even had breakfast yet.”
“We both know you never eat breakfast. Listen, this is actually really serious. Grab Slim Jim and your bike and come to the alley behind Brewport.”
The line goes dead and Kyungwon puts the phone back into the receiver.
“Mom.” No response. “Mom!”
“What?” her mom yells back.
“I’m going to hang out with Yebin!”
Her mom pokes her head into the living room from where she’s cleaning bean sprouts in the kitchen. “Don’t you want to change out of your pajamas first?”
“I never changed into them in the first place,” Kyungwon says. “See you later, love you.”
“Love you.”
Kyungwon gets her bike from the side of the house and then goes to knock on Nayoung’s door. It’s opened by someone that is not Nayoung. Kyungwon stares at the man blankly. His look is haphazard at the best, his shirt littered with stains and a nearly empty bottle of beer in his hand.
“Who are you?” she asks.
The man looks down at her groggily. “Who are you?”
“I asked first,” Kyungwon says.
“I asked second -”
Nayoung pushes the man to the side and back into the house before turning to Kyungwon and leaning against the door casually. “What’s up?”
“Who was that?” Kyungwon asks, leaning to peer into the house.
“My uncle,” Nayoung answers.
Kyungwon nods. “Looks nothing like you.”
“I know. I’m way too pretty to be related to him,” Nayoung replies.
“That was so greasy, you’re spending too much time with Yebin,” Kyungwon snickers. “Which, by the way, she said to meet her in town. You got a bike?”
“Yeah. Your mom gave yours back?” Nayoung puts on her shoes and opens the garage.
“Nah, I just took it,” Kyungwon says.
Nayoung gets her bike and closes the garage. “Wow, look at you, a real delinquent. Did Yebin say what was going on?”
“No. She just said it was serious and called you Slim Jim,” Kyungwon says, shrugging.
Nayoung rolls her eyes. “Minkyung is taller than me. She never makes fun of her for being tall.”
“Yeah, but she’s in love with Minkyung,” Kyungwon says. “Also, Minkyung is dead.”
Nayoung looks at her. “Shut up.”
This is nice, Kyungwon thinks. The past week has only been a week but it feels like it’s been years. She had years to build up her friendships with the other girls, but only two days with Nayoung. So far, all she’s got from Nayoung is that she’s strong, she’ll protect them with her life, she’s beautiful, and she takes no shits from anyone, especially Yebin. It’s quality and good enough for her to become a staple part of the group but it’s not a lot.
She knows Nayoung is also into volleyball. Kyungwon had started playing volleyball when she was in middle school because she was already pretty tall. She guesses that that’s also why Nayoung plays. They’re both tall. Maybe Minkyung played volleyball too.
Nayoung is good for them. Without her, there really isn’t a firm voice of reason. Yewon could be but she gives more friendly suggestions than orders. Nayoung is harder about it. Kyungwon doesn’t know where they’d be if she hadn’t come along with them that first night.
“Look who it is! The Jolly Green Giant and Horse Teeth!” Yebin exclaims when they come into view. “Our friendly neighborhood superheroes, just in time!”
“Shove a sock in it, fart face,” Kyungwon says and Yewon laughs. “What’s going on?”
Minkyung hands a paper to Kyungwon. It’s wrinkly, like it was crumpled up and then flattened back out, and the top corners are frayed. It’s a missing persons poster that was ripped off a wooden telephone pole.
The picture is of a girl with long brown hair, sharp cheekbones, and a beautiful smile. Eunwoo Jung is written in bold capital letters underneath. Age: 16. Height: 5’6”. Weight: 105 lbs. Kyungwon feels like she’s going to be sick.
“What the hell is this?” Nayoung asks. Kyungwon gives her the poster but doesn’t say anything. Nayoung barely reads it before shoving it back into Minkyung’s hands. “Is this some sort of joke? Is she doing this to fuck with us again?”
“I don’t think she is,” Yewon says. She points across the street to the library park where a group of people are gathered. “Look at her parents. It looks like Vernon and Seungcheol are missing too.”
“This can’t be right,” Nayoung argues. “Why do they think they’re missing? It’s summer they could be just out somewhere living it up.”
Yewon shakes her head. “Eunwoo told her friends that they’d be at the drop off right when they finished pranking us. They never showed up, never went home. No one knows where they went, no one’s been able to contact them.”
“Fuck,” Kyungwon mutters, rubbing her face.
“Fuck,” Nayoung repeats.
“Guys, we need to look for them,” Yebin says. Her tone is confident but the way she’s looking at them is pleading. “That’s a search party, right? We have to help.”
“They’re dead,” Minkyung speaks for the first time. She’s calm and it’s terrifying. “They’re not going to find anything but dead bodies, drained of life.”
“Maybe they’re like you,” Yebin keeps trying. “Maybe they became ghosts and we can still save them. We have to at least try.”
“Why do you care so much?” Kyungwon asks, narrowing her eyes. “All Eunwoo ever did was make your life miserable.”
“That doesn’t mean she deserved to be killed and eaten by a mist monster!” Yebin shouts. She’s almost crying at this point and it breaks Kyungwon’s heart. Yebin is the loudmouth, the support, the lifeline, the constant smile that never gets tired. Yebin is falling apart. “We’re the reason they were in the forest in the first place! It’s our fault!”
“They’re dead,” Minkyung says again, louder this time. “We can’t help them.”
“Not with that fucking attitude.” Yebin stuffs Eunwoo’s missing person poster into her backpack. “You got out. There’s a chance that they did too. You pulled us on a wild goose chase for your brother. Don’t act like this is any different.”
Minkyung tries to grab her arm, but Yebin pushes her away and runs across the street to join the group of people gathered at the park.
“You guys are fucking idiots,” Nayoung states. “I can’t believe you thought we could defeat a fucking mist monster.”
She leaves them to follow Yebin.
Kyungwon looks at Yewon and then Minkyung. Minkyung looks wrecked. They already know that she’s dead, but she still somehow looks worse. She hasn’t been herself recently and that’s entirely understandable. Kyungwon’s sure she would be off her game if she was dead.
“What if she’s right?” Yewon says, putting a hand on Minkyung’s shoulder. “What if we can save them?”
Minkyung lets out a deep breath and leans into Yewon’s touch. “Those are just ‘what if’s. If the mist got them, there’s nothing we can do.”
“What makes you so special?” Kyungwon asks. Minkyung looks up at her, confused. “You got out. Sure, you died, but you’re still here. Mingyu was taken by the mist monster. Why weren’t you?”
Minkyung takes a moment. “Because he saved me.”
“Because Mingyu was there for you,” Kyungwon says. “There were three of them. Maybe one of them sacrificed themselves like Mingyu did. Maybe the others are still here, just like you. You can’t really think that you’re the only one who’s been able to escape the mist monster.”
“And maybe by helping them, we would also be helping Mingyu,” Yewon suggests. “Maybe they’re able to open some doors on how we can defeat it.”
Minkyung laughs weakly. “You guys want to add a couple more ‘maybe’s in there?”
They join the others at the library park and Nayoung throws an arm around Yewon’s shoulders.
“Okay, thank god you guys are here because I’m going to be honest, I really wasn’t planning on doing anything without you,” Yebin says, clapping Minkyung on the back.
Minkyung snorts. “Fucking pussy.”
“You’re right! You’re right,” Yebin agrees. “You’re right.”
“Are we actually going to join this search party?” Yewon asks.
“I think we should look for them,” Minkyung says. “But not with the search party and not without a plan.”
“And weapons,” Yebin adds.
Kyungwon squints at her. “Why the fuck would we bring weapons?”
“The fucking mist monster!” Yebin replies. “We need to be prepared.”
“Wait,” Nayoung says, holding a hand up. “This may be a leap because Minkyung’s experience is the only knowledge we have to go off on but it seems like we can interact with it if we’re already dead.”
Yebin’s eyes widen. “Oh, fuck. What if you’re right? We gotta die to be able to see it?”
“Minkyung is already dead,” Yewon supplies. She looks at her. “You have to be our medium if that’s the case.”
“Yeah. Sure,” Minkyung says, shrugging.
Kyungwon sputters. “Are you kidding - that was the most noncommittal ‘sure’ I have ever heard.”
“What do you want from me? You want me to give you a little cheer, cross my heart and hope to die? I’m already dead, Kyungwon.”
Yewon laughs and Kyungwon groans, rolling her eyes. “Shut up.”
“What about fire? What if we just burned the fucker?” Yebin suggests. They’re walked through the forest, retracing the steps that they took that night. “Or, like, silver. That kills werewolves. I have a silver bullet souvenir that I got from Knott’s Berry Farm before I moved here. Anyone got a gun?”
“I have a slingshot,” Kyungwon says.
“You’re going to slingshot a silver bullet into fog?” Nayoung asks flatly. “Exactly what is that supposed to achieve?”
“It’s going to kill the fucking mist monster,” Yebin replies, frowning. “Bitch.”
Minkyung kicks at a pile of leaves. “I mean, it’s worth trying.”
“And what if it doesn’t work?” Yewon asks. “We’re going to ask for it to wait a while so we can come up with another plan to kill it?”
“Nah, we just whack it to death with this trusty metal bat that I brought,” Yebin says, brandishing it like a sword. “I named it Rena.”
“Why?” Kyungwon asks, not unkindly. She’s genuinely curious.
Yebin shrugs. “I don’t know. It just sounded pretty.”
“Sounds like Xena,” Yewon remarks. “Like the warrior princess.”
“Aw, heck yeah,” Yebin says, grinning. “I’m a fucking warrior princess.”
“You’re fucking pain in my ass,” Nayoung says.
Yebin is about to respond but there’s loud rustling behind them and Yewon screams when a hand grabs her shoulder. Yebin acts on impulse and smashes the person in the face with her bat.
Nayoung yanks her back. “Yebin!”
“What the fuck?” Kyungwon crouches down. “Eunwoo?”
“Oh, shit,” Yebin says. She winces and leans forward. “Sorry.”
Eunwoo presses the heel of her hand against her head. “Yeah.”
“What are you doing here?” Nayoung asks. “The whole town thinks you’re missing, you have to get back to your parents.”
“I can’t,” Eunwoo says. Her snarky disposition from last week has left completely. She isn’t here to bully them, she’s not trying to play a prank or a joke. She’s eerily calm despite having been hit in the face by a bat. She seems almost sad.
“Look at this shit!” Yebin pulls the missing person poster out of her backpack and shakes it in Eunwoo’s face. “Why the hell can’t you go back into town?”
Eunwoo looks at Yebin. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Nayoung laughs bitterly. “Oh, I think we would.”
“You don’t have to sound so fucking condescending,” Kyungwon says quietly. “She’s probably dead.”
“She called Yewon a two-dollar whore, Kyungwon, I don’t really care if she’s dead,” Nayoung replies.
Minkyung gives them a look and moves to crouch beside Yebin. “Why can’t you go back?”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” Eunwoo says. It’s obvious that she’s dodging the question. “I hate you. You hate me. Why are you trying to help?”
Yebin grins. “Leverage. You’re not allowed to talk shit about me anymore.”
Kyungwon kicks Yebin lightly. “Guys, she’s fucking dead, can you chill?”
“What?” Eunwoo is staring at Kyungwon with wide eyes. “What did you say?”
“Good going,” Yewon mutters and Kyungwon rolls her eyes. “Oh, come on. Don’t do that.”
“How did you know I’m dead?” Eunwoo asks, still watching Kyungwon with bewilderment. “I never said -”
“You knew?” Minkyung interrupts. Eunwoo nods. “How did you know?”
“I think I would know if I died,” Eunwoo says, a hint of annoyance in her tone. “What do you guys even know about this?”
“We can talk about that later,” Minkyung says. Loud voices come up from over the hill and she pulls Eunwoo to her feet. “They can’t see you. Come on.”
“I can’t walk,” Eunwoo says. Her voice is tight and high pitched. “My leg.”
They look down and Kyungwon almost has to turn around and vomit. Eunwoo’s pants are ripped at the knee and her left leg is covered in blood. A bone is breaking through the skin, stained red. Fleshy meat is surrounding it and it’s pink and squishy. Yewon hides her face in Kyungwon’s neck and Kyungwon rubs her arm.
“That’s so nasty,” Nayoung remarks. “Holy shit.”
“How’d you get to us if you can’t walk?” Yebin asks.
“I fucking crawled,” Eunwoo replies.
Yewon grimaces. “Gross.”
Minkyung drags Eunwoo down the familiar route through the trees and the other girls are close behind. Their procession isn’t very quiet but the search party is making enough noise on their own. They can’t hear a thing. Nayoung is the last one to slide into the cottage before pulling the door closed.
“What is this place?” Eunwoo asks.
Kyungwon pushes the bloody clothing around with her foot. “Our little hangout spot where we contact demons.”
Eunwoo seems like she isn’t sure what to say. “Um. Who’s clothes are those?”
“Yeah, we’re not sure,” Yebin says, shrugging. “They’ve always been here. I think the demon just put them there to scare us, there’s no real meaning behind it.”
“It’s not a demon, you guys, it was Mingyu that we were talking to,” Yewon corrects them.
Eunwoo only looks more confused. “Who’s Mingyu?”
“Minkyung’s dead brother,” Yebin answers.
“You’re joking,” Eunwoo says.
“You’re dead,” Yebin retorts.
“Guys, can you stop being idiots for one second so we can figure out what’s going on?” Nayoung snaps. Eunwoo and Yebin quiet down. “Look, Eunwoo, we think there’s an evil spirit in this forest that’s killing people. It killed Minkyung and her brother and now it’s probably killed you, Vernon, and Seungcheol.”
“You know about the monster?” Eunwoo asks in a small voice. She looks at Minkyung. “What is it? Why is it here?”
“Remember Ashley Braddock in second grade?” Yewon asks. Eunwoo nods. “She wrote her story about a woman who lived in the forest and went crazy and became a monster that kills people that come into the forest.”
“She went missing,” Eunwoo says. “It was the monster that took her, wasn’t it?”
“Must have been,” Kyungwon says.
Yewon grabs Kyungwon’s hand and tugs her away. “What are we supposed to do with her?” she asks quietly. “If they find her body, they’ll know she’s dead. We can’t let her go back because she’s like Minkyung now, she’s never going to age.”
“We’ll just keep her hidden, I guess,” Kyungwon answers. “There’s not much else we can do. We’ll play it by ear until we vanquish this damn demon.”
They turn back to the others and see that Eunwoo is showing them the details of her broken leg.
“If you’re dead, how come you get hurt like that?” Yebin asks. She looks at Minkyung. “I’ve given you so many bandaids.”
“I don’t know, I didn’t get an orientation when I entered the afterlife,” Minkyung scoffs. “Eunwoo, tell us what happened while Yebin fixes that up.”
Yebin rolls her eyes. “Great. Thanks for volunteering me. Why do I have to do it?”
“You’re the one who knows what to do,” Minkyung says. “You have the first aid kit.”
Yebin grumbles under her breath about how she hates Minkyung and kneels down beside Eunwoo, opening her backpack.
“We were leaving you guys,” Eunwoo tells them. “Sorry about that by the way. It was really just meant to be a joke. I didn’t know you guys were actually fucking with ghosts and now that you’re helping me, I feel really bad. Anyways, we couldn’t find our way out, which was wild because we all know this forest as well as our own homes. As we kept walking, it just kept getting foggier and foggier. I mean, I don’t know, the next thing I knew, Vernon was just screaming, like he was getting murdered and when I turned to look at him, there were bees, just covering his face, his hands, his whole body. I couldn’t - I couldn’t do anything, I wanted to help him but I couldn’t move, and then he fell to the ground, he rolled around a bit, and then he stopped moving.”
Yebin stops dabbing the wound with her wet wipes and sits back in her heels. “He died?”
“Yeah,” Eunwoo says. “He died. And - and after that, I just didn’t think. I couldn’t think of anything to do, I just ran away. I don’t know what happened to Seungcheol, maybe if I had stayed with him it wouldn’t be like this. I should have stayed with him but I didn’t and -”
“Hey, it’s fine,” Yewon tells her, giving her a small smile. “You did what you could to save yourself. There’s no shame in that.”
“But I didn’t save myself,” Eunwoo says, her voice thick. “I died. I tripped and, well, this happened. I couldn’t move, the fog was getting thicker, I didn’t know where Seungcheol was, I was pretty sure I was going to die. I mean, I did, but that fear. I’d never felt anything like it before. I think my life literally flashed before my eyes.”
Minkyung nodded like she was finally seeing the light. “That’s rad.”
“Dude, you died too. You didn’t feel that shit?” Kyungwon asks.
“I don’t even remember how I died,” Minkyung says, shrugging. “I don’t know.”
“Okay, I’m going to snap it back into place,” Yebin says and Eunwoo tenses up. “I know, I don’t want to either, but I have to. I need something for you to bite on.”
Nayoung pulls her belt out of its loops and hands it to her. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
“I watch a lot of General Hospital ,” Yebin replies. “I can figure it out.”
“Oh my god.” Eunwoo groans and lies back, covering her face with one hand. “I’m going to die. Again.”
Yebin huffs out a breathy laugh. “Shut up and bite the belt. Minkyung, hold her shoulders for me.”
Minkyung goes to help her and Kyungwon turns away, grimacing. She was never someone who got grossed out by stuff like this but the injury is so gruesome. Yewon grabs her hand and leans into her shoulder.
There’s a sickening crack and Eunwoo lets out a muffled scream.
Nayoung faints.
“Fucking hell,” Yebin wheezes. She leans away and takes a puff off her inhaler. “We need to get a real doctor.”
“What, to look at dead people?” Minkyung scoffs. “Kyungwon, are you okay?”
Kyungwon nods. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Go through Yebin’s backpack, see if you can find something we can bind this with. Yewon, try to see what you can do with Nayoung.”
Kyungwon kneels down beside Yebin and rummages through it. “There’s nothing. Can you use my shirt?”
“You’re going to go around shirtless?” Yebin asks incredulously. “You better watch out, I’m a lesbian predator.”
“God, shut up, Yebin,” Kyungwon snaps. She pulls her shirt over her head and hands it to Minkyung. “I’m wearing a sports bra, it’s fine. It’s a look.”
Yebin and Minkyung work on wrapping Eunwoo’s leg up with the shirt and Kyungwon shoots backwards to check on Nayoung and Yewon.
“I don’t know what to do,” Yewon admits. “She’s out.”
“Okay,” Kyungwon sighs. “Uh. What if we just. Wait?”
Yewon nods. “Good idea.”
“Oh my god, my mom is going to kill me,” Yebin says. They’re trekking back up through the woods and Eunwoo is leaning heavily on Minkyung. “She’s so going to notice that I swiped all the painkillers.”
Nayoung, who had woken up well and snapped right back into character, gives a noncommittal grunt. “Why do you have so much of this medical shit?”
“I have asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, my good string bean of a friend,” Yebin replies casually. “We got a ton of anti-inflammatory stuff and shit like that. I also have immunosuppressive drugs but I don’t know if that works with nasty leg breaks.”
“Okay, back up,” Nayoung says, frowning. “You have rheumatoid arthritis?”
“Yeah, it’s why Eunwoo calls me creaky and crackly.” Yebin says it like she’s telling them she got a B on a writing assignment, like it sucks but it’s not a big deal. “My fingers are going to look so fucked up when I get older.”
Kyungwon snorts. “Your fingers already look fucked up.”
“Yeah, because they spend so much time inside your mom.”
“Shut up,” Minkyung sighs.
“You’re just upset that you’re not getting any of the goods,” Yebin says, wiggling her fingers.
Nayoung knocks the back of Yebin’s head. “You really need to stop.”
They start to hear cars as they near the street and Yewon stops them.
“What are we going to do?” she asks. “No one can see Eunwoo or this is just going to blow up right in our faces, and it’s not going to be easy to sneak around, everyone knows exactly what she looks like.”
“I have,” Yebin says, pulling her backpack around, “a face mask, like the ones doctors wear, and a baseball cap that you can wear, also sunglasses if you want, and Nayoung can give you her jacket, and you can, like, sit on my bike so you don’t have to walk.”
“You don’t think people are going to notice an unfamiliar girl wheeling around town wearing an obvious disguise?” Kyungwon retorts. “People are going to be stopping us the whole way to your house and eventually someone’s going to tell my mom and then we’re all going to be in a shit ton of trouble.”
Yebin rolls her eyes. “Why don't you come up with a better idea?”
“Oh, no, I can’t. I’m not smart,” Kyungwon says.
“Maybe if we just go really quickly, we can make it, like, we just fucking blast,” Minkyung suggests.
Eunwoo groans. “Just get me out of this forest.”
Yewon and Kyungwon go up to the railing first. It’s a slow day, it’s always a slow day, but the highway is exceptionally barren today. Kyungwon swings her legs over the rail and lands on the street before helping Yewon over too.
“There’s no way we can get back to town without someone noticing us,” she says. “A car is bound to head out at some point, they’re going to stop and ask us what’s up.”
“I can lie our way out of it. No big deal,” Yewon says. She leans back over the rail. “It’s all clear, guys, you can come up.”
Nayoung and Minkyung struggle to get Eunwoo onto the street and they work on covering her up. In the end, she just ends up wearing Nayoung’s jacket and the baseball cap. They set her on the back of Yebin’s bike, and then they’re off to get back into town. A good amount of people are milling around, some kids are dicking around outside the arcade, and others are just going around doing their everyday work. Kyungwon and the gang with their bikes are a common occurrence, have been since they were eleven, so no one really thinks to look at them twice. She feels that God must be on her side today.
Nayoung and Kyungwon live on a street in the lower part of town. Their families are pretty well off but they’re not super rich. Yebin lives in the upper part of town. Her house sits on a hill that overlooks the town in one direction and the forest in the other. Her family is super rich.
They come to a stop in front of her house and Kyungwon sees Nayoung gaping at it. It’s huge and beautiful and it’s hard to believe that the tough and rumble Yebin Kang lives there.
“Kyungwon, come inside with me,” Yebin says. “My mom likes you the best, you can back me up on whatever story we’re making up.”
Kyungwon lets her bike fall and follows Yebin into the house. Entering Yebin’s house is like entering another world. Outside, you’re in Little Grave Lights, Maine in the United States of America but as soon as you walk through the doors, it’s like you’re back in South Korea. Kyungwon doesn’t speak much Korean with her parents but she knows a good amount. Yebin’s mom only speaks Korean. She’s a small lady but she’s powerful and extremely intimidating. She’s a lot like her daughter.
“Yebin, what are you doing at home?” Mrs. Kang calls from her spot in the living room. She’s watching Korean daytime dramas. “I thought you were out with your friends.”
“Just stopping in for some snacks, Ma,” Yebin replies. They go into the kitchen and she opens up the medicine cabinet. “Don’t take any prescription drugs, just over the counter.”
Kyungwon starts grabbing all the pill bottles she can get her hands on while Yebin grabs bandages and hydrogen peroxide.
“Go get some clothes too, I’ll take care of this,” Kyungwon tells her. “And get another bag.”
Yebin nods. “And Minkyung says I should get a utility belt instead. What a fool.”
“Oh my god, are you still hung up on that?” Kyungwon groans. “You’re so dumb.”
Yebin just gives her a smile and runs up the stairs to her room. Kyungwon stuffs as much as she can into the backpack and turns around to see Mrs. Kang standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
“Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” she asks, flabbergasted.
Kyungwon glances at the door and leans back on her heels. “It’s, uh, really hot today.”
Mrs. Kang isn’t convinced. “It’s seventy-eight degrees.”
“Well, you know us Northerners,” Kyungwon tries awkwardly. “Can’t handle the heat.”
“Take this sweater,” Mrs. Kang says, shoving one into Kyungwon’s arms. “You can’t go around town like that.”
“Sure. Thanks, Auntie.”
Yebin barrels down the stairs and grabs Kyungwon’s arm, pulling her out the door. “Bye, Ma!”
They stumble back into the street where the rest of the girls are sitting on the curb and Kyungwon pulls the sweater on.
“Where can we go so my neighbors don’t see us doing this right here in front of God and gays?” Yebin asks.
Nayoung sighs. “My house. No one really cares what I do in there.”
“Take some painkillers real quick,” Yebin says. She takes some out of her backpack and gives them to Eunwoo with a bottle of water. “Just to make it a little better until we get there.”
Eunwoo does as she’s told. “Thanks.”
They start their procession back down to Kyungwon and Nayoung’s street. Yewon pulls up to ride next to Kyungwon.
“How are you?” she asks.
Kyungwon shrugs. “I don’t know. Just going through the motions,” she says. “What about you?”
“I’m scared,” Yewon says. “We’ve been spending so much time in the forest. What if the mist monster comes after us?”
“I won’t let it hurt you,” Kyungwon states. “It isn’t going to hurt any of us anymore. We’re going to fight it. We’re going to win. We have to.”
“How has nobody noticed that people go missing all the time?”
Nayoung, Yewon, and Kyungwon are back at the library, sifting through the old newspapers. Minkyung and Yebin are still back at Nayoung’s house, fixing up Eunwoo.
“No one talks about it,” Yewon says. “I guess they just don’t want to.”
“They’re all young, under the age of eighteen,” Kyungwon observes. She has a list of names written down on a memo pad. “Johnny Goode, fourteen, 1935. Ira Beach, ten, 1943. Adriennette Lynn, sixteen, 1967. Look at this. Maeve Merriwether, two and a half. 1984.”
Nayoung takes the list from her and looks it over carefully. “This is so fucked up.”
“How does a two year old get lost in the woods?” Yewon asks. “Did people not watch their kids in the eighties?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they were busy dying from tuberculosis,” Kyungwon says, shrugging.
Nayoung looks at her. “The tuberculosis outbreak was in the 1800s.”
“Then they were dying of AIDs. I don’t know.”
“Why did you think the tuberculosis outbreak was in the eighties?” Nayoung asks incredulously. “How did you get AIDs and tuberculosis mixed up?”
Kyungwon frowns at her. “They’re very similar.”
“No, Kyungwon. They are not very similar.”
“They’re the same thing!”
“They’re literally - tuberculosis is a bacterial disease in your lungs, AIDs attacks the immune system! That’s so not similar at all!”
“Wait, guys, I think I found something,” Yewon interrupts. Nayoung and Kyungwon crowd around her to see. “Look, this was only last year. Luke and Karisa Massie.”
“Oh, I remember that,” Kyungwon says. “Their mom was a mess.”
“They’re still here,” Yewon says. “Maybe they know something, maybe they can help us out.”
“You’re a genius.” Kyungwon grabs Yewon’s face and kisses her on the cheek. “Call Yebin and tell her to meet us at the Massie’s house. Nayoung and I will go ahead.”
Yewon flushes and nods. “Yeah. Okay. See you there.”
Nayoung and Kyungwon run out of the library and mount their bikes. Kyungwon leads them through the streets.
“What’s up with you and Yewon?” Nayoung asks. “Are you guys, um. Together?”
The question hits Kyungwon like a punch to the gut. “I’m sorry?”
“I mean, you guys are always holding hands and having your own little conversations,” Nayoung says. “And I noticed you guys during school. You’re always together, she’s at your house all the time. You just kissed her.”
“We’re not - we don’t - uh,” Kyungwon stammers out. How she feels about Yewon is never really something she thinks about. She knows she loves her. She knows she would do anything to protect her. Yewon is beautiful and bright and pure and Kyungwon loves how her smile can light up the whole town. She loves how soft and kind and caring she is despite what she’s gone through. And, yeah, sometimes she wants to kiss her and hug her and hold her and never have to let go. “I don’t actually know what’s up with that. Come back to me later.”
Nayoung laughs. “You don’t know? Do you like her?”
“Well, yeah,” Kyungwon says. She casts a glance at Nayoung. “You’re okay with it? You don't think it’s weird?”
“Okay, well it’s not like we’re going to have a sleepover and I’m going to braid your hair while you talk about how soft her skin is, but we’re not living in the fifties either,” Nayoung scoffs. Kyungwon is silent for a bit. “Hey, it’s okay, alright? I won’t tell anyone.”
“It’s so weird to talk about this,” Kyungwon admits. “I actually didn’t even think about it until now. I really care about her. But I know what this town is like, it’s already hard for them to accept all the Koreans that came, I don’t think they’d be too thrilled about gay Koreans.”
“Kyungwon,” Nayoung says, coming to a stop. Kyungwon stops beside her. “I’m gay. I’m here. They’re not going to hurt me and they’re definitely not going to hurt you. But, I mean, the mist monster? That thing could kill both of us.”
She starts back up riding again and Kyungwon frowns after her before following. “Wow, way to make a girl feel better.”
“No worries. I’m here all summer.”
There are only so many people in Little Grave Lights, so it’s not hard for her to remember where the Massie’s house is. It’s a couple streets away from Yebin’s house, a big house at the end of a dead end street. Kyungwon stops in front of the house and stares at it for a bit. You can tell that whoever lives in has let themselves go. The grass is yellow and overgrown, the front porch is dusty, the windows are covered in dirt. They walk up to the door and Kyungwon rings the doorbell. The door opens after a few long moments.
“Hello.” The girl is a year younger than them. Kyungwon has seen her around school. After her siblings went missing, she seemed to lose a lot of herself. She stopped hanging out with her friends and kept to herself mostly. “What is it?”
“Hey, Kyla,” Kyungwon says. “Can we talk to you?”
Kyla blinks at them tiredly. “Sure.”
She steps out into the porch and closes the door behind her.
“You know how Eunwoo, Seungcheol, and Vernon went missing?” Kyungwon’s asks.
Kyla’s demeanor changes immediately and her eyes grow hard. “Don’t act like you suddenly care about all the people going missing,” she snaps. “Do you know how long they looked for my siblings?”
Kyungwon blanches. “Uh -”
“Three weeks,” Kyla says. “No one even cares anymore, they barely cared back then. They gave up without even trying. You want to ask me if I can tell you anything about how Luke and Karisa went missing to see if it connects to them? I don’t know anything. They cut off the investigation before anyone could figure out anything about it. I’m tired of thinking about it, I’m tired of waiting for them to come home. I’m sorry but I can’t help you.”
“Kyla, this is bigger than that,” Kyungwon says. “There’s something going on that’s bigger than Luke and Karisa and Eunwoo and Vernon and Seungcheol. Something in the forest. And the people around here are brushing it under the rug, trying to act like it’s not happening, but it is. There’s something evil surrounding us.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Kyla shoots back. “I don’t have time for this.”
Just as she’s about to leave, the other girls arrive on the lawn and clamber over to the porch. Eunwoo has the baseball cap and sunglasses on and she’s got her arm thrown over Minkyung’s shoulder to support her.
Kyla looks at them and then back at Kyungwon. “What is this?”
“Hi, Kyla,” Yebin says, coming up the stairs to join them. “Ooh, look at your hair. Purple dip dye is so hot.”
“Hi, Yebin,” Kyla replies. “Thanks. Who is - who’s that?”
“What, you don’t recognize her?” Yebin pulls off Eunwoo’s sunglasses.
Kyla’s eyes widen and she backs up into the door. “What are you doing here? I thought you were missing.”
“Oh, I’m dead,” Eunwoo says flatly. “So is Minkyung. The monster that got Luke got us too.”
“A monster?” Kyla looks at them like they’re crazy. “You guys are dead? Are you serious?”
Yewon gives her Ashley Braddock’s story. “A mist monster that feeds on hopeful kids that go into the forest. It got Minkyung and Eunwoo and everyone else. It got your siblings and their souls are stuck in the forest but we can help them if we vanquish the monster.”
“I’ll help you. I’ll tell you what you need to know but that’s it. I’m not going in the forest,” Kyla says and Yebin grins. “Don’t give me that look. This isn’t fun. Karisa went missing before Luke. The police kept telling us that she ran away but Luke knew that something took her so he decided to go looking for her. When he left, he took three things: a gun, a flame torch, and, for some reason, a little mini portable fan. He never came back. That’s all I know. You have to leave now.”
The next day finds the girls stand in the hardware looking at the hunting section. Eunwoo is back at Nayoung’s house, for the sake of keeping the town as calm as it can be. Yebin picks up a swiss army knife and starts pulling out the blades. Kyungwon cautiously pokes at a bear trap. Yewon pulls Kyungwon away from the bear trap. Nayoung looks through fishing poles casually. Minkyung is at the counter trying to convince the employee to sell her a gun.
“Come on, man, you know that kids are going missing at an accelerated rate, right?” Minkyung prods. “I need to be able to protect myself.”
The employee eyes her carefully. “You’re sure your parents are okay with it?”
“Absolutely. It was their idea,” Minkyung says, the lie rolling smoothly off of her tongue.
The employee gives in and hands the shotgun over to her. Yebin walks up to the counter and puts down two flame throwers, two bear traps, lighter fluid, a leaf blower backpack, and a handful of switchblades. The employee stares at them and Yewon puts a pack of mints in the pile.
“Is that all?” he asks.
“And a couple cases of whatever bullets go with that gun,” Minkyung says.
The employee starts ringing them up and Kyungwon leans back against the counter, looking at Yewon. “Are you ready?”
Yewon laughs nervously and looks down at her feet. “Am I ever ready for anything that happens in my life?”
“Point taken,” Kyungwon says. “But, hey, we’ll totally have something to talk about at school. So what if Jenny Fielding went to New York? We fought a fucking mist monster.”
“Shut up.” Yewon finally has a genuine smile on her face. It’s small but it’s there.
Nayoung grabs the leaf blower and drops a bag into Kyungwon’s arms. “See, now I’m on your side about getting someone with a car.”
“Eunwoo has a car,” Yebin says. “But she’s dead so we’d look like assholes if we tried to use it.”
“You’re just full of great ideas, aren’t you?” Kyungwon drawls. “Tons of shit that we can totally use.”
Yebin shrugs. “I’m an innovative genius.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Minkyung groans, pushing Yebin’s shoulder.
Yewon holds the door open and they file out of the store. Yebin stuffs in as much as she can into her backpack. Nayoung pulls the leaf blower backpack on and Minkyung puts the bear traps in the basket on the front of her bike.
“So, now we know what Luke was trying to do to fight the monster,” Kyungwon says as they all mount their bikes. “But what are we supposed to do? We have to figure out how to get the monster to us so we can kill it. How do we do that?”
“We need to bait it,” Yewon suggests. “Call it to us somehow, get it to come to us. I don’t know, like, we have to go in there as hopeful souls so that she’ll come.”
“Will she come if she knows that we’re looking for her?” Nayoung asks. “I mean, what if she knows that we’re trying to kill her?”
“She’ll try to kill us either way,” Kyungwon points out.
“It’s me.” They all look at Minkyung. “Me and Eunwoo. We’re the ones that got away. We’re the bait. Don’t think about it too much.”
Yebin frowns, obviously not pleased by the idea. “Minkyung -”
“We want her to come, don’t we?” Minkyung pushes. No one responds. “She’ll come.”
“Oh my god, I am not putting on goggles and earplugs,” Nayoung says.
She’s standing on her front lawn with Yebin as they work on figuring out how to use the leaf blower.
“It says that you must always use earplugs,” Yebin says, reading from the manual. “Look, right here. Always use earplugs. And goggles to protect your eyes from debris.”
Nayoung groans in exasperation. “I’m not literally blowing leaves, I’m blowing away mist. What the fuck kind of mist debris is going to attack my eyes?”
“Nasty mist debris that has killed countless children from this town and ate Vernon alive as fucking bees,” Yebin says. “But, whatever, I mean, if you’re fine with getting that shit all up in your business, I won’t stop you.”
“Are you really trying to be passive aggressive? Do you want me to smack you? I’ll blast you with this damn leaf blower,” Nayoung shoots back. “Watch me put on goggles to protect my eyes from the debris of your fucking flesh.”
“You sure can get debris of my fucking flesh, catch my eczema flying up your nostrils.”
“What the hell - you have eczema too? How are you still alive?”
"I get my daily dose of medicine from Kyungwon's mom, if you know what I mean."
"You're so gross."
Kyungwon watches them from the porch where Minkyung sets up the flamethrowers.
“Two people are going to have flame throwers while Nayoung has the leaf blower,” Minkyung tells her. “I nominate me and you.”
“Why?” Kyungwon asks.
“I don’t trust Yebin with fire and I just don’t want to see Yewon with a weapon like this,” Minkyung replies. “She should be fine with Yebin’s bat.”
“What’s Yebin going to get?” Kyungwon asks.
Minkyung raises her eyebrows. “The shotgun.”
“Are you serious?” Kyungwon asks incredulously. “You just said you don’t trust her with a flamethrower but you’re going to give her a fucking gun?”
“Do you know how to shoot a gun?” Minkyung counters. Kyungwon shakes her head. “Yebin does. She gets the gun.”
Kyungwon watches Minkyung pour lighter fluid into the flamethrower. “So, what’s going to happen if we kill it?”
“When we kill it,” Minkyung corrects her. “I’m not sure. I’ll move on to whatever the afterlife has in store, I guess.”
“That means you’re going to leave,” Kyungwon says.
“Yeah. I’m going to leave,” Minkyung says. Kyungwon takes a deep breath and looks down at her feet. Minkyung sighs and puts the flamethrower down. “Hey, it’s going to be alright. You guys are going to do great without me.”
“I don’t -” Kyungwon shakes her head. “I know I sound like a whiny baby but I don’t want you to go.”
“I don’t belong here,” Minkyung says, putting a hand on Kyungwon’s shoulder. “I need to leave. I promise it’ll be alright.”
“You’re going to need a mask to protect you from the fire,” Yewon says, coming out of the house. Minkyung and Kyungwon instinctively scoot away from each other. Yewon looks at them curiously before continuing. “Nayoung’s uncle said I could use these bandanas and snowboarding goggles. I hope they don’t catch on fire on your face.”
Kyungwon scoffs. “Great, that gives me tons of confidence.”
“You told Nayoung’s uncle about this?” Minkyung asks, accepting the bandanas and goggles.
“Yeah.” Yewon sits down next to her on the step. “Told him we’re going monster hunting. He says good luck.”
“Any progress on getting Eunwoo to walking on her own?” Kyungwon asks.
“Yeah!” Yewon says excitedly. “I don’t know if dead people heal at an accelerated rate but she’s doing really well. Just kind of limps.”
Minkyung nods. “Good. She can use the bear traps. Just fucking chuck it at the monster thing.”
“Oh, fucking hell!”
Nayoung grabs their attention as the leaf blower turns on at full force and she stumbles backwards. A bit of dirt picks up and blows off the lawn but she keeps it pointed up. Yebin is staring at it in awe, a grin on her face.
“That’s so sick,” she says when Nayoung turns it off. “Let’s try the flamethrowers now.”
“I don’t think so,” Minkyung says. “You check out the gun, get used to it. Kyungwon, learn how to use the flamethrower. I’m going to show Eunwoo how to use a bear trap.”
She gets up and goes back into the house. Yebin looks Kyungwon with a hopeful look in her eye.
“Absolutely not,” Kyungwon says. She picks up the flamethrower and puts it on, stepping onto the lawn. “If anyone’s getting barbecued, it’s going to be you.”
Yebin sputters. “Are you really - you’re still making fun of me? We’re about to go fight a mist monster and you’re dissing me?”
“Shut up, Yebin,” Nayoung and Yewon say in unison.
Kyungwon laughs when Yebin starts pouting. “Come on, man. You get a fucking gun.”
“Yeah, but flamethrowers look so much cooler,” Yebin insists. “Just let me try?”
“No.”
Kyungwon ties the bandana around her face and pulls the goggles on. “Alright. Stand clear.”
“Yewon, grab the hose just in case something goes wrong,” Nayoung says, taking a step back.
Kyungwon gets a firm grip and turns it on. She can feel the heat reaching an uncomfortable temperature and she can see the fire bursting out in front of her. She quickly turns it off and rips the bandana off of her face.
“That was so wicked,” Yebin says.
Nayoung steps down to help Kyungwon take off the flamethrower. “You think you can use that in the forest to fight it?”
“It doesn’t matter if I can,” Kyungwon mutters. She makes some adjustments to the straps. “I have to do it anyways.”
Yebin snorts. “Okay, Ms. Portent, chill. Yewon, can you get me some bottles that I can shoot?”
“Am I the only one extremely wary about this child using a gun?” Nayoung asks as Yewon goes back into the house.
“I’m also very frightened,” Kyungwon replies.
“Shut up, I know how to use a fucking gun,” Yebin protests.
Kyungwon raises her eyebrows. “I know you know how. What I don’t know is if you’re any good at it.”
Yebin raises the gun, points it at Kyungwon, and pulls the trigger. Kyungwon shrieks and drops, covering her ears. She waits a second before looking up and seeing a bewildered Yewon, holding a beer bottle with its top blown off.
Nayoung whistles and Yebin looks at Kyungwon, smirking. “I think I can handle it.”
The sun is setting when they ride down to Lightbreak Bridge. Kyungwon has the flamethrower on her back and her flashlight and switchblade clipped onto her belt. A bandana and snowboarding goggles are hanging around her neck for her to pull up onto her face later. Minkyung has the other flamethrower, Yebin has the gun, Nayoung has the leaf blower, Eunwoo has the bear traps, and Yewon has Yebin’s bat. They all have their own flashlights and switchblades too, and Yebin has her backpack full of supplies.
They stand at the railing and Yebin shines her flashlight down the hill. “This is it, guys. Judgement day.”
“Can you please stop?” Yewon says.
“That’s not what Kyungwon’s mom was saying last -”
“We actually might die tonight, you really want your last words to be a mom joke?” Kyungwon cuts her off tiredly.
“At least I’ll die doing what I love,” Yebin muses.
Eunwoo looks at her. “And what would that be?”
“Kyungwon’s mom.”
Kyungwon knocks the back of Yebin’s head. “If the mist monster doesn’t kill you, I will.”
“Guys, I know I pulled you into this,” Minkyung says, fiddling with her flashlight. “And I know you feel obligated to help, but if you want to turn back now, you can. Except you, Eunwoo, you’re dead, you have to stay. But the rest of you don’t have to do this.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Yebin says immediately. “I’m in this with you till the end.”
Kyungwon looks at Yewon, who purses her lips and nods.
“We’re in,” Kyungwon says.
“Core four. Hell yeah,” Yebin says. She bumps fists with Yewon. “We got this.”
Minkyung blinks slowly. “Right. Core four.”
Kyungwon puts a hand on her shoulder and smiles. “Nine years, Minky. Don’t try going on ten.”
“Yeah, okay, I’m in, you can stop begging,” Nayoung says drily and Yewon laughs. “Let’s kick some mist monster ass.”
“Ooh, that really motivated me, that was cool,” Yebin remarks, grinning.
Nayoung tries not to smile. “Shut your trash mouth, Kang.”
They hop over the railing, Eunwoo supported by Minkyung and Nayoung. Kyungwon isn’t sure where they’re going but Yebin leads them through the trees with confidence.
The sun slowly sets and darkness pulls out around them. Yewon is gripping the sleeve of Kyungwon’s jacket and Nayoung and Yebin are doing their regular shit, bickering.
“How do you summon the fucking mist?” Yebin asks idly. “Just fucking - hey, evil mist monster lady! Square up, step the fuck up! Come fight me! I bet you’re too much of a pussy to square up, aren’t you?”
Nayoung slaps a hand over Yebin’s mouth. “You’re going to get us fucking killed.”
Yebin rolls her eyes and pushes Nayoung away. “She’s the one that’s going to get fucking killed. I want to speed up the process so we can go to the Grave Digger and get some fries.”
“It is not that simple, Yebin,” Yewon sighs.
“It could be,” Yebin replies. She bangs her fist on a tree. “Come on, honey, let’s see what you’re made of! Show us you’re not just a - a - fuck, what do you call a whole bunch of mist?”
“A whole bunch of mist,” Eunwoo says.
“Yeah, what she said, you whole bunch of mist!”
Just as she says that, a low fog begins to roll in. Kyungwon grabs Yewon and she can hear Yebin’s breath quicken.
Kyungwon has been trying to prepare herself for this, and she had been able to convince herself that she could do it, but now, she isn’t sure. Minkyung and Eunwoo faced it before and they died. She can’t imagine dying. She doesn’t want to. But she knows she’s not alone. She knows she has Yewon right next to her and Nayoung at her back. She has her friends to fight for, to fight with.
It takes a while for the fog to become strong. Kyungwon pulls the bandana up to cover her nose and mouth.
“Is something supposed to be happening?” Yebin’s voice comes from somewhere on her right. “Am I - am I supposed to be feeling something?”
“Shut the fuck up, Yebin,” Nayoung snaps.
“Okay, scold the blabbermouth, alright,” Yebin drawls. “At least I’m getting shit done.”
A branch snaps behind them and Kyungwon whips around, holding up the hose of her flamethrower. Yewon tightens her grip on Kyungwon’s jacket. The fog dissipates just barely so that they can see each other. Minkyung looks at Kyungwon and nods.
Be ready.
They’re all scared. Kyungwon can feel it, and maybe the mist monster can too. Maybe she’s waiting so they’ll get psyched out even more and won’t be able to fight her.
“Minkyung?”
The voice is deep and smooth and Kyungwon can see Minkyung tense up. A tall young man comes into view, tan skin and a handsome face, dark, messy hair.
“Her brother?” Yewon whispers incredulously. “Is it really him?”
“Who else would it be?” Kyungwon replies.
Yewon shrugs. “The mist monster messing with us?”
“Mingyu?” Minkyung says, her voice barely audible.
“I waited for you,” Mingyu says, stepping forward. “You said you would come back. Why didn’t you come back?”
“I wanted to.” Minkyung sounds like she’s about to cry and maybe she is. “I wanted to, I promise, but I couldn’t.”
“You forgot me,” Mingyu says. His eyes are blank and his voice is emotionless. “You got new friends and you forgot me.”
“No, Mingyu, I didn’t forget you, I would never forget you,” Minkyung insists. “I’m here now, I can help you.”
“Brownie points for showing up,” a new voice says and Vernon comes up from behind them. Kyungwon’s eyes widen and she can hear Yebin cuss under her breath. Vernon’s skin is irritated and flaking off, his voice hoarse. “But it’s too late to help us.”
“What the fuck, man, what happened to you?” Eunwoo asks.
Vernon grins and Kyungwon feels a chill go down her spine. “Chill, guys.You’re taking this way too seriously. Can’t you learn how to take a joke?”
Bees start pouring out of his mouth and they all back away, Yewon letting out a scream. Kyungwon turns on her flamethrower at the same time that Nayoung turns her leaf blower on blast and the bees eventually die off. Kyungwon closes the valve and tugs the bandana down, squinting to see that Vernon isn’t there anymore.
“Holy shit,” Yebin breathes, pressing her hand to her chest. Nayoung keeps her leaf blower on in an attempt to thin out the mist.
Minkyung suddenly screams and they turn to find that Mingyu has a grip around her neck. Yewon immediately goes to whack at him with her bat but he doesn’t budge.
“You forgot me,” Mingyu says calmly. Minkyung grabs his wrist to try and push him away and he tightens his grip. “You forgot about me but you’re going to join me now. And they are the ones that are going to forget you.”
They are the ones that are going to forget you.
The words scare Kyungwon shitless. She can’t imagine life without Minkyung. She can’t imagine ever forgetting her. She can’t bear the thought that there might be a day when she won’t think about Minkyung at all.
They are the ones that are going to forget you.
“I don’t think so,” Yebin says. Mingyu barely gets a chance to look at her when she raises her gun and shoots him in the forehead. He lets go of Minkyung and Yewon pulls her back behind Nayoung.
They watch as Mingyu staggers backwards. He blinks at them slowly and then his shape begins to change. His skin turns grimy and pale, dark black veins becoming prominent up his arms. The hoodie and jeans reduce to a tattered nightgown and his short dark hair becomes stringy blond hair hanging just past his shoulder. His face changes into the hollow and sunken in face of a woman.
“That’s fucking gross,” Yebin mutters.
Nayoung smacks her. “You need to stop.”
“You don’t belong here,” the woman says. Her voice is crackly, like it’s coming out of an old radio. She looks at Eunwoo and Minkyung. “You and you stay. The others must leave.”
Yebin grabs Minkyung’s hand. “We’re not leaving.”
The woman smiles, revealing black teeth, and it makes Kyungwon feel sick to her stomach. “Young girls and your loyalty. You know nothing. Your friendships will not last. Betrayal is inevitable in every relationship,” she says. “Leave now and I will spare you. I will only take these two.”
“You think you know everything?” Yebin shoots back, despite the other girls hissing at her to shut up. “You’re old and lonely and bitter. You don’t know shit about love or loyalty. You lost your family. So what? People lose their families all the time. Just because you lose someone doesn’t mean you stop living. You keep growing and you get stronger. You think it’s cool that you chill in this forest and murder kids? It’s not. It’s pathetic. And I’m going to fucking kill you.”
She charges forward and smashes the woman in the face with the butt of her gun, pushing her backwards, and then kicks her in the stomach. The woman takes a second to recover and then lets out an inhuman shriek. She tackles Yebin to the ground and starts clawing at her face.
The other girls watch in shock for a couple second before rushing to Yebin’s aid, attacking the woman from behind with their various weapons.
All Kyungwon can think about is Yebin. Protect Yebin, save Yebin. It’s always been like this. The other girls were always told by their parents to protect frail, sick little Yebin. Don’t run too fast, don’t climb too high, don’t go where she can’t follow.
This is different. This isn’t about Yebin tripping and scraping a knee. This time, Yebin is hurting. She’s screaming, she’s crying, Kyungwon can feel her pain deep in her gut.
Eunwoo latches one of her bear traps onto the woman’s back and yanks her off of Yebin. The woman falls onto her back and Kyungwon grimaces at the squelching sound it makes. Nayoung and Minkyung go to help Yebin, who is lying motionless in the ground. Yewon and Kyungwon follow after Eunwoo, who continues her assault on the woman. Yewon eyes are watery and she has returned to holding onto Kyungwon’s jacket sleeve.
“You okay?” Kyungwon asks breathlessly. Yewon looks at her and nods.
“I was sixteen years old!” Eunwoo spits out in between hits. “I had my whole life ahead of me! I had parents, I had a sister, I finally got a car!”
“You were a mean girl,” the woman hisses back. “You deserved to die.”
Eunwoo steps onto the woman’s chest and leans down to look her in the eye. “I was sixteen. I was young. I had time to learn. What about you? You’re a mean girl. You’ve been here for centuries. You haven’t learned shit. Yebin was right,” she snaps. She reaches back and grabs the hose of Kyungwon’s flamethrower to shove the nozzle into the woman’s mouth. “Let it rip, Kyungwon.”
Kyungwon opens the pressure valve and pulls on the trigger. The woman spasms violently on the ground but Eunwoo keeps her down.
It takes an excruciatingly long time for the woman to stop moving. Yewon lets out a loud sigh and crouches down, holding her face in her hands. Eunwoo nods at Kyungwon and she turns off the flamethrower. The woman coughs and looks up at them and Eunwoo raises her bear trap.
“Betrayal is inevitable in every relationship,” she says. “You will learn.”
And then she melts into the ground, her skin eaten up by moss and grass, eventually disappearing. The mist immediately vanishes and they can see the trees surrounding them, hear the forest nightlife, feel the moonlight.
Kyungwon takes a step back and puts a hand on Yewon’s head. “Hey, sunshine. How’re you doing?”
“I’m great,” Yewon replies softly and Kyungwon’s heart clenches. “How are you?”
“Could be better, overall very relieved,” Kyungwon says. “Glad the mist monster is dead.”
Yewon nods. “How’s Yebin?”
“Oh, fuck,” Kyungwon mutters. “Yebin.”
She pulls Yewon up and they hurry over to see how she’s doing. Minkyung and Nayoung are sitting on the ground on either side of her and she’s still unconscious.
“She got her neck,” Nayoung informs them. She has Yebin’s head turned to the side and she’s cleaning up a streak of blood running down her neck and shoulder. “Lost a lot of blood. Thank god she has a bunch of shit in her backpack.”
“How’s her breathing?” Kyungwon asks. She kneels down next to Minkyung. “Stable?”
“Yeah,” Nayoung replies. “Where’d the lady go?”
“I torched her,” Eunwoo says, joining them. “Holy shit, is she dead?”
“No,” Yewon says quietly. “Just hurt.”
Yebin suddenly breathes in sharply and tries to sit up, flailing her arms.
“Shh, calm down, baby, you’re alright,” Minkyung says quietly, holding Yebin’s shoulders. She starts wheezing and Minkyung gives her her inhaler. “You’re okay. We killed her. We killed her.”
Yebin coughs and takes a deep breath, setting her inhaler on the ground beside her. “‘Baby,’ huh? Finally ready to admit you love me?”
Minkyung laughs and brushes hair out of Yebin’s faces “I admitted that a long time ago.”
“Wow, sap alert, we sound gross,” Yebin says. She pushes herself to sit up and Nayoung holds the back of her head. “Oh, fuck, everything hurts.”
“There’s a huge, nasty cut on your neck,” Nayoung tells her. “I put hydrogen peroxide and some bandages on it but it’s bleeding through. I think you need stitches.”
Yebin groans. “Fuck. Get me out of this god damn forest.”
The journey back to the bridge is almost cathartic. Kyungwon can feel all the stress and the fear of the summer rolling off of her shoulders. She’s safe, Yewon is safe, Little Grave Lights is safe. Eunwoo’s limp is practically gone somehow and Yebin has an arm thrown around Minkyung’s neck for stability. Nayoung has taken the leaf blower backpack off and is dragging it on the ground after her.
They get to the railing and, as they’re climbing over, Eunwoo makes a sound.
“What’s wrong?” Nayoung asks, panic creeping into her tone.
“I can’t -” Eunwoo sounds close to crying. “I can’t get over. I can’t get out.”
“Let me help you,” Kyungwon says.
Eunwoo shakes her head. “No, I mean I can’t. It won’t let me.”
Kyungwon feels her heart drop. “It’s still alive?”
“No, it’s not,” Minkyung says. She pushes Yebin over the railing, handing her to Yewon. “That’s why we can’t leave. Our souls need to move on.”
“No, no, no, no, no!” Yebin rushes back to the railing and tries to climb back over. “No, we won, you can stay with us!”
“I can’t,” Minkyung says. Yewon tugs on Yebin, keeping her on their side of the railing. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”
“What do you mean? We’re dying?” Eunwoo asks, her voice shaking.
Minkyung turns to look at her. “We’re already dead. We have to leave.”
“Fuck,” Eunwoo mutters. She leans back against a tree. “I don’t want to leave.”
“It’ll be okay,” Nayoung assures her, patting her shoulder. “You’re going to a better place.”
Eunwoo huffs out a bitter laugh. “Yeah. A better place.”
“Minkyung,” Yebin says. She’s pleading at this point. “You can’t leave me.”
“We don’t belong together,” Minkyung replies. “This is your world, not mine.”
“I don’t want to live in a world without you,” Yebin insists. She’s on the verge of tears and Kyungwon’s heart breaks. “I can’t live without you.”
Minkyung reaches over the railing, takes Yebin’s face in her hands, and presses their lips together firmly. Yebin stumbles forward into the embrace, bringing her hands up to grip Minkyung’s shoulders, like she’ll die if she lets go. Nayoung coughs awkwardly and they pull away.
“You will always feel my love,” Minkyung says, resting their foreheads together.
Kyungwon scoffs, rubbing at her eyes to keep from crying. She pulls Yebin and Minkyung into a hug. “You fuckers are making me so emotional.”
Yewon jumps to join the group hug, pressing her face into Minkyung’s neck. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
Minkyung leans down to press a kiss on the top of Yewon’s head. “I’ll miss you too.”
Nayoung and Kyungwon climb over the railing after saying their final goodbyes to Minkyung and Eunwoo.
“Don’t forget us,” Eunwoo says.
Kyungwon grins at them and she mounts her bike. “We would never.”
It’s been five months.
Kyungwon walks into Little Grave High School and pushes through the crowd to get to her plocker. Everyone is wearing thick coats and boots. She makes it to her locker and opens it to put her jacket inside. There’s a picture taped to the inside of her locker door. It’s of her, Yebin Kang, Yewon Kim, and Nayoung Im. They’re sitting in the Grave Digger, a basket of fries in the middle of their table. They’re all squished into the booth but there’s a vacant seat next to Yebin, like someone was supposed to be sitting there.
She pulls out her binder for AP U.S. History and her precalculus notebook and shoves them into her backpack, haphazardly zipping it up.
The locker next to hers crashes open and she turns to see Yebin trying to stuff her backpack into it. Yebin's hair is pulled up in a ponytail with a bright red scrunchie and she’s wearing tights under her skirt. Her nose and cheeks are red from the cold and her eyes are dull.
Kyungwon turns to her like she’s going to ask her a question, maybe say good morning, talk about the physics assignment, but Yebin finishes getting what she needs and leaves as quickly as she had come.
She can just barely remember a time when Yebin would run up to greet her, a grin on her face and a joke on her tongue. They don’t talk about anything but their shared physics class now.
Yewon doesn’t sit with her at lunch. There’s still a poster up on the cafeteria wall that displays the homecoming court. The king and queen were seniors, popular and beautiful. The junior class’s homecoming prince and princess never got around to collecting their crowns. Eunwoo Jung and Vernon Chwe’s pictures are plastered up on that wall and Kyungwon can’t bring herself to look at them. The class had thought that it would be sweet to vote them homecoming prince and princess, and it was, but Kyungwon can't help but feel like there's something not right about it.
She watches Yewon from across the cafeteria. They stopped hanging out a couple weeks into school. Kyungwon got busy with volleyball and Yewon befriended a new girl from Los Angeles named Shannon. It was a mutual decision. They decided they were both better off this way. Kyungwon feels a pain in her chest when Shannon says something and Yewon’s face lights up as she laughs. She remembers when that laugh, those smiles, had been directed at her. When Yewon was her best friend. When Yewon was hers.
Kyungwon sees Nayoung at volleyball practice after school. A rogue volleyball is hit out of bounds and Nayoung runs to smack it before it hits a girl sitting on the bench. The girl, who had been pulling her knee pads on, rushes to thank Nayoung. Nayoung just smiles and pats her shoulder. Kyungwon feels a nagging in the back of her head, like she can remember a time that Nayoung had protected her too, a time that Nayoung had saved her.
Nayoung glances over and they make eye contact across the gym. Kyungwon gives a small smile and Nayoung smiles back and then the moment is over.
Kyungwon gets home at the end of the day and goes straight to her bedroom. She sits down on her bed and stares out the window. She can see Nayoung walking up the driveway to her house. Her uncle is yelling something at her and she’s yelling back.
Something changed over the summer, something that Kyungwon can’t quite remember. She remembers them hanging out in the woods, at the library, at the Grave Digger but she doesn’t remember why they fell apart. She still talks to Yebin about classes, she practices volleyball with Nayoung, she says hi to Yewon when they see each other. She sees Yebin and Yewon walk together in the halls sometimes, Nayoung and Yebin always sit together at lunch, she worked with Yebin on a project once, Yewon and Nayoung spend time together in student government, but it’s not the same. They’re not the same.
A week later, Kyungwon walks into the school and is immediately approached by Yebin.
“Hey there, hot stuff. We need to talk,” Yebin says, keeping her tone casual. “Come to the library after your volleyball practice. Bring the abominable snow lady with you. It’s really important.”
There’s something way too familiar about this, Kyungwon thinks as Yebin walks away.
We need to talk, Yebin said. It’s really important. Kyungwon doesn’t know how she knows that ‘the abominable snow lady’ is Nayoung. She just knows, just like she knows that there’s a jagged scar behind Yebin’s ear, like she knows that Yewon has a spare bike on the side of her house. Like she knows that there’s something missing from her life.
She does as she’s told, and after practice, she talks Nayoung into going to the library with her. When they walk in, Yebin is already at a study table with Yewon. They go to join them and Yewon immediately grabs Kyungwon’s hand.
Kyungwon’s been here before, she can feel it in the atmosphere.
"What's this about, Yebin?" Nayoung asks tiredly.
Yebin slams a paper onto the table and the other girls look at it curiously. It’s a missing person poster. The picture is of a girl, long, dark brown hair, bangs hanging just above her eyes, a warm smile spreading her lips. The name under it is Roa Kim.
Kyungwon feels like she’s been punched in the stomach.
“Who is this?” Nayoung asks.
“I don’t know,” Yebin says. “But we know her and I - we love her. We all do, I’m sure of it. And we’re going to find her.”