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Dappled sunlight shone onto the wooden platform installed in the tree. There weren’t any walls: just simple planks cobbled together by whoever had owned the house before them. A young Min-seo was draped across the boards, hazily staring up at the sky in between the leaves in her signature Hot Wheels hoodie. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she had definitely been up there for a while. Long enough to have glared at every branch, stubbornly waiting for something to happen.
Waiting, for…
Min scowled just thinking about it. She didn’t know exactly what she was trying to prove. Her parents find her up here, and they yell at her, and she yells back at them. Just like how it always was whenever Min wanted to do something that they didn’t want her to.
So then, why were they taking so long to find her?
It’s not like Min told them they were playing hide and seek or something. And it’s not like her parents actually played with them. Jun was studying, and insisted on it even after Min persistently bugged him, so she had come out to the backyard on her own to throw around rocks and sticks. Which was soooooooooo fun by the way. Min was having the TIME of her LIFE.
But it’s been hours . Well, Min doesn’t know how long it’s been, but it felt like hours. The sun was still yellow, but it was getting closer and closer to the horizon, and Min swore it had been up higher last time she checked. Min didn’t exactly want them to find her-- or did she?-- she’d just expected them to already have done so. Whatever. Min wondered if she was going crazy. Wasn’t someone gonna look for her? She wasn’t that difficult to find. She was right there, outside, in the backyard in the tree. Not at all a difficult hiding spot. Come on, guys. They needed to step up their game if they wanted to find her in time to eat dinner.
I just won’t eat dinner, then , Min thought smugly. They can’t make me do anything. I’ll stay here forever. Lightning will strike me, then I’ll get powers and fly out.
Min doesn’t know why her eyes feel like they’re gonna spill saltwater. Nothing’s been happening for like, a bajillion hours. She ignores the pang in her stomach and the dull tug at her heart. Usually she would be doing something by now, something explosive to shut up the voices in her head, but this time she just… doesn’t. Lets herself stew in the insanity-inducing lack of action. Waiting for it to be over, when there’s no over in sight. Time passes and passes and passes, and nobody calls for her to play or eat dinner or study or whatever.
Just this damn tree and the rustling leaves and the stupid beautiful sky.
“Min?”
Min blinked.
That small voice-- it belonged to the one and only…
“Diya!” Min shot up with alarm, scrambling to the edge to see Diya. She felt weirdly embarrassed, like she was caught red-handed, despite not doing anything. Diya was standing on the sidewalk from the front of the house, holding up her bike. The very sight of her brought this feeling of warm niceness-- a little seed planted in her heart that bloomed all over. Good and nice and pleasant and…
“What… are you doing?”
“I’m…!” Min started off confidently before deflating. She blinked until the threat of tears dissolved into a lingering idea. “I’m not sure. Waiting, I guess. It’s boring though. Wanna play?”
Diya nodded happily. Min let her in the backyard; she grabbed one of the stray baseballs in the yard and tossed it to Diya. They put some distance between themselves, standing at opposite ends of the backyard so they could throw the ball back and forth. There was only one mitt lying around, which Min insisted that Diya use instead of herself.
“I don’t know what to do for our English assignment,” Diya said after a bit of throwing the ball back and forth in silence.
“The About Me presentation thing? Don’t we have to do something like that every year whenever we get a new class?”
“...Yeah.”
“So what did you do last year?”
Diya mumbled into her sleeve. “I don’t know…It was a little different each time. But still basically just talking about yourself.”
“It’s okay, let’s figure it out right now!” Min declared. “Why don’t you just talk about baseball? That’ll be easy.”
“Maybe. But every time I get up in front of the class, I freeze and forget everything,” Diya admitted with a frown. “Every. Time.”
“You could hold a real bat with you when you’re presenting. Cause it’s part of baseball, and if anyone tries anything, you can give ‘em a good ol’ swing and you’ll be fine. It’ll be a demonstration.”
“That’s a good idea,” said Diya, her golden brown eyes widening in acknowledgement. Min smiled, happy that her idea was approved. After playing catch and talking for a bit, Diya followed Min up to the base of the treehouse. The ladder wasn’t much of a ladder-- you had to pull yourself up from the branches to get up from one part. They managed fine after a bit of struggle, though.
Min and Diya faced the falling sun; Min hugging her knees, and Diya’s legs extended, dangling off the side of the platform.
“Min.”
“Yeah?”
Diya didn’t continue for a moment. Let her thoughts collect itself and crawl around in her head. She hummed, her brow furrowed, before eventually crawling closer to Min and hugging her.
“Oh,” said Min. Her arms dropped to her side, moving to Diya’s back. Diya held her tightly, not saying anything. Min squeezed her eyes shut, clutching her fists, holding onto Diya like she was her lifeline. She was shaking, ever so slightly-- but Diya was close enough to feel her heartbeat. She could feel this too.
“I’m mad,” Min mumbled over Diya’s shoulder. “I’m so mad.”
“Mhm,” Diya said gently.
“I’m so mad that when the feeling goes away, it always comes back. And then I feel sad , and I hate it, which makes me angry again.”
Min sounded… scared. Ashamed. Uncertain. Like she was about to cry. Diya stared at the tree branches in front of her. She was used to seeing Min’s explosive anger, her bold rage and loud tantrums. This side was new to Diya, and Min didn’t know what to do with it either.
So Diya just kept holding her.
“I hate it so much,” Min said; the admission felt heavy and tasted bitter. “I hate it. I have so much of it and sometimes punching things isn’t enough.”
Diya pulled back after a moment to look at Min. Golden-orange hues painted the scene. Min’s scrunched up face. The clench of her jaw. The shuddering leaves. The surrounding branches. Diya’s face was solemn, but Min recognized the relenting sadness in her eyes. She knew the look of Diya’s face when she saw spilt popcorn, or a hungry stray dog.
Min guiltily concluded she was the stray dog.
Diya’s hands trailed down Min’s arms slowly. On her left arm was the knife tattoo Min drew on herself with a pen during class. Diya ran her fingers over it, and Min watched her do it.
“It’s so cool, right,” Min commented with a wistful gaze.
“Right,” Diya nodded.
Diya’s hands found Min’s. Min’s hands were a little smaller than Diya’s. The white tips of her nails were gnawed and uneven, while the cuticles were torn and peeled. Little bits of dead white skin poked out, some showing red at the base, contrasting greatly with the pale color of her hands. Additionally, skin peeled around the sides of her thumbs. Her middle and ring fingers were visibly picked at, but the pointer fingers were mangled the worst. The area above her knuckles looked red and rugged and raw, exposing wavy fingerprint lines, outlined with white ridges of skin that Min would most likely pick at later. Those exposed, red areas were like patches carved around the nail; disturbed and rough.
“It bleeds sometimes, if I really go at it,” stated Min. “You should see my fingers after I shower. It gets super white and puffy.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?” asked Diya, turning over Min’s hands carefully.
“A little bit,” answered Min. “But I mean, it looks kinda dope.”
“Min…no…”
Even with the disapproving and concerned tone, Min savored it whenever Diya said her name.
“You’re a pitcher,” reasoned Diya. “You should take care of your hands.”
“I guess…” Min knocked her head against Diya’s shoulder and sighed. “Can our next game get here already?”
“Please,” Diya yearned.
Diya startled when Min suddenly dropped herself from the treehouse platform thing, landing on the floor with a thump. Acting tough, she picked herself up like it was nothing.
The sun was setting. The rumbling of a train in the distance grew louder and louder. Diya peeked out from the wooden platform, where she saw Min smiling at her.
Waiting. For her.
Diya smiled a little bit back. Well, looks like she had no choice. Diya dropped herself down from the platform in a less dramatic manner than Min. Somehow, they both ended up on the ground collapsed next to each other. Their laughter drowned in the roar of the train, a powerful sound that shook the windows of the houses nearby.
Min scrambled to sit up and scream with and at the train. Diya, usually so quiet, found herself inspired to do the same. Nobody could yell at them for this-- the train was much, much louder. But Diya and Min heard each other. Both Diya’s good and bad ear were flooded with pure noise. Their eyes were closed and their teeth were bared and they were shrieking in unison and it felt like freedom .
When the train finally faded away into somewhere far away, Diya and Min raced each other around the backyard. Then when Diya had to go, she promised they would play again tomorrow.
Once Diya left, Min had realized the bad feeling that tortured her for hours was replaced by excitement and anticipation. Even if the bad feeling would definitely come back later… who cares? That’s future Min’s problem.
Min felt giddy when she went to bed, looking forward to tomorrow’s Diya.