To Find Something True

※ forty-six

The journey to Shinhye's house was filled with chats and laughter. There were times when they had nothing to talk about, and soft-volumed music became the thing that loosened the quietness.

Once in a while, Jiah clicked her phone's power button, wishing her best friend would respond to her messages and missed calls. However, they were already twenty minutes away from her house, and her phone hadn't rung. The closer they reached her house, the more anxious she became. Negative thoughts filled her mind.

The sight of a plain white bungalow with a blue wooden door had her pointing and saying, "That's her house."

Seokjin slowed and pulled over his car in front of the short concrete fence. Jiah squinted her eyes at the small door in between the fence, recognizing it was opened. She pulled the door's lever and hopped off the car. Seokjin followed suit.

Approaching the gate, she got startled by the sound of children crying. She also heard a loud yet distant "appa!" Hurriedly, she thrust the gate open and strode to the door. She spun the doorknob and was met with the sight of her best friend lying on the floor. Blood puddled on the floor, just beneath her head.

Her teenage brother was cowering on the floor as her father repeatedly hit him with a flat surface of a club. Shinhye's ten-year-old brother was hugging his seven-year-old sister, both crying at the corner. The boy was even begging his father to stop in the midst of his cry.

Jiah's heart palpitated furiously against her ribs. Her fists trembled. Her eyes reddened and pooled with tears. Without hesitation, she strode toward the skinny middle-aged man, pulling him by the shoulder. Once he faced her, she sent a loud slap from one hand and another punch; it landed on his nose. The older man fell on his back.

Without a blink, she took a step towards him and kicked him in the ribs and stomach as many times as she could. Seokjin had two of the children outside of the house, and upon noticing Jiah's wrath, he called her. But his voice sounded distant, and the only thing that was getting louder was her yelling profanities.

Her wrath had become uncontrollable. The old man spat blood, and that forced Seokjin to pull her away. It was easy to pull her by the waist without tumbling backward due to her small physique.

Jiah's eyebrows scrunched up, tears flowing unstoppably. She was struggling in Seokjin's embrace until he yelled, "Snapped out of it, Lee Jiah!" Gradually, she calmed down but still sobbed and stared at the weakened man, disgusted.

She had so much to say to the man on the ground, but she was unable to find the proper arrangement of words. For Shinhye, she was awfully angry.

"Jiah noona!" called the fifteen-year-old boy, Jinyoung. Bruises on his face covered with a worried look as he sat beside the oldest child of the family. He said, "Shinhye noona's not waking up!"

Jiah whipped her head toward the two oldest siblings' presences. She pried Seokjin's arms from her waist and scampered to Shinhye. Kneeling down, her jeans were damp with blood. Tears continued to roll, but she quickly wiped them away. Placing her palms on Shinhye's cheeks, she softly slapped them. A brittle tone escaped as she called out her name, "Han Shinhye? Shinhye-yah. Shinhye-yah!"

No response. Thus, she placed two fingers under her nose. Soft air could be felt. Her red eye rims looked at Seokjin. "She's breathing. We need to bring her to the hospital. Please help me carry her."

Jiah moved to the side as Seokjin approached and squatted, carrying Shinhye with his arms under her legs and neck. He instructed the children to help open the door. The boy ran to his car, opening the door while the girl stood there, watching them with dampened eyes, her index finger in her mouth.