Twelve Little Brothers

You Tripped

Minseo POV

I woke up with a head pounding ache, either that or it was a headache. Aren't those the same things? I couldn't tell anymore. I tried to sit up, but dizziness attacked me and I had to lay back down.

With my head pounding, all I wanted was to go back to sleep, but I knew I shouldn't. What time is it? I propped my self up on my elbows and looked at the clock, squinting. Why can't I see the clock? My vision was blurred and fuzzy, so I laid back down and brought my hand up to my face. Well, I can see that fine. Why is it covered in blood? Oh my gosh! Is that my blood?!

I did the best I could to search for the source of blood, but could only come up with my head since I couldn't see myself. That must be the source of the headache, but what happened?

"Minseo! You're up!" I squinted at the man in the doorway as he approached me. I tried to move away on instinct, but my body was too slow.

"Why are you trying to escape me?" He looked so concerned, but I couldn't place the thought in the back of my mind that something was wrong. Once he saw that I had stopped moving, he came closer and helped me up. "Why don't we get you washed up?"

I nodded and he helped me walk to the bathroom. "What happened?"

He looked a little confused. "You don't remember?" I shook my head and he looked down. "You were running down the stairs for dinner, when you slipped and took the corner of the bookshelf to the head."

I walked into the bathroom and he helped me get a washcloth to wash my face off. "And who would you be?" I felt saddened at his hurt look.

"I'm your father, Minseo."

"Oh. Well hello Dad!" I waved and smiled and he just laughed back at me.

"Hello, Minseo. When you finish washing up, I'll put some clothes on your bed for you and then we can have some lunch." I nodded and he shut the bathroom door and left.

Something doesn't seem quite right. Shouldn't there be a bunch of kids running around here?

I shrugged off my thoughts as I finished up in the bathroom and slowly made my way back to my room. As I struggled to change, I saw something fall out of the back pocket of my pants. I picked it up and looked at it.

It was a picture of me surrounded by a lot of kids and what must be their parents. I got confused when I didn't see Dad in there, but a man who looked slightly like I could be related to, with his arms around me. There was a cake on the table that looked like the kids decorated it, and balloons hung from the light fixture above the table. I thought at first that they must be some kids I babysat, but that doesn't explain how comfortable their dad was with me.

As I stared at the photo, my eyes wandered to the bottom of the polaroid where you write. I figured one of the kids had wrote it, since the handwriting was pretty messy.

"happy birthday noona!"

I turned it over to see if anything was written on the back, and got even more confused.

"Happy Birthday, Minseo! I'm so glad you became a part of this family. I hope you know how much your brothers, your Uncle and I love you. You've grown so much since your Uncle brought you //// home."

I stared at the photo and plopped onto my bed. Why did they cross out 'here'? Why is Dad not mentioned, or there at all. Also, my brothers? That would explain why I thought there should be kids running around. Maybe I should just ask Dad.

I set the photo on my bed and finished getting dressed. I made sure to be careful going down the stairs, when I realized, there were no stairs. There wasn't even a bookshelf.

What's going on here?