Souls of Bygone Scars

7. Money CAN Buy Happiness

After the plane landed, you guys headed straight to the house. It was around 7:30pm by the time you got there, and you were wide awake.

"Tessa, keep this." Angela passed you a piece of paper and a small booklet. Looking at it closely you saw it was a birth certificate, with a name.

Y/n.

"Huh?" You questioned. "My name's Tessa."

"You need a new identity so that they can't track you down. Take a look at your passport." She told you gently.

You opened it up and saw the same photo as your old passport, but this time you had a New Zealand Citizenship.

I'm a Kiwi?

You laughed at the absurdness. "Thanks... I guess?" You kept laughing. Actually, you couldn't stop. You must be going insane. All of this change so suddenly, your brain can't keep up. One minute your the best student in school, living in Korea, the next minute your worlds spinning and flying out of reach. 

You were perfect. Everything about you was applauded. Yeah, you didn't have any real friends, but no one disliked you. No one. And you're not being cocky. You've only just realised how amazing you were. It just happened to take everything you had to be lost to be seen. And it hurt. It really hurt.

Taking deep breathes, you decided to explore the house.

The kitchen was super fancy. Marble counters that lined up the kitchen. A kitchen island in the middle with the cutest bar stools you've ever seen. Pot plants were decorated around the place, on shelves, counters, and window sills. Pastel-lidded jars that contained stuff that you couldn't even recognise. There was a walk in pantry that had the yummiest snacks you could name, and more. Two doors opened up to a fridge that was massive with a water and ice dispenser. The freezer was just as good. There was a blender, a coffee machine, a toastie maker, a microwave... 

"Have you ever seen a kitchen before?" Angela laughed as she patted you on the back, staring at your unmoving figure. You were in awe. Even the dishwasher looked majestic. "Oh, you're just gonna love the bathroom." She giggled and dragged you along.

Pot plants seemed to be a theme throughout the house as you made your way to the bathroom, which was, as Angela stated, amazing. 

Your bedroom had a walk-in closet and a kingsized bed, and your window had a window seat. Everything was perfect. Even the dinning room looked like some royal's table.

But, it was missing something.

Where was the living room? You questioned yourself.

"Y/n!" You heard mum's voice. "You've got to come up stairs!" You could hear her excitement, but your face was full of confusion. Stairs? You hadn't seen stairs, where are they?

"Over here." Chad guided you over to the stairs and up to the second floor. 

It lead to what you would call, a "movie theatre." 

Of course, it wasn't a massive screen like those in the city. But boy oh boy was it big. 146 inches of a flatscreen TV, all yours and your mum's. 

"This is crazy!" You exclaimed as you turned to the glass wall, which had a door leading to an outside deck. 

You walked out to the warm air of the 8:00 night. The temperature was hard to get used to as it was winter in Korea, and summer here. But the temperature mattered close to nothing out here. A table, chairs, sun beds, a pizza oven... You looked at your mum as she looked at you, shaking her head.

"Wake me up now, otherwise I'll get lost in this dream and never wake up." Her hand was clutching her heart as she spoke. Angela and Chad chuckled at her silliness. But you felt the same.

"Holy shit." You whispered, and your mum was too immersed in her own amazement to care. 

"We try our best to make accommodation at the safe houses as comfortable and inviting as possible. We do this to show understanding towards your lives as we realise that this has a massive impact on you two." Chad explained as Angela nodded along.

"Thank you." Your mother said sincerely, and you too. 

You couldn't believe what was happening. Your life went from average to rich, just like that. You feel like you've won the lottery. You should be a false suspect for murder more often. 

The stars are shining brightly, and your eyes glistened back. What on earth are they talking about? "Money can't buy happiness." You feel so happy at the moment, as if you're on top of the world. All one needs is a little money, and they'd be feeling as ecstatic as you are. 

"Get some sleep, we'll talk about further details in the morning." Chad started making his way back down.

"We'll come at around ten. By the time you get to sleep you'll be wanting a sleep in." Angela smiled at you, and you returned the gesture. "Good night." She waved and left.

You looked to your mum with a beam bringing up the corners of your lips. "I've never felt so happy before." You ran to her and gave her a big hug. Enveloping her close, and keeping her tight. She was a little taken aback, but when she heard the tiny sobs escaping from your mouth, her motherly instinct kicked in.

"Shhh, shh." She calmed you while rubbing her hand on your back. "This is amazing, honey. But remember what it cost you to get here. Someone's life, an accusation on you for the murderer, and the loss of our home." The fist two thing were what you wept for, wishing it didn't have to be that way. But the loss of your home, your friends, your childhood. It didn't matter to you. Not anymore. 

You gave out a sniffle as you pulled out of the embrace, smiling with stars in your eyes. You both made your way down stairs, spotting something you hadn't noticed before with each step. Dancing off to your bedroom, a tired yawn escaped your mouth. Giggling to yourself, you pounced onto your massive bed and laid there as if you were making a snow angel. 

after calming down, you finally snuggled into the covers, with a fluffy blanket for comfort. Your dreams took you to the top of Mt Everest, and to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. You could do anything. 

At one point, you flew to Space. And by flew, you mean you grew wings like an angel to fly. But that's when the nightmare began.

First, the disappearance of the wings, leaving you weightless and floating through space. And next, was the lack of oxygen. You felt it happening to you, whilst you were dreaming. It felt as if a lump were stuck in your throat, and there was nothing you could do.

You were stuck. Claustrophobia was clouding your vision, and the feeling of vertigo was overwhelming. Heart pounding against your chest, you swallowed the lump and regained your breath. 

Looking around you, you saw stars. Billions of them. To be specific, 7.7 billion. And every pair, made a brighter star. Many were alone, searching for their pair. Smaller ones found bigger ones, all adding up to one whole. 

You looked behind you and saw your angel wings, but they were strange. They were radiating light of exactly half a whole star. That's when you realised what was happening. These were couples all over the world, some found their Amor, others were searching. 

But you were here, right on the edge of this galaxy, and you weren't moving. You couldn't be bothered. You'd given up. And the longer you stood there, the dimmer your light got. Not the size, the brightness. The amount of life left in your heart was dying. 

You needed a sign. Something telling you it was worth it. A glimmer of hope. A purple glimmer at that. Far, far away, millions of light years away, a purple star made its way across the universe, to find you. This light lit up your soul, a fire burning for the need of this same star. Flying towards each other, you travelled with hope in the search of love. You had faith that you'd make it, you knew you would.

Meters away now. Closing the gap, gaining the life.

But then...

A/n: Ego came out today. I was so glad that Hoseok got to add his personality to it while still following the flow of the lyrics. It me me happy for some reason, and it also reassured me about Persona and Shadow that they also got to add their twists to it. All in all, I think it was a great success, very happy with the result.