UNKNOWN

SHADOWS

A young girl is sitting by the window in her room, dressed in her pajamas. Opposite her, is a middle aged man in formal wear, trying to persuade her to go to bed. “Nari, let’s go to sleep now. You know you do not get to stay up this late under any circumstance”, the man told her. “Come on, Mr. Kim, just this once? I promise, next time I won’t ask. You know I haven’t seen daddy in so long, I miss him... ” The young girl pouted at him. “ I know, and that’s why you have been able to stay up an hour past your bedtime. Now if you don’t go to sleep right now, you won’t be able to catch your father in the morning before he goes out again. He has to leave for Japan tomorrow. Do you want to miss seeing him then?” Mr. Kim asked. The young girl looks down before shaking her head and sniffling quietly. Mr. Kim can make out the tears in her eyes, and his heart goes out to the little girl. After all, she may as well be his daughter. He briefly closes his eyes as he thinks over it. Then, he suggests softly, “Do you want to sleep in your father’s bed? I am sure he won’t mind it this once. He did promise that he’ll be on time today. Since he broke his promise, this can be his punishment, hmm?”  As soon as she hears this, Nari rushes up to hug him and nods her head eagerly, “I want to, please. But you will stay with me till I fall asleep right? I don’t wanna be alone, daddy’s room is scary. He doesn’t have stars in his ceiling like me. It’s all dark.” Mr. Kim laughs as he picks up Nari in his arms, “Sure, Princess Nari, Knight Kim will make sure that nothing harms you, even if it costs me my life, I promise. But, you have promise to be extra good for me then and obey when I ask you something. ” “I promise, Knight Kim. Now, onward to daddy’s room!” Nari exclaimed.  Mr. Kim laughed once again and ruffled her hair. They reached her father’s room shortly and Mr. Kim set her down on the bed. Then he dragged one of the poufs lying in the room to the bedside and sat by Nari, softly singing a lullaby to her as he ran his hands through her hair. Nari doesn’t take long to fall asleep and before she knows it, Mr. Kim is tucking her in, as she lies completely asleep.

However, this peace doesn’t last for long. Nari wakes up to sudden noise. It sounded like people shouting and very loud fireworks, or like those guns in the movies. She always did hate those. But, where is the noise coming from? Everyone in the house knows not to make so much noise at night. Father had clearly told this to everyone allowed in this house, even the scary men who worked for father. They sometimes were loud at night, but when she told Mr. Kim, he made sure that they stopped. Maybe Mr. Kim has not heard the noise yet. Nari thought that she should go and tell him. Having decided that, she rolls out of the bed and moves towards the bedroom door. However, before she could reach it, the door fell open by itself and she looked up to see an unknown scary man standing there with a gun in his hand. He looked surprised at first and then smiled nastily, like those villains in the movies.  He asked, “And who do we have here, hmm? What is an itty-bitty thing like you doing in the Black Mamba’s safe house, did that bastard Samuel get you?” Nari did not understand much of what this man was saying, except for the fact that he said her father’s name. Did he know him maybe? She decided to ask, “What are you doing here, are you looking for Daddy? He is not here, but Mr. Kim will tell you when he comes back. You can ask him.”

The man laughed, but it was a scary laugh, not like Mr. Kim’s, just hours ago as he put her to sleep. Then he caught hold of her hand and pulled her towards him, pressing the butt of his gun against her head. “Samuel knocked someone up long enough for you to come along and no one knows? Isn’t it quite the news! People will pay quite a pretty penny for it. But they’ll pay better for you. At least today’s raid wasn’t a total bust. If not Samuel, then his pretty little daughter.  Now listen carefully, you brat. You will come with me without a fuss or I’ll blow your brains with my gun. You try to run away, your head goes boom.  Understand?”  Nari just nodded her head, unable to speak. The man looked at her, annoyed. “I asked you something. Answer quickly before I lose my patience”, he growled. “Mr. KIM! HELP!” Nari screamed in terror. The man grew even angrier than before and pulled her hair really hard.  “I asked you something and you didn’t reply. That is not polite. Now either you come quietly or I shoot you here. I won’t ask again.” Nari started sobbing loudly, trying to get her hair away from his grasp. However, it hurt even more.  So she grabbed the other hand holding the gun and bit his hand as hard as she could. The man ends up leaving her hair to cradle his other hand while Nari runs towards the bed. She manages to roll under the bed before the man could catch her again. “You little bitch, how dare you! Looks like you don’t want to stay alive! Well, I’ll take care of it then”, the man thunders. Nari could hear him approach the bed. Suddenly, there are several loud bangs and the sound of something hitting the ground. Then, a voice asks, “Nari, where are you? Are you okay?” As soon as she hears the voice, she rushes out from under the bed, to find Mr. Kim holding a gun in his hand, and the scary man on the ground with blood coming out from many places.  She runs to Mr. Kim and wraps herself around his legs.