Black Swan | Park Jimin

2

— italics represent the past.

Making his way to his favorite tree, Jimin jumped into the pond, the water splashing off his body and rippling away as he swam forward.

People began to trickle into his home as the sun began to rise. One by one, they situated themselves in their usual desired places.

Jimin observed Hwa-young to his right as she threw her quilted blanket into the air and let it fall upon the grass. She knelt down, patting it flat as she placed her pile of books to her right side.

To his left, Jimin witnessed Sun-hee holding her binoculars against her face. Her gaze transfixed on a magpie resting in its nest.

Jimin made sure to stay away from the edge of the pond, knowing well that the other birds he shared his home with would fight for the last bits of bread crumbs the locals occasionally threw at them. And as awful as they were, Jimin once lived off those same crumbs until he met Deoksu.

The sun fell and the moon rose once again.

Shaking off the dirt and his loose feathers, Jimin flew out of his pond and sighed as he returned to his preferred state. He rubbed his feet against the wet grass, testing how slippery it would be for him to practice his choreography there.

"If I leave, someone might see me," Jimin whispered to himself. "I'll just have to tone down my movements."

Reaching the other side of the pond, Jimin stopped paddling his feet and settled on the shadow cast over the water. He looked over to his right and caught sight of Juno, a 23 year old college student who spent his time painting at the pond every weekend.

The wind began to pick up a bit, causing Juno to groan in annoyance.

"Can you make it any more difficult?" He muttered.

Jimin, wanting to see how his painting was coming along, jumped out and waddled over. The ebony-haired male stared cautiously, expecting a violent attack from the bird appearing in front of him.

Gripping his paint brushes, Juno said, "Did you really have to leave the water? Do you really want to ruin my work as much as the wind does?"

Jimin's laughter was replaced with quacks echoing through the air. He slowly pattered over to Juno's side and eyed his painting.

Juno, baffled but also intrigued by the bird's behavior, hesitantly continued to add light blue strokes to his canvas. His arm glided from each corner; left to right, extending the image of the pond and replicating the sun's glow over it.

Even though he wanted to stay by the painter's side, Jimin returned to his shadow.

Kicking his leg forward and then slowly bowing down, Jimin flexed his arms outwards in a sudden movement. He rolled his body with the feeling of the air making its way to his lungs.

Heart pulsating ever so rapidly, he used this adrenaline to control the force of his leg muscles. They begged to be moved and he did as he was told, seemingly flying across the terrain he called home.

Suddenly, he heard a branch break.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your practice!"

A small boy scrambled out of the woods, his red backpack dragging behind him, getting stuck on every branch possible.

All Jimin could do was stare in disbelief as the boy ran over to him, grinning from ear to ear. "My mom finally let me walk around at night alone and I thought I'd try to find the swans' home!" The boy began to rummage through his bag. "All I've found are their droppings and feathers, but nothing else."

Jimin bit his lip down, wanting to avoid the boy seeing him smile. "Why are you looking for the swans?"

"Because no one knows where they go at night!" The boy exclaimed. He held a magnifying glass that he had pulled from his bag up to the ground on which they stood on. "I promised Nami I'd find them for her so here we are."

"Nami?"

"My best friend!"

Jimin couldn't help but to kneel down on the ground and examine everything the boy was observing. He would mention the type of lead they were looking at and then would move on to describing every ant he could think of. Even though he was annoyed at first, the annoyance blossomed into amusement.

"My name is Deoksu by the way." Deoksu sighed as he shoved the magnifying glass back into his bag. "What's your's?"

"Jimin."

Deoksu frowned. "Just Jimin?"

"Just Deoksu?" Jimin raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, my mom always tells me to keep my identity a secret from strangers."

"You're a stranger to me, Deoksu."

Deoksu turned to stare at Jimin. Feeling the pressure pile up on the back of Jimin's neck, it felt like hours had passed when finally Deoksu broke their eye contact. "You're no stranger. You've always been here."

"How so?" Jimin felt his heart begin to race again, the adrenaline starting to pump in his veins.

Deoksu rolled his eyes and threw his backpack over his shoulders and onto his small back. "I saw your transformation. You're one of the swans, so.. you've been here and you know exactly where I can find your family!"

"Deoksu..." Jimin began.

"What is it? You won't tell me where you live? This isn't fair!"

Caught slightly off guard at Deoksu's dismissive reply, Jimin turned his back to Deoksu and sat down on the edge of the pond. He leaned down and dipped his hand in, swirling the water until the moon was nothing but a blur. "I live here. This is my home."

"I don't understand." Deoksu groaned, plopping down beside Jimin. "Where is the rest of your family?"

"I don't have one." Jimin frowned, still looking at the swirls he created as his hand danced around. "Once the sun begins to leave, so do the other birds."

"Why don't you go with them?"

"They don't like it when I become me. My human body scares them and I don't want to bother them. It's easier this way anyways... I only have time to myself at night."

Silence settled around them quickly and they welcomed it. Deoksu was trying to process the reality of everything Jimin had just said, while the latter was trying to process why he had confessed this to Deoksu.

The sun's blazing gaze had quelled down to a slight glimmer. The morning regulars were long gone and the afternoon visitors made themselves comfortable, sitting down on a bench or the plain green grass that surrounded them.

Jimin freely swam around the pond, waiting for the arrival of his only friend.