White Fox (p.jm)

I haven’t slept well for months. I keep having the same dream. A beautiful white fox running across a black landscape. I try to see what it is running from but it is too dark to see anything but the fox. I call out to it every time. It turns to face me and then sprints in my direction. I can finally see the chaser. It is a hoard of dark-colored hybrids with red eyes.

The fox reaches me and stares at me with it’s hopeful and scared light brown eyes that seem almost tan. I reach out to it. I am not sure to do what but I want to protect it. The fox sticks its nose towards me and as soon as I make contact with it, it changes into a man with long fox ears and a bushy white tail and sharp canine teeth. He is wearing black combat boots, jeans, a black shirt and a jean jacket. He holds an elegant posture, like that of an important political figure. He is not afraid of anything. I want nothing but to follow this man in whatever endeavors he might have. In any quest or goal he has. His eyes sparkle with mischief and joy. He keeps eye contact with me for a while; time seems to stop, but then the white hybrid turns back to its pursuers, which have almost reached us.

The dark and evil creatures now stand still before the fox. He looks over his shoulder towards me and smiles knowingly. He turns back and faces down the creatures who stare down at him cruelly. I shout for him to run away, to save himself but I am drowned out by the shouts and teases of the dark creatures. The man turns back into the white fox and runs straight for the crowd. He is swallowed by the darkness and I am forced awake by my alarm clock.

I stare at the ceiling in my fear and I feel my arms and legs twitching. I feel sweat on my forehead and armpits. When my fear subsides, I turn off my alarm and sit up and cross my legs. I put my head in my hands and cry, the same as every morning. I don’t understand what is so important about a lowly hybrid that I feel this way. That I want to protect him.

After an hour I forget the dream and am headed out the door to hop on the train for school. I walk to the station and swipe my card and go stand at the correct platform. The train comes and I climb on. I take a seat near the door and open my book. I start reading and feel someone watching me. I look up but I don’t see anyone. I ignore the feeling until I climb off of the train. I walk the last mile to school on edge.

As soon as I get in school, I go and find my friends to tell them of my odd encounter. I walk into our homeroom and they call out to me, “Kenna!!” I turn in that direction. I smile and wave before taking care to walk around other people to get to my group. “Did you have that dream again?” One of them, Aisley, asks me.

“Yeah, I was fine thought. This time, it wasn’t as bad as before.” I lie through my teeth, this was probably the worst time.

“That’s good, maybe you won’t have to go to a counselor anymore. You won’t get to skip class anymore.” My grumpy friend, Yoongi, says to me. I smile at him and nod.

“Are you free after school today? We are going to an arcade to forget about our stresses.” Jungkook says. Jungkook and Yoongi are roommates. They both moved from South Korea to study abroad here. We have a huge school and most of the students are foreign-born. “Taehyung, you and I have a bet to settle.” Jungkook stabs a finger towards Taehyung, he is also Jungkook and Yoongi’s roommate.

“I can meet tonight. Let me text my mom that I’ll be home late.” They nod and go back to their earlier conversation. Aisley grabs onto Taehyung’s hand and pulls him out into the hallway. I look over at the other two and they just shake their head. Aisley has had a crush on Taehyung for as long as I can remember. We all know, except for the man himself. He is thick to not see her affection towards him.

She has tried everything, from giving Valentines to passing him notes, from acting coy to ignoring him for weeks at a time. He hasn’t picked up on anything, and she won’t let us tell him. She wants to tell him herself. I am proud of her for that, she has a certain level of maturity to want to do that. She just needs to wait a little bit longer. Hopefully sooner, rather than later. There are plenty of girls, and boys for that matter, that would be happy to take him off of our hands.

“Have you heard from the others yet?” Yoongi asks Jungkook. I shake my head as I come back to the present. There are four of their friends left in South Korea that were going to come over here and study abroad as well. They have been waiting for a few months now, since the news reached them.

“No, just that one time last week when they said their flight date.” Jungkook responds as he pulls out his class notebook. Yoongi nods and sits down at his desk.

“They wouldn’t leave you out of the loop for long unless there was a reason, I am sure that they are just busy.” I pat Yoongi’s shoulders as I respond. He nods his head and I sit down next to him in the desk circle. Aisley and Taehyung come in a second before the teacher walks in. They rush to their places around the table and pull out their own books.

The rest of the day passes uneventfully. We prepare to leave school and head down to the arcade. Aisley links arms with me and pulls me ahead of the boys and whispers to me. “I tried to talk to him again today but he didn’t get it. I told him that I liked him and he just said “Well who couldn’t like someone as amazing as I am.” He thinks that I am joking around but I couldn’t have been more serious.” Aisley hangs her head in defeat.

“He isn’t trying to hurt you, but I think that he is simply misunderstanding. Remember, they aren’t native English speakers and won’t understand you very well if you use large sentences and don’t enunciate. Tae has the most trouble with English.” I say and pat her on the back, “Try speaking his language for once. He is forced to speak in our native tongue, treat him and tell him that you like him that way. He might understand it then.”

Aisley nods as she thinks about it, “That might actually work!! Thanks Kenna, you’re the best!” I shake my head and she grabs my hands and pulls me faster.

We arrive at the arcade and there is barely anyone there. We pay for some game coins and go around to the different machines to try and beat each other. Jungkook and Taehyung go immediately to shooting games, Yoongi goes to the basketball hoops, Aisley and I go to the racing games. We talk as we play. Aisley loses to me, badly, everytime.

I point at her and laugh as I win, once again. Then I feel someone tap me on the shoulder. I turn and look up at a fairly handsome man looking down on me. He seems thoroughly bored and undisturbed with the world. “Can I help you?” I ask him as he pulls his hand back down.

“Let me play you.” He points and me and gives a small but cute smile. I notice that he has an accent but I can’t quite tell from where. I look over at Aisley and she gives me a thumbs up. I roll my eyes at her then turn my head and nod towards the stranger. Aisley gets out of her seat and gestures for the man to sit there. He bows politely, he must have been born in an Asian country.

Aisley moves to stand behind me and grips my shoulder to cheer me on silently. The round starts and Aisley removes her hand so that I can concentrate. I accelerate the vehicle smoothly but the stranger accelerates a lot faster and the motorcycle does a wheelie. I blink in surprise at the way that he controls the fake machine. He is in total control of the cycle. As expected, we are tied for most of the laps but in the last one, he pulls ahead, he was probably going easy on me and didn’t want me to feel too bad since he was clearly superior.

He crosses the finish line and a second place banner hangs in my face. I turn away as I feel my ears begin to burn in embarrassment. I stand and walk around the machine to shake the stranger’s hand. He grabs it happily then pulls me into a hug. “That was one of the best matches I have ever played, thanks for the challenge.” I feel myself burn at the compliment.

“It’s no problem, I had fun too.” I smile at him and he grins back at me.

“Namjoon Kim!! Why didn’t you tell us that you were here?” I hear Taehyung yell across the arcade, I turn to see who he is yelling at. He is yelling in my direction. I turn and look at the man, who is still holding my hand.

“Is your name Namjoon?” I ask.

“Yes.” He responds without looking at me. He squints his eyes to see who had called out his name. Recognition flashes on his face as he processes the information. “Taetae!!” He shouts in an oddly feminine voice. He lets go of my hand and races towards Taehyung. “How did I know that I would find you here? Is Jungkook and Yoongi here too?” Namjoon asks as he hugs Taehyung and then holds him at arm’s length to get a look at him.

Taehyung smiles happily and nods his head, “Yoongi probably found somewhere to sit down and Jungkook had to go to the bathroom.” He bends around Namjoon to see Aisley and I. “You met the girls then?”

Namjoon leans in and whispers something to Taehyung and then they both giggle together. Aisley and I look at each other, concerned. We mentally agree to walk to the pair so that we aren’t just awkward potatoes standing in the walkway.

The boys turn to us and Taehyung smiles at me happily. “This is one of the people that you keep hearing about. Namjoon Kim. Namjoon, this is Kenna and Aisley.” He points and Aisley and I when he says out names. I smile slightly.

“You played that game really well. I am glad that you asked me and not Aisley.” Aisley slaps my shoulder in her embarrassment. I give her a “it’s true” look and smile.

Namjoon nods at me, then turns back to Taehyung, “Let’s go find the others.” Taehyung nods and grabs Namjoon’s hand and pulls him away. Aisley and I follow diligently behind them.

“Namjoonie!!” We turn at the shout and my jaw drops as I see who shouted. Yoongi rushes towards us and wraps Namjoon in a hug. Yoongi doesn’t usually open up this much at all. I am surprised to see him act like this. Yoongi slips into Korean as he talks to Namjoon.

“안녕!! 잘 지냈어?” Yoongi says to him.

“Let’s speak in English so that everyone can understand.” Namjoon laughs in response.

“You’re right, how are you? We missed you!! How are you?” Yoongi responds with his rare gummy smile.

“I came here with everyone. I am not too sure where they are but let’s go find Jungkook fir-”

“Namjoonie hyung!! We found you!!” Jungkook calls out to us. We look over and there are three other people with him.

My eyes are drawn to one of the boys that is wearing black pants, a baggie black sweater, black sunglasses. I wish that I could see his eyes but I am distracted by the other boys around him. Jungkook is holding onto one of the taller boys. He is handsome and stands very elegantly. He smiles at me as we make eye contact. We walk towards the newcomers and the boys hug and bow in greeting.

The one with the beanie speaks, “Our tickets finally arrived and we could come.” His voice is very soft and delicate.

“Jiminie must have been afraid of the plane, he doesn’t like heights.” The one holding Jungkook’s hand speaks, “My name is Seokjin, call me Jin.” He holds out his free hand towards me and I shake it with a smile.

“I’m Kenna, nice to meet you. Yoongi and the others haven’t shut up about you guys.”

“I’m sorry if that was a problem.” Jin hesitates before he continues to speak, “They told us about you as well and we were excited to finally meet you.”

I nod my head in agreement. One boy with cute dimples goes over to Yoongi and whispers to him. Yoongi nods and walks over to me with the dimple boy. “Kenna, this is Hoseok, his English sucks,” He turns back to Hoseok and the boy tells him something in Korean, “He said to call him Hobi.” Yoongi looks at me as he finishes the sentence.

I smile and bow as Taehyung taught me towards Hobi. Hobi smiles and bows back. “Nice to meet you.” He responds with a huge stutter and accent. I laugh and he smiles with me. I turn back towards the last boy that I hadn’t met yet. The one with the beanie. The one that looked strangely familiar.

I hold my hand out to him, “My name is Kenna.” He looks down at my hand and sniffs, almost in arrogance. I cock my head to the side and squint my eyes at him. He sneers and turns away from me. I look towards Yoongi for a second before turning back to the last boy. “It’s nice to meet you.” I say as clearly as I can, as if he couldn’t understand English very well. He turns away from me and says something to Yoongi, without acknowledging me. I already dislike him because of that.

I try to listen to what he says, but it’s in Korean. I have been studying but without much success. I watch Yoongi and he nods seriously before looking up in surprise then back at the floor. The beanie boy keeps speaking in a serious tone. I wait patiently until he finishes. I turn to Yoongi, expecting him to tell me what they had said but he shakes his head and turns towards Namjoon.

“Let’s bring you guys to the apartment. You probably have jet-lag.” The group nods in agreement. I pout at them and go to stand next to Aisley who had been buttering Taehyung up. She frowned as Taehyung waved his goodbye and jumped onto Hobi’s back. I smile at his cuteness and Aisley nods happily.

“Let’s go back home too.” I say to her and link my arm with her. We go to a bus stop and get on. We sit silently for a while. “It’s nice to finally meet them, right?” I say to her.

“Yeah, although they aren’t anything like I thought that they would be. Except for Jin of course. He totally gives off that parental vibe that the boys were talking about.” Aisley says and twiddles her thumbs. I nod in understanding.

“That boy in the beanie was rude though. He must be the last one, Jimin. He was cold and harsh, I wonder why he acted like that....” I trail off as I begin to think. They had told me how he was a dancer and how beautiful his voice was. How handsome he was, how happy he was, his ability to make others smile. What was the problem that he was so upset. Home sickness? Loneliness? Fear? Wait, did I smell bad? I quickly lean down and sniff my armpit to make sure. Safe.

“What’re you doing?” Aisley gives me a confused smile.

“I was trying to figure out why he didn’t respond to me and I thought that maybe, I smelled bad?” I shrug my shoulders and look back out the window. Aisley pats my head and I sigh. “I wish that I could have talked to him about everything that the others had said. Wait, but Jin said something about him being afraid of heights. Maybe that is why? He was still in panic mode but was trying to play it cool?” I put my finger on my chin as I think.

“Or maybe he is tired, they came all the way from Seoul. He probably didn’t mean anything by it. And why are you thinking about it so much. You don’t usually care what others think about you.” She raises her eyebrow with a wink, “Are you interested in him?!” She raises her voice.

“What?? I didn’t even see his whole face, why would I like him? And he didn’t even talk to me, that makes it even worse. I think that I might actually like him less than other people.” I state matter-of-factly.

Aisley rolls her eyes as if to say, “Sure.” I look out the window and see our stop coming up.

“We should get off next.” I say as I gather my things to stand up and hit the button for the bus driver to stop. She nods and gathers her things as well. I jump up and hit the button and the bus driver obliges to my command. Aisley and I get off, heading off in opposite directions. After a while we both turn around and wave goodbye to each other, as per the usual.

I skip by a convenience store and decide to stop and buy some snacks. I sit down at the tables outside and eat my new food happily. People pass my by without looking at me. I feel eyes on me anyways. I look up nonchalantly, to see if I can catch anyone in the act but I can’t see anyone. I turn and look behind me, at the store. Nothing. I feel as if they are the same eyes from this morning.

I finish eating quickly and pack up my things. I turn and begin back down the road towards my house where my mom will be sleeping. I hold my bag to my chest and walk faster as I hear someone walking behind me. I slow down but the footsteps don’t. I turn and look and it is just an elderly woman walking past me. I sigh in thanks and begin on my path again.

Someone grabs my arm.

I turn and scream as I hit the stranger with my bag, knocking the stranger’s sunglasses from his face and revealing the dream. My dream. The one that I have been having for months. A silver-haired beauty of a man. He is looking at me in shock and in annoyance. He is sitting right where he fell and he takes off his ever present beanie to fix his hair.

I didn’t, however, expect to see bright white ears of a fox stick out from his head. I look at him in shock and he quickly pulls the hat back over his beautifully carved ears. I must have been standing with my mouth open because he taps my chin harshly, without saying anything.

I shake my head to rid myself of my shock. I blink a few times and realize, he has disappeared. The man from my dreams, I have so many questions. Is Jimin his real name? Is he okay? Who are the creatures in black? Why are you in my dreams?

I realize later on that something slipped my mind, I hate hybrids more than I hate the man who left me and my mother for that younger woman.