--Sora Young's Point of View--
"HURRY UP! We're going to be late!!" I rushed the three of them as much as I could with the energy left in me after such a wild night with the road trip gang alongside Sungyeon-Oppa and Byungchan-Oppa.
"Hold on, I almost forgot Seongmin's camera!" Song replied with his soft voice, slightly raising to its highest level.
"We have our phones though." I commented, helping him with his bag.
"This camera takes better pictures than any other." he kissed me on the forehead before his bag swung behind him, and the four of us ran to the bus station.
"There's our seats!" our friends saved us exactly four seats in the middle part of the theatre, the front rows were for those graduating today,, and this performance was saved for last.
"When are they starting?"
Ji Eun-eonni had been holding her phone up to record the entire performance.
"Out of the way!" we saw a commotion happen right in front of us, and Yun Oh just arrived at the scene to watch the show with us...
'Well, not exactly.' people were beginning to grow bored of the waiting period, and the audience began to talk loudly and move without considering those around them.
"I wish for a better world than this." Song had me agreeing to his wish, he reached out for my hand and linked our fingers.
"We get it, lovebirds. Now, hand me my camera." Seongmin entered the scene and asked for his camera.
"As the official photographer of this campus, I will do the honors of recording and taking the shots." he declared and playfully hit the phone that Ji Eun-eonni was holding up for who knows how long now.
"Shush!!" the crowd's wish was finally granted.
--Author's Point of View--
The audience began to quiet down when the lights went off and suddenly, the stage presented the first performance with the spotlight shining upon a tree that sheltered a bird's nest.
It was a huge narra tree with its tree branches that could hold even an entire pack of wolves.
"Look." Yua pointed at the first scene with the music starting to grow audible.
Soft to the ears along with the mesmerizing sight of the beauty of nature, light that looks almost as natural as the sun that shines upon the earth and illuminating other existing matters that possess a variety of bright colors.
There appeared a blue stream of water at the background, it almost flowed as real as a river fall while a pink mist covered the lake when suddenly, fog covered the entire stage which traveled across the whole theatre.
An egg from the nest fell slowly down the body of the narra tree, smoothly making its way near the pond. A pond made out of what looked to be a portable pool was below the stage setting.
"It looks so real." comments from the audience buzzed around.
Just then, the first ballerina appeared dancing her way to the pond. She was dressed as a swan who made its way to finding the egg by accident.
It was beginning to crack open, so she decided to hold it under her beautiful white feathered back.
Halfway through the performance, the stage grew more mature with the colors turning slightly darker compared to the start of the show, which signifies the egg's journey into becoming one with the bevy of swans.
The egg went from unknown to being known by all. She grew glamorously and stood out among the swans.
'Doesn't this play just resemble a lot about Jihyun's life?' Sihyeon nodded at the sight of her boyfriend looking verily amazed at the showcasing of Jihyun's performance.
"A performance that feels like the summary of my life." Jihyun ended the routine with just an elegant final twirl with her emerald green and cerulean blue feathered tail that looked
as if it had eyes of its own.
She was a peacock that had been surrounded by swans all her life as the story told.
--Song Ji Eun's Point of View--
"1... 2... 3... And four, five... 6..." I counted how many mistakes the other performers had made because I will be complaining about how this play went awful!!
"If it had not been for you, they wouldn't have done it." I hugged Jihyun till she turned blue
from being deprived of breathing.
"Enough, enough, enough!" she tried to pull away.
"Let's get out of here." she saw the next performers prepare for the final act.
"We haven't seen Dan perform yet though, are you sure that you want to leave already?" I asked to confirm, knowing that she has always dreamed of seeing him play again, to hear his creation, and...
"His singing voice!"
"Listen, I don't want to..." she tried to walk away but I convinced her with all my might.
"Just listen to this, listen to his song, let his be the last time you'll ever let him make you cry." to make her jealous, to make her look at other people and compare herself to them, especially to Honey Lou.
"Use this to turn your life over." I squeezed her shoulders and made her face the stage.
--Park Seongmin's Point of View--
. I did not come here to just get these awful lot of photographs... I glared at the four culprits, not including Sungyeon-Hyung and Jay-Hyung since they weren't really responsible for the picture-taking during their road trip. 'That makes me wonder.'
I hope they didn't see the other photographs here. "Did I forget to transfer those pictures before lending this?" hopefully, I didn't.
"Wouldn't want them to see what mysteries I have uncovered yet kept untold." the next act was about to be unraveled now, none of us know what the storyline is about.
'Making it all the better to shut up and focus.' the curtains uncovered the new setup.
It was dark and the only source of light we had was the sun.
Well, the substitute for the sun since this theatre is currently covered from top to bottom, no natural sunlight can get in or out as long as there's a theatrical play going on.
"Wake up! Wake up!" a sound from the recorded audio playing in the background caught our attention, the puppet sat on the table top with her hair down, it was black and wavy unlike Honey's natural hair...
'Or is this her natural hair color instead?' she tried to escape from the grasp of the puppeteer, unfortunately, the kindness she had been show turned out to be...
"Cruel." the song went on, the stage went from a simple room to what looked like a mansion. An isolated one.
Everything was luxurious and the puppet had all the things that a person could ever want in life. It was all handed to her.
"But at what cost..?" I moved from my spot to take the photographs for the school documentation.
Her face never changed one bit since the start of this show. But as time went by, she looked almost broken. Slowly as the puppeteer raised her as if she was its child.
I noticed the audience fell into silence, not a single applause, comment, or even a whisper. We were all immersed in this show. How it will end, what else was there to come, and most importantly, what is the meaning of all this?
Whatever is going on, I must stay tuned to find out.
--Honey Lou's Point of View--
This feels almost like a flashback of my entire life so far.
From the moment I started reading before I could even talk. The moments when I figured out on my own on how to walk.
Those times when I was taught to sit down rather than to stand up for myself.
The years I spent holding onto the people that had already left me and went away.
Dreams that turned into nightmares.
Faces that I used to wish to see and save in my mind.
Voices that sounded sweet as honey became bitter like liquor.
I sat at the table, getting ready for the final performance. I breathed in sharply before letting out a smooth and heavy breath.
The covers were pulled back and I immediately went into character.
Although, there wasn't much room for me to act... "Wake up! Wake up!"
My mother awoke me from slumber, unlocking the window and putting aside the curtains that flashed my eyes with sunlight, the morning was due to make me go through yet another day of her homeschooling me.
I tried to roll over and block my eyes from getting hit by the light and yet, my mother pulled me off the bed right when I was about to fall into sleep again.
"Your father is out of town, I want you dressed by the time breakfast is served. Got that, sweetheart?" her voice made me quicken my pace and organize the bed.
My uniform had already been prepared for me, as well as the things I needed to use in order to pamper myself.
A knock on the door sounded once I reached the bottom floor and entered the dining room.
"You are due for another book, quickly finish your breakfast while reading the last one. Then you move onto this one, understood?" my mother left me alone to read in a room that hadn't been lit up with sunlight yet.
I pushed the chair from the table to be able to get off, everything was still bigger than me, from the ceiling down to the walls and every doorway that could never stop making me feel so little. "What are you doing down here? Go back to your seat."
She carried me in her arms, placing me back in my seat, and made me read in the dark.
One thing I know for sure is that I am not allowed to speak until I am able to fully say what I mean.
Words that make sense in their ears, clear and concise, are what I am only allowed to blurt out.
Therefore, when I cannot say things that I know they would not understand, I do not utter anything.
For when I try to do so... "'tis new sunglait." I grumbled about the struggles in reading this book with no source of light.
"Is this what your father and I get from buying you numerous books? We teach you how to speak so speak!" I cowered and kept my head low at the sound of her tone, she raised her voice at me, and I still want to make her proud.
So, I kept on trying. Tried... And tried again.
Then I tried again.
Kept on trying, trying, and trying.
"ENOUGH!" my father threw the glass of wine he held in his left hand. My older sister sat on the other side of the dining table, she minded her own business and chewed down the food she was served cold. "For taking too long, your dinner is now cold!"
Our father scolded both of us. "Heat this child's food. And you!" he was angered by me and my mother's lessons.
Lessons that meant nothing to him if the results don't come out as great as he wishes.
"Are you even teaching her? Right now, out of all the times I have given you, Haejin-ah!" he called her name.
Silence... Breathe in...
And out it goes. "I am doing my best, dear husband." the voice of my mother didn't sound as sincere as it did last night.
It seemed as if something had changed in such a small time.
But what..?