1997(Hotaru’s P.O.V.)My ooasan once told me that no matter how you choose your own destiny, fate will still come to your life and by chance make it good or destroy it.Well at first, I don't understand, for she said that to me a couple of years ago, when I was six and she usually brushed my hair at night in front of the mirror.“Do you want to hear a story?""Yes, Mama"As she brushed my hair I stare at my mama's reflection in the mirror. I wish I was like her. Fair, beautiful. That night I made a pact to myself that when I grow up, I would be like her.“There were these four generations in a family"What are their names? I think.But I just listen."...named Hon, Sok, Tu, and Nyan."Guess that just answered it."They say that on the third generation- which is Tu, a baby girl will be born and the woman who gave birth to it will die on the child's eighteenth birthday, whether it's the cause of the child or by accident."My ooasan tells me I need not know what happened, for I was too

The moment I turned fifteen, Mama gave me a music box with a feline cat dancing inside. Carefully embroidered in the finest blue and gold, its little containers kept tiny photographs of me, Kai, Papa, and Mama. It was the best gift I had from her. When I play that music box the cat danced so beautifully. I also kept the necklaces and rings inside which Papa gave me every year. It's as if she was striding high, her face all striking and her pink ballet shoes would carry her wherever she goes. Sometimes, Papa would let me play that music box and his face would light up easily, and just listen to it as if it gave him a reason to live. Papa was diagnosed with a chronic disease that following year. He suffered a mild stroke but turned worse as time went by. We didn’t notice his symptoms as he barely comes home but one time we did was when he suddenly clenched his chest in the middle of our dinner and fell to the ground. Mama hurriedly went by his side and I could see the shock on her face

1985(Shin's P.O.V.)The next morning my grandma woke me up for work. She pushed open my windows, and my eyes turned away blindly from so much brightness coming through them. I remembered flashbacks of our family having a picnic. I was playing kite with dad, and the next moment he gave my mom some coke from the icebox, and she sipped carefully. Slowly after that, they burst into an argument, luckily there were not many people to see or hear.It was something that a young boy like me, could never understand. It's crazy that when we get older, those memories that we never knew come up together in our mind, solving themselves in their way like a puzzle combined with a realization."You know she moved us all here, right!?" She screamed out from the top of her lungs, with her blonde hair shining from the sun."Yes," my father insisted. "You know it's for the best!""You and your family." Y'all only want your kind of best," she said, walking away from us and taking the car with her.It was

I guess that girl is me. Like a cat that can smell anything from a distance I can feel my eyes hard as fire and my body as cold as ice. I reached for the cell phone in my pocket, and I take one step closer without even having a definite path or destination. All I know is that something called me, and I am sure of that. I turned on the flashlight of my phone and I could see my shadows everywhere. The wind hushed louder as I flashed my tiny light into the trees, leaving the earthy aroma on my nose while some of the torn leaves flew in the direction of the wind. As the wind blew against the trees, I could hear music playing in my ears as the leaves continued to dance and swing in perfect rhythm. I continued to go on further. I remember that March in advance is particularly breezy, at least that’s what my science teacher said.I look up, hearing the sounds of whistling and piping. It was such a high, deafening pitch that I needed to cover my ears from hearing it. I felt like I clumsily st

The boy reached for his pockets and handed out me and let out a flour-coated hard candy and watched me gobble it in hunger. He laughed at me hysterically.There was also a river from behind that wall, ten meters away from us, and the mountains stood before me like giants waiting to devour me.Wondering to myself when the dawn will start, I bathed myself in the most invigorating way.After I finished, I saw him lying on his back behind a tree.I laid down my back on the cold ground, and I watched him as he pointed out his fingers to the night sky. I slowly laughed at how incredibly grateful he is that he found a friend like me, and I marveled at the very thought that this journey is special and that this boy saved my life.That night I had a crazy dream.“Could you pass me the hot sauce, Hotu?“Yeah, sure. Here.”I pass the hot sauce to Courtney, while she poured more into her pizza. We were all dressed in pink pajamas, and my pale, light skin stood out the most from their tanned ones