Chap 50 : The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (Pt 8) : The family in Chaos and They are weird
Sera's mother came out first, screaming Sera's name at a volume that could have woken the dead. Her father followed, nearly tripping over the threshold in his haste. And Mina brought up the rear, her face caught somewhere between panic, fury, and what looked like the strong urge to commit violence.
"GET HER SHOES!" the mother shrieked. "SOMEONE GET HER SHOES!"
"SHE'S WEARING SHOES!," the father said, blinking down at Sera's feet.
"I KNOW SHE'S WEARING SHOES!" the mother shouted.
"THEN WHY DID YOU ASK FOR HER SHOES?" Dad asked back.
"I DIDN'T ASK FOR SHOES, I ASKED FOR—" The mother stopped, confused. "Wait. What did I ask for?"
"You said shoes," the father said.
"I meant a blanket!"
"You said shoes three times."
"I WAS PANICKING!" the mother yelled.
"YOU'RE ALWAYS PANICKING!" the father yelled back.
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU NEVER HELP!" the mother yelled again.
"I'M HELPING RIGHT NOW!" the father yelled back again.
"BY DOING WHAT?"
"I'M MORAL SUPPORT!" the father said with the voice of a soldier being awarded a Purple Heart—proud and steadfast.
"WE DON'T NEED MORAL SUPPORT!" the mother screamed. "WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING!"
"LIKE WHAT?" the father shouted.
"I DON'T KNOW!" the mother screamed.
"MAYBE WE SHOULD CALL A PRIEST?" the father exclaimed.
"A priest?" The mother's eye twitched.
"FOR SPIRITUAL INTERVENTION!" the father exclaimed even louder.
"SHE DOESN'T NEED SPIRITUAL INTERVENTION, SHE NEEDS—" The mother stopped again, her face going blank. "Wait. What does she need?"
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?" the father shouted. "I'M NOT A DOCTOR!"
"THEN CALL SOMEONE WHO IS!" the mother shouted.
"I DON'T HAVE THE NUMBER!"
"YOU DON'T HAVE THE NUMBER FOR—" The mother threw her hands up. "WHO DOESN'T HAVE THAT NUMBER SAVED?"
"NORMAL PEOPLE!" the father yelled back. "NORMAL PEOPLE DON'T SAVE THAT NUMBER!"
"WE'RE NOT NORMAL PEOPLE!" the mother screamed. "OUR DAUGHTER JUST GOT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING!"
"THAT'S MY POINT!" the father shouted. "WHEN HAS ANYTHING NORMAL EVER HAPPENED TO THIS FAMILY?"
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"
"THEN WHAT IS THE POINT?"
"I FORGOT THE POINT!" the mother wailed.
"THEN WHY ARE WE YELLING?" the father asked
"I DON'T KNOW!"
Mina pushed past both of them, dropped to her knees beside Sera, and slapped her across the face.
Not hard. Not gentle either. Just... firm. The kind of slap that said, "I'm glad you're alive, but also, what the hell is wrong with you, and also, you owe me for interrupting my work."
Sera blinked.
"What—"
"She's alive!" the mother shrieked, grabbing her daughter's face and squishing her cheeks together. "She's alive! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Buddha! Thank you, whoever is listening!"
"Did you just slap her?" the father asked Mina, his tone caught between horror and admiration.
Mina shrugged. "She's breathing but She wasn't waking up. So i gave a little push."
"She's awake now!" the mother cried for joy.
"Exactly." Mina stood up, brushed off her knees, and crossed her arms with the satisfied expression of someone who had just solved a problem with the most efficient method available. "It worked."
"You could have just shaken her!" the father said, as if stating a matter of fact.
"Shaking is inefficient. Slapping is immediate feedback." Mina smirked.
"You enjoyed that, huh?" the mother said, her voice dripping with venom.
Mina's mouth slowly curled into a smile—the smile of someone who knew she was the most dangerous person in the room. "I enjoyed nothing. I am a concerned sister acting in the best interest of—"
"You smiled," the father said.
"I did not smile." Mina batted her eyes innocently.
"Your lip twitched," the mother spat, venom still fresh on her tongue.
"That's a nervous tic." Mina's voice turned saccharine sweet.
"You don't have a nervous tic." The father rubbed his chin, which seemed to be full of stubble.
"I do now. This family gave me one." Mina smiled.
Minjae stood at the gate, watching the scene unfold, and felt something he had not expected to feel.
He laughed.
He laughed so hard he had to cover his mouth with both hands to keep from being heard. He laughed until his stomach ached and tears streamed down his face, and he had to lean against the gate to keep from collapsing onto the grass.
It was the most bizarre thing he had ever seen.
No one called for help. No one noticed him even if he was tall and standing there at their gate. No one checked for a pulse. No one did any of the things that normal people were supposed to do when someone got struck by lightning.
Instead, they argued about shoes and priests, blamed each other for not knowing emergency numbers, forgot the point of their own argument, and then celebrated a slap as if it were a medical breakthrough.
Sera's mother grabbed her under the arms. Her father grabbed her legs. And Mina—looking mildly annoyed, as if this whole situation was a personal inconvenience—grabbed Sera's head.
Together, the three of them carried her back inside like a piece of furniture they were rearranging. Sera's head bounced slightly with each step. Her arms dangled. Her feet—still wearing the shoes no one had needed to bring—dragged across the grass.
"I feel sick," Sera mumbled.
"You're fine," Mina said.
"What happened?"
"Lightning. And you, idiot, didn't get killed."
The door slammed shut.
The yard went quiet.
And Minjae stood there, alone in the dark, still laughing, still shaking his head, still trying to process what he had just witnessed.
But he was glad Sera was breathing. Glad her family was there chaotic and loud and deeply, deeply strange as they were. They had carried her inside. They would take care of her.
She should be safe.
Should be.
He left and walked back onto the street, the cool night air pressing against his still-warm face. The book was still tucked under his arm. He looked down at it—the horror novel about the maid and the ghost and the Hungry Ghost Festival—and let out a breath that was half laugh, half sigh.
He would return it tomorrow.
Assuming Sera was still... Sera.
Assuming the girl with the purple hair hadn't changed everything.
Guess he would find out when he got back to school.