Remind || Dystopia

#twicetopia

In a beautiful voice and the sound of her guitar gently weeping, the elder woman finished the one song she was singing. The chords were pretty basic, but sounder euphoric all together. The lyrics talked about a young ambitious woman who wanted to make the world a better place but was silenced by the people.

"I wrote this song in the memory of Im Nayeon." said the old woman sitting with her guitar on her laps in the middle of the room. "In the memory of a woman who changed my life and the world around her forever.."

"Tell us more about her, grandma!" Tzuyu, the youngest one of the children confidently shouted. "We want to know more!" Soon, all the kids were exulting, the excitement of hearing Nayeon's story getting to them. "Yeah, tell us more, tell us more!" Chaeyoung shouted afterwards, being the impatient little girl she was.

"I will tell you the story tomorrow, now it's time for be-"

Before she even finished her sentence, the three little kids had all whined simultaneously, none of them wanting to go to sleep without hearing the story of the heroine their grandma keeps mentioning. "We are not going to sleep if you don't tell us!" the oldest one of the kids, Dahyun, exclaimed. And then, another tumult of voices and pouts emerged; the kids just couldn't stay quiet, could they?

The grandma, with a giggle-like sigh, finally agreed. "Fine, only if you promise not to tell your mother I let you stay up this late." She got a simultaneous reaction from all of the kids, all of them nodding and instantly, without a second thought, agreed.

"Many years ago, when I was still a high school student, there was this new girl in our class. And her name was Im Nayeon... The first day of school, she was the most timid creature I had ever seen, she was constantly writing something down on her journal. The next day though, she was just the opposite. She talked to everyone, she didn't do any discriminations. She always helped whenever she could.

Soon, Nayeon and I started getting closer. She had some unusual beliefs, beliefs that no one else in the school ever talked about. And it was as simple as equivalence, faith and kindness. You see, back in the day, no one would consider females as equivalents. Not even girls themselves. Nayeon was the first one to speak up about such issues.

Whenever she would see a man pushing a female around, she was the only one who stood up for the girl. Once, she even got into a physical fight. She was one of the people who would stand up to anyone for anyone, she was the one who would fight for everyday rights.

But it wasn't until one day that things got far more serious.."

There was a knock on the door. With a bubbly voice full of excitement, the teenage girl inside the house shouted for her parents to hear.

"I'm getting it!"

She rushed to the door, and quickly opened it, as if she was waiting for something... or someone to arrive. When she opened the door, her eyes met the person's standing there, waiting for the door to open. A bright smile made its way on both the girls' faces, and they let themselves hug each other tightly.

"Nayeon! I missed you!" Jisoo would exclaim, hugging the older girl tightly. "I missed you too! Shall we go to school?" Nayeon said after pulling away from the hug, still looking at her friend in the eyes. "Mhm!"

The two girls started walking to school, since Jisoo's house wasn't far from the school. Soon, the two found themselves standing in front of the school. It was the first day after summer break, so the girls were a year older and ready for the new school year! At least, they thought so.

And so, the first few hours went smoothly. At lunch time, the two girls would meet at the back yard of the school as always. They would as always discuss, and their conversations transitioned from topic to topic smoothly because they had so much in common.

"So.. you have never told me.. are you into somoene? Ya know.. someone special?" Nayeon asked with a sheepish smile on her face. Jisoo would reluctantly respond. "Yeah..."

A few seconds of a comforting silence before Jisoo made a brave move and leant forward to kiss Nayeon on the lips. Before Nayeon had the chance to show any reaction though, there was a loud noise. It sounded like intensely loud fireworks, and it came from just behind them. Screaming, and a tumult followed right afterwards. But both of the girls on the yard were left unconscious.. on the bomb's cruel hands.

"And what happened to them, granny?" Tzuyu asked, absolutely fascinated by the story. "People say that Nayeon died on the spot.. but I haven't heard anything about Jisoo. Now, off you three go to sleep!"

A disappointed exclaim came from all of the girls simultaneously again. But this time they actually left their grandma's room and went to their bedrooms. The elder woman smiled softly and placed her guitar on her bed, then pushing her wheelchair's wheels to go to the left corner of the room where there was a box. She opened it and picked up a phoyo album. Right on the first page, there was a photo of Nayeon and Jisoo, smiling at the camera. Jisoo.. that name is so distant to now elder Park Jihyo. And the tears she shed on the day of Nayeon's funeral, on her wheelchair, were coming back. Sometimes, memories can be one's worst nightmare.

And that was the last story she ever narrated.. the last song she ever sang.

In the memory of Im Nayeon, my heroine.