Hearing the alarm, she tried to open her eyes lying her back on the bed. It's one of the most difficult things for her to awake from sleep in the morning. The sun was spreading its beams on the glasses of the dormitory windows. She erected herself slowly from the bed and made the bed.
Young seemed to be still in bed, keeping her room door closed. Mi-hwa's room door has opened in half way. She already went out for a morning walk, which is her daily routine. Their room is very quiet. Sun opened wide the window of the bathroom, letting fresh air move into her bathroom and change the old unpleasant smell into new one.
It was seven forty A.M. People entered the cafeteria on the first floor one by one and the seats of the cafeteria were soon occupied. While having breakfast with Mi-hwa and Young, she saw Adam with gray hair, Olive with humorous disposition, Terry with a goodlooking appearance, and Chris, her English writing teacher.
It was four o'clock P.M. It was time for everyone in the dormitory to go out of the building and head for her/his home. Young would go home to see her youngest son and her husband. Mi-hwa would go home and have dinner with two sons and her husband to congratulate on their 20th wedding anniversary. Ri would date Terry on Saturday night. But she couldn't enjoy her weekend life. Because there was one thing she had put aside, which should have been done by today.
There was no one in the dormitory except her, Sun. She went up to the A/V room on the 3rd floor and started to work with a computer. How many hours had past? She reperceived herself left alone in the room and looked outside the windows. Darkness fell down and covered all around the building. Nothing outside did see at all. She opened the room door to get some water from the purifier in the corridor. It was pitch dark in there. She walked along the corridor wall to grope for a switch. Nothing, unless an echo of her footsteps, was heard. Fortunately she touched the light switch easily. The long corridor got bright again and she recognized all things in the same way as usual. Yes, all things.......
Someone stood glaring at her in front of her. "Who is it? No... What is it?" It had four big corners, looking like a large quadrangular person. "Who are you?" she asked with a scary voice. But it wouldn't answer and was narrowing the gap between her and his big side. She couldn't move any step at the sight that the huge quadrangular thing was approaching her. She felt like shivering herself into pieces. At that moment the water purifier shouted at her, "Beat it." She was shocked much more at the sound of the purifier. She turned around and started to run away. The one of the quadrangles chased after her. She dashed at full speed.
Someone shouted, "This way." and snatched her wrist.
"Are you a human? You can say a word!" she yelled out. He was a police officer at EEC. "Sure, I can speak and move just like you." the policeman answer with a big smile.
"Yes, we all get lives from 9 o'clock every Friday night to Sunday midnight." the boy and the girl on the corner of intersection spoke to her. "If so, why do you have to pretend to be inanimated beings during the daytime?" she asked, arranging her ideas. The police man simply replied, "We don't make any money. Instead of living idle lives, we must stay only a certain area and hang around just at night."
"You all chose vegetation at the cost of being locked in time and space." she muttered to herself."How can I get out of here? I have to go now." she begged.
"We equipped everything in here. Stay here with us. Don't go. You can enjoy your life without any effort." the boy on the intersection explained his idle life.
No one did pay attention to her; they only sat down on the bench or talked to each other sharing a meal on the grass. She squeaked the door of EEC, "Don't make a noise out there." someone shouted in the distance.
She tiptoed one by one through the corridor, holding her breath. She eventually reached the stairs which got connected to the second floor. She put one step on the stair and then the second. At the moment the third step was landed, the stairs started to squirm. She jumped down to the floor and rushed to the first floor. She rolled down to the first floor lobby and lost her consciousness.
When she gained consciousness, she found herself embraced in one armchair in the first lobby. She struggled desperately out of the chair and in vain. The armchair whispered her, "Don't be scared. I don't hurt you." The sofa next to the armchair added, "He has waited for you to sit on his seat, you know?" The loveseat opposite to the armchair threw a word, "Sun, why don't you dance with him? It is his wishes."
Chairs from the cafeteria played the violins and the information desk the piano. Unavoidably she stepped one, two, three, one, two, three dancing with the armchair. Do you imagine the scene at night? After finishing a dance, Mr. armchair let her go and ushered to the entrance of the building. He didn't forget to give her a clue of unlocking the door inside. She hugged him tight and whispered how thankful she was.
As soon as she opened the door of the building, the security alarm went off. Someone with a light from another building ran over toward the dormitory.
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