Pilot

Pilot

In everyone's heart of hearts, there was a state of grace called warmth.

---

 

2014

 

When Kayleen was seven year old, her father passed away. Ever since then, she began to act grumpily. Every morning, she would look out for him and cried frantically. Then, her mother had no choice but to fabricate a story.

 

"In our heart of hearts, there's a state of grace...called warmth," Madam Ceci held little Kayleen's hand dearly. "What is warmth?" Little Kayleen asked, snuggling her head below her mother's elbow. "Can we use that to get father back?" Kayleen entwined the tip of her index fingers, and puffed out cold breath from her mouth. "Warmth is the health of our hearts," Madam Ceci spread her palm on the surface of Kayleen's chest, which yield a chuckle from little Kayleen. "Without warmth, our hearts...would get sick," she continued. Kayleen swayed her body right to left, and left to right, trying to stomach her mother's words. "Sick?" A second later, her eyes slanted at her mother. "Like fa-fa-father?" she asked. Madam Ceci looked away for a while; a tear strung at the corner of her eyes. It took her everything just to nod her head. "Mm, li-like father...and so, if-if you did something wrong...heaven would take the warmth away," Madam Ceci squeezed her lips hard as she tugged Kayleen closer to hold her in her arms. Kayleen nodded robotically while gesturing a cross sign on the surface of her chest with her stubby fingers. "I've crossed my heart. I'll never do bad things anymore..." she said confidently.

 

Kayleen believed that for a long time...until, today.

 

Two years ago, her heart stopped cold. She committed a sin and therefore, heaven took the warmth off her heart. Today had marked the end of her probation’s period, but the warmth, it still…not coming back to her. Kayleen go through a lot; “a lot” to her literally means everything one would never wanted it to happen in their lives: witnessed a psychopath’s murder, kidnapped twice, and…took an innocent person’s life. The secrets she tried too hard to keep until now had been smothering her from inside…until, it got to the point where death was her second nature.

 

Kayleen halted at the demarcation line between the Juvenile Centre and the world beyond. She felt incredibly defeated as she lifted her head to look upon the enormous skies. Her eyes watered; she hadn’t known how much she’d crave for moments like this, once it was gone. Being held on probation for two years was wearing away at whatever sanity she had left, and what she got out of it was burden that echoed painfully in her heart. There was no end to it. She wrapped her arms tightly to ward off the morning chills that coursed inside her veins. Both anxious and nervous, she slanted her vision at the left side, carefully eyeing a middle-age lady officer, who dressed in silvery uniform.

 

Officer Tifa was watching at the seventeen year old girl ever since they had left the Administrative building couples of minutes ago. Kayleen was relatively tall and skinny. She had got a round face with clear white skin. Her hair was shoulder-length, straight, and black. Kayleen slumped forward as she pressed her hands together; wrinkles formed on the surface of her forehead when Officer Tifa angled her body toward her. Officer Tifa could tell that Kayleen was glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, and so she took it as a sign that Kayleen was anticipating something out of her. Officer Tifa let out a suppressed grunt. “Kay-ssi.” she called. “You looked really good in white dress.” Her eyes scanned Kayleen thoroughly from head to toes, then a smile crept on her lips. “White is a nice choice of colour for this very special day, my dear.” Kayleen’s face reddened, but not in a good way. She was thrilled by the officer’s baritone voice. Her voice was within the range of voices which snapped her out of something. It reminded her of the kidnapping events two years ago. An image of a masked guy plagued inside her mind – his voice, his suffocating scent, and every word he had said to her. For a lifetime, she wouldn’t forget that. Why did he kidnap her? What did he want from her? And…why did he kill…the girl she saw inside the dark room? The news belatedly revealed that he was a paediatric surgeon, and a psychopath. But...she doubted that.

 

Sweat soaked every inch of her clothing as panic seeped inside her. Kayleen fidgeted. She bit her lips hard and brought her hands together. The officer sighed sourly. “Kay-ssi, your mother would come today, right?” she asked softly. It didn't take her long to notice Kayleen wariness of her. Of course, it wasn’t entirely her fault. Kayleen went through a lot of bitterness. Two years ago, she had once became the news' spotlight. People talked about her in and out; some pitied her, some poured their sentiments over the unfortunate events, like how the government should’ve implemented an efficient screening system for every individual that was about to become a doctor. It came with a conclusion that doctors with background of psychopath would never do good to the society, contrarily,  they were a silent threat that deemed to receive help, not vice versa. The incident had stirred up the whole nation. Never had it came across everyone’s mind that a respectable paediatric surgeon, would maliciously masking a murder with a so-called euthanasia (mercy-killing) toward the child patient. After a search warrant had been issued, Kayleen was found unconscious inside the surgeon’s apartment within two days. The criminal’s unit had released a statement to address Kayleen's issue, implying that she was aimed to be the next victim of the psychopath surgeon, however, they didn't include further explanation. 

 

Kayleen’s face was as pale as porcelain. In her deepest thoughts, today wasn’t a special day, but rather, it marked the beginning of her nightmare. There had been a time where she believed that living inside the Centre was safer than the outside world. Fear embodied her ever since the incident. After the first kidnapping, she was admitted to the hospital, but three days after, she was kidnapped again, and this time the culprit was the psychopath surgeon's lover. There had been no further clarification made by the police, nor the media. Her motive was not being made publicly, and many were still left pondering upon it. Inherently, Kayleen became emotionally unstable after two consecutive kidnappings; her case was handled upon the department of psychiatry (mental health). Kayleen was extremely guarded by the time she was rescued from the second kidnapping. The psychiatrist once spoke to the media that Kayleen was possibly experienced from Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD), but no further elaboration attempted as it was a confidential matters related to Kayleen’s privacy. Kayleen wasn’t able to recognise her mother even. All the while, she viewed everyone as threats and that everyone was trying to kill her. Whenever the doctors or nurses approaced her, she struggled aggressively from them.

 

Officer Tifa pursed her lips and clicked her tongue as to catch Kayleen’s attention. “Kay-ssi. Did your mother contact you?” A frowned went past her. It was somewhat difficult to start a conversation with Kayleen. Officer Tifa recalled the day when Kayleen was transferred here. Never in her twelve years of service, had she ever encountered a juvenile's case like Kayleen Alice. The first ten months was a disastrous period for that girl, she never spoke with anybody, not even to her only family – her mother. They had to sedate her so she could sleep, otherwise, she would curl herself into a ball at the room’s corner, and trembled the whole day, murmuring something only God knew what. Whenever a psychiatrist came, again, sedatives had became their option as to calm her down. Kayleen was a fighter, even good one at that – she was able to take five peoples at one time. Even though she was black-belt holder in Karate, it had yet remained a mystery as to why she couldn’t escape from the previous two kidnappings. There had been some rumours around saying that the culprits were people she knew or worse, she was part of their accompliance. Nevertheless, the case buried soon after the psychopath surgeon was being sentenced into death.

 

“Here,” Officer Tifa outstretched her hand and presented a medium-sized package to Kayleen. “My good luck present. Take it.” Kayleen didn’t budge. There hadn’t been a single word came out of her ever since earlier. Officer Tifa couldn’t predict what was stored inside of her mind. 

 

“It’s marshmallow. Your mother once told me that marshmallow was your favourite.” Officer Tifa reached out for Kayleen’s hand and smiled warmly at her. “Your hand was cold!” she exclaimed, which alerted Kayleen, and she quickly jumped away. A torrid look dawned in her face. Officer Tifa scratched her head in dismay. She almost forgotten that Kayleen was easily frightened by a certain “raise” of voice. It must have reminded her of those unpleasant moments. If one never experienced it, they wouldn’t know how terrified it could be. She was kidnapped twice, and the latter almost kill her. After the second kidnapping, she was held inside the mental hospital; it even came out on the newspaper that she had gone mad. During that period of time, just everything about Kayleen Alice sparked interests in the public’s eye; everyone wanted to know her progress. Kayleen’s mother was such in a tight situation. The media even dug out her past with her previous husband; everything was out of control, and also out of topic but as long as it was related to Kayleen Alice, the newspapers were sold. Reality had always been like that. Within the world of media, there were only good stories that sold, or one that didn’t. Regardless, they shouldn’t have revealed such information to the public. Everyone has had their opinion regarding the matters; some would sympathise, some would stigmatise, and some wouldn’t care less.

 

“Oh dear, I’m so-so sorry.” Officer Tifa stammered an apology as she approached her. Kayleen threw a hand up and shook her head hard. Officer Tifa was dumbfounded. The same thoughts darted in her head: how would this girl ever survive like this? She pitied her from the bottom of her heart. It was certain that Kayleen wasn’t ready to be discharged. She had raised the issue to the authority once, but the response she got was something that she learnt in the theory book – a juvenile wasn’t supposed to stay for more than two years as stated in the Youth Justice System, and furthermore, the hospital’s side had released an official health report, denoting that Kayleen Alice was not a psychotic patient – she was just traumatized, and with little time, she would gradually regained her former lives. How absurd was that? It clearly showed that they were merely awaiting for the “green light” from the hospital, and after Kayleen was proved to be normal, there wouldn’t be a reason to let her stay. It irked her to the utmost degree. She wasn't blind but was forced to turn on a blind eye since it was beyond her scope of duty. Truthfully, Kayleen’s case was specifically neglected in some way. There was something off about it. Throughout the period Kayleen was under probation, they relied mostly on the hospital, like asking the psychiatrist to “monitor” her mood and all; in general word, people would say: to tame a dire animal with sedatives – they had never treated Kayleen as a juvie but a mental patient instead – there was no real treatment being done to her. To say the least, they only gave her sedatives and anti-depressant medications; she had never once, took part in any of their intervention programmes like the other residents. All in all, they were merely awaiting the probation period to end, then send her off. She used to think that Kayleen’s case was seemingly monitored by someone in the higher up. Her stomach clenched into fists just by thinking about it. They had kept her in her room and a few only was allowed to meet her.

 

Kayleen fiddled with her necklace; her eyes was holding the fear. Officer Tifa sucked in a long breath and jabbed at her temple with a finger. There was nothing else she could do, Kayleen was relatively hard to approach; she was proven to be good in fighting too. Officer Tifa wished she would’ve had basic in martial arts or something, so perhaps, she could be more courageous. What if Kayleen went berserk and hit her like what she did to the people she had injured badly in the past? By her own, she had to admit that there was indeed a piece of her that scared of Kayleen, in fact everyone did. It served like a tag that would embody, and shadowed Kayleen's lives forever. Despite everything, it wouldn’t shed the fact that Kayleen was a murderer albeit it was alleged accidentally and purely out of sanity. The victim was a young security guard, who was about to get married with his fiancé. His family wouldn't agree with settlement and hence Kayleen was put under probation. More often than not, life was short, and dauntingly unpredictable.

 

When Kayleen appeared calmer than before, Officer Tifa flashed a small smile and gestured at her to come closer, then she pointed at the package in her right hand. “Kay-ssi. Take this with you.” She said softly, trying to make it sound pleasantly. “And don’t forget about your appointment card. Did you already bring it with you?” Officer Tifa then tried to deviate their topic as to make Kayleen felt at ease. Kayleen stared at Officer Tifa straight ahead over her shoulder. She nodded, then lowered her eyes.

 

“Come here, dear. You know I won’t hurt you, right? I’m Officer Tifa…” She extended her arm in a wide gesture. Kayleen looked up at her dubiously before humming a response. At one glance, she resembled a child who was trapped for so long until she couldn't trust anyone. Officer Tifa groaned inwardly as she envisioned her heart-wrecking situation. She must’ve been intimidated by all the strangers around. For whatever reasons, her mother had came to visit her only once throughout her probation period. Officer Tifa was lucky to be able to speak with her during that brink of time. Kayleen exhaled deeply, bit her lips hard, and slowly advance toward Officer Tifa. When she was halfway to reach her, someone came.

 

“I’m here for Kayleen Alice.” A hoodie guy, who dressed in dark jeans and button-down black shirt stopped in between Kayleen and Officer Tifa. He was remarkably tall, fair-skinned, and his hair was dyed in brown, making him dashingly handsome. “I said, I’m here to fetch Kayleen Alice.” he repeated breathlessly. Officer Tifa gawped at him unblinkingly. “Is she out already?” he asked impatiently. When there was no answer from the lady, he slanted a glance to his left, to where Kayleen was. Kayleen couldn’t hide her nervousness, not after knowing a strange guy blurted out her name, looking out for her like she had indebted something from him. The hoodie guy threw out his palms at her and said, “I was asked to bring her with me.” Officer Tifa’s eyes darted from Kayleen to the hoodie guy, all the while she tried to signal the guy to slow down, but he didn’t seem to get her meaning at all.

 

Minutes passed and the hoodie guy began to walk toward Kayleen’s side and locked eyes with her. Kayleen stood there like a statue. Her face turned from rosy pink to deadly pale. “Hey,” His eyes sparkled, which seemed to indicate something. A flirtatious grin was evident on his face as he leaned closer to the girl, who gaped at him astonishingly. Kayleen felt something surge beneath her chest. An outburst of fear was running in her when he leaned closer and closer to her. On the side, Officer Tifa hissed exasperatingly as she foreshadowed something bad. “N-No!” Before Officer Tifa could deliver her warning properly, the thing that she feared the most was about to happen.

 

Kayleen was off balance, and when the hoodie guy tried to hold her, she shrieked and elbowed him in the stomach as hard as she could but to her surprise, the guy didn’t flinch. “You’re Kayleen Alice, aren’t you?” his tone had gotten icy, and so Kayleen’s eyes grew wider than ever. “You look exactly like in the picture." He squinted and laughed humourlessly. "My name is Seon. I’m here to fetch you to our place.” After introduced himself, he exchanged glance with Officer Tifa. “Your mother was out of Korea at the moment.” he explained briefly.

 

Office Tifa took the place beside Kayleen while held her gaze on him. “Do you have document, or prove about it?” she asked warily. Seon gave a polite nod and dug out something from his pocket. Kayleen gasped; stream of questions had emerged in her brain. Why would her mother ask a stranger to come and fetch her? Even if she had a job out of the country, but the fact that her only daughter would get discharge today, and after so long they hadn’t meet each other, how could she, why did she…choose today out of the rest of 365 days? Kayleen gulped a lumpy sensation in her throat. How could she spent her days with some strangers? No, that would be, a big no.

 

Seon noticed Kayleen’s indifferent gaze toward him since earlier on, so he clicked his tongue and smiled slyly at her direction. “And you…” He transfixed his gaze on her. “Stop glaring at me like I’m some kind of bad guy.” He told with a smirk. Officer Tifa paused and turned to Seon. “Seon-ssi,” her voice tinged with warning.  

 

Seon tipped his head back and held out both hands in front with a folded papers on his palms. “Here, the document…or whatever you want to call it,” His sight never left the girl. Kayleen’s face crumpled as time went by. He was not an expert in body language, but from his brief observation, Kayleen was indeed afraid of him. Not just afraid, she was exaggeratedly afraid of him. It bothered him a little that his usual killer smile wouldn’t make the girl squealed for him. She was kind of rare, and it strangely intrigued him.

 

Officer Tifa leaned toward Kayleen and wrapped one arm around her. Kayleen tried to wiggle her hand away, but Officer Tifa held her securely this time. “Don’t be afraid, I’ll be here.” The lady whispered beside her ear. “He’s here to fetch you, not to kid-” Officer Tifa cursed herself inwardly for almost slipped off her tongue to voice the word “kidnap” out from her mouth.

 

Seon looked equally bewildered at the two persons huddled in front of him. “We have to move now.” He said absentmindedly. Officer Tifa turned sharply at him and grind her teeth. Seon mouthed “why” to her while spreading out his palms on the air.

 

“Are you alone? I mean, there’s no female with you?” Officer Tifa asked thickly. Seon grunted, then he let out a theatrical sigh. “A female? Ah…sadly, but no.” He inhaled deeply and drew his brows together. He was able to grasp the meaning out of it. He should’ve known it. It could’ve been easier that way. Of course, female would’ve more appreciated since Kayleen was a female too.

 

“I will accompany her,” A voice was faintly heard from the entrance. The three of them turned their head over the voice. 

 

A slender young girl, who looked effortlessly attractive while just wearing a black loose shirt paired with navy blue denim jeans appeared at the entrance. She tucked her shoulder-length black hair behind the ear as she walked carefully ahead. She possessed an almond-like eyes, and an oval-shaped face. The moment she entered the gate, twirled of emotions spread inside Kayleen.

 

“Is she your friend?” Officer Tifa shifted her eyes to Seon. “No…” he answered absently. From the second she entered the gate, he wasn’t able to look away. There was something so familiar about that girl. He was certain that this wasn’t the first time he had looked into the intensity of those icy brown eyes.

 

“My name is Mio,” Mio wasn’t looking at anyone else aside from Kayleen. A stony-dull expression had warped her face since before.

 

“You must be Kayleen Alice.” Mio stopped short in front of Kayleen. Coldness tinged in her voice. Kayleen felt the rapid breathing of her own heart. The way Mio looked at her seemed to bore through her. Officer Tifa felt the tension built up between them. She gave Kayleen a firm grasp over her hand and continued to pat at the small of her back. Mio gave Kayleen a deep, and penetrating look. There was no hint of smile on her bare face. There wasn’t any warmth from her. Kayleen got a strange vibe from Mio ever since she came; the pit in her stomach grew just by being near to her.

 

“I’ve been waiting for you.” she said tonelessly. Her eyes emitted a glint, vaguely indicate something. Officer Tifa held Kayleen firmly as she sensed her body tensed up. Officer Tifa wanted to issue a warning toward Mio but it didn’t happen as she wished.

 

Mio clenched her fists. “The victim of the murder that you saw two years ago…was my sister.” she said sharply, and painfully clear. In an instant, everyone was in dazed but no one had said a word.

 

Kayleen staggered as though she had been slapped in the face. The world in front of her mind’s eye had turned darkly as Mio’s words sink inside her. The cruel memories upon that day whirled in her head. Everything flooded her at once. She couldn’t breathe, or rather, she refused to – the sudden feeling of nostalgic was almost as painful as before. She dug her nails to her hands and squeezed her lower lips. The package of marshmallows which gave by Officer Tifa earlier had dropped onto the ground. The marshmallows scattered all over the ground, causing Mio's eyes to widen in shock. Briefly, she almost lost her balance as her vision blurred; the sight of the marshmallows had stirred up her past. With every blink, her sister, Hana's images appeared in front of her mind's eye. She closed her eyes and refused to shed a tear. She inhaled deeply, then breathed out slowly, which had always worked to calm herself down. She swallowed the sadness as if it didn't affect her, and in no time, she was able to portray her usual cold attitude. It wasn't the least hard for Mio. Acting was her second nature ever since her sister's death.

 

“I’m sorry…” A note of sadness tinted Kayleen’s voice. Kayleen stepped closer, eyes were brimming with tears. “I-I…didn’t…know…” she clamped her mouth and moments later, a steady stream of tears dripping slowly down her cheek.

 

Two years ago, in the hospital, when Kayleen accidentally entered the dark room, she had witnessed a murder but she didn’t aware of it. For once, she never thought it was a murder. Her thoughts were filled with so many things that she wasn’t able to grasp a hold at the situation. And so, the awful pain growing inside her throughout this two years. The girl she saw, her face, her voice, her last gaze…it all lingered in her heart, vividly painful.

 

But, there was more to it…A secret that she had never told anyone ever since that day, or rather, she couldn’t.

 

Seon's eyes darted between the two girls as he stood in the middle. "Kayleen Alice...and Mio..." he muttered under his breath, then his lips curved up for a smirk.

 

 

A/N: Hey, how are you? It took me two days to re-edit "pilot" chapter, so I hoped it turned out pleasantly. There was alot of explanation inserted in this chap, and less interaction, I would say. Anyway, please leave me some comments below. Your opinions are preciously precious for me, as a writer. Thank you for reading, and have a blessing day :)