She had known beforehand that it wouldn't work. She had been told before she had even tried that it wouldn't, yet for some reason, she felt she was different, like she was special. Sometimes Jessica Jung was stubborn and she couldn't tell when something was doomed from the start. A spirit in the world of the living didn't always pan out too well.
She had told Jieun that she'd go to the festival with her and her brother the next day, but that night, the more she thought about going to the cherry blossom festival, the more it reminded her of when she was still alive and younger, and how her parents used to take her and her little sister to see them as well. It got to the point that she couldn't take it anymore and she left the school grounds, not telling anyone.
It surprised her just how quickly it took her to make the journey to her parent's home. She hadn't realized it really, up until that point, that for someone who no longer ages, for someone who is already dead and can't die, hours can seem like minutes. She stood outside their home and leaned up against a street lamp, which started flickering as she did so. The regular world wasn't the same as Insolitus, so it of course reacted differently. Staring at the home, she knew it was late. That her parents were probably already in bed, but she had to see them.
Sneaking in was just as easy as walking right through the wall of the home. Nothing much had changed as far as she could see. The old cuckoo clock of her dad's that always sounded like the bird was dying or possessed was still on the wall, her mother's knitting supplies in a basket next to the couch. She found a shelf with her and her sister's photos still on it. Feeling nostalgic, she looked at a picture of her and her family at the beach, they all looked so happy, but she started softly crying. She missed them so much. She reached out with a shaky hand to touch the frame, but of course, her hand passed through it, and again, she was reminded this wasn't Insolitus. Her hand passed through the frame and the glass spiderwebbed in the frame with a loud crack. She continued to cry, seeing the picture again, but her face in it was now obscured by a large crack in the glass.
A few moments later, she heard stirring from the other room and her father shuffled out of her parent's room, eyes heavy with sleep, his bathrobe on, holding a baseball bat in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Shielding her eyes from the sudden brightness, she sniffled. "Daddy?" she said at the man who was looking around the room with a confused expression. It looked like he looked right at her, but not really, more like he looked right through her. "Daddy, it's me. Jessica...y-your princess, remember?" she said, her lip trembling, but the man didn't really react. He just continued to search the room until his flashlight settled on the frame.
"DADDY!!! APPA!!!" she screamed, stomping her feet as he approached the frame. He looked over her general position again, like he had heard something, but it definitely wasn't a voice. He picked up the frame, his attention back on the broken item.
"My poor Sooyeon..." he said, his voice cracking a tiny bit as he softly ran his thumb over the cracked glass where her face had been visible. "We miss you so much..." he sighed, placing the frame back. "Nothing we can do about that right now." he said out loud, turning towards the front door to make sure it was locked. When he did so, Jessica opened her arms to give try and give him a hug, but her father walked right through her, checking the door, then back through her, feeling a coolness in the air.
Sobbing now, Jessica followed after her father, going into the bedroom and she kneeled next to mother's side of the bed. She cried and cried, trying to reach out for her mother, but of course, she couldn't touch her. She missed her warmth, and the love she gave unconditionally to both of her daughters. Feeling defeated, Jessica stood up, whispering "I love you both very much..." before exiting.
Her sullen steps lead her slowly to her old room, where she at first mistakenly attempts to open up her door, which yet again, her hand passes through, however this does disturb the mechanism slowly and the door creaked open. Once inside, she proceeded to just lay down on the bed and continued to cry. That one night she had planned to stay turned into an agonizing week. She had missed classes, abandoned her friends, all in hope that maybe, just maybe, her loved ones would be able to see her, to hear her, but of course, they couldn't, and she could just see that her being there was making them more sad and scared than happy.
With a heavy heart and red, swollen eyes, Jessica left her home to go back to her new home, back to Insolitus.
