Breaking the 4th

When asked, Shatter would admit that she was pretty simple-minded when it came to things that would catch her attention. It didn’t take much to amuse or entertain her, but she was fairly certain the floating words that captivated her attention were nothing ordinary or usual. But the mysterious man that appeared before her just sort of shrugged it off.

“Yea, I noticed it. It is strange.” he agreed. “But so far they have been harmless so I’ve let it be.”

“Well, I’m still getting used to seeing this.” Shatter said, a bit miffed that he didn’t find it as amazing as she did. “Quick; say something.”

The Korean frowned, looking startled. He seemed to think for a bit before he spoke
“Are you…are you just going to stay in the water?”

Shatter pressed her lips together in a thin line and didn’t respond, keeping her gaze fixed on the blocky white words that floated into the bottom of her vision. They stayed suspended in the air for another second before they disappeared in a blink. It was all so strange; they looked so real. It was as if she was watching one of her favorite Korean Dramas, watching a scene unfold in the foreign language and following along with the words.
Could I touch them? Shatter wondered. Maybe I shouldn’t…what if I break it?

The words disappeared into thin air, abruptly as they came. With the subtitles gone, it left Shatter’s gaze to focus on the man in front of her. For the first time she finally got a good look at the man responsible for her ending up in the stream.
The Korean was of a lean build, from what she could tell from his loose-fitted casual attire. He was rather stylish; from his black lace-up combat boots to the khaki double-zipper jacket it was apparent he put a lot of money into his appearance. Of course, his handsome face and perfectly styled dark hair only added to that conclusion. With a flawless complexion any girl would kill for and sharp looking features, he seemed almost other-worldly. At the very least he certainly didn’t look like he belonged in this broken down church.

“Hey… hello? Hey. Hey you.”

A scowl came back on her face, a habit that was becoming second nature.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.” Shatter grouched. “What is that, your favorite word?”

“Well it’s not easy trying to get you to talk to me when I don’t even know your name, is it?” the Korean man said defensively.

“Well, it’s not easy trusting a guy that just materialized out of nowhere, completely out of the blue now is it?” Shatter threw back, crossing her arms stubbornly. “Besides, I don’t know your name either.”

There was silence and for a bit the girl thought that was the end of it. But then she realized the air had become awkward. Shatter swallowed in an exasperated sigh. Of course she would make things unnecessarily awkward; it was the thing she was very good at doing, only seconded by her uncanny ability to lose her keys.
Chewing on the sides of her cheek, she scrambled through her head for words to say. But she didn’t know what to say, or what she could say that would cut this tension.

“It’s Hyun.”

It took a second to register in Shatter’s head that the stranger had spoken again.
“Huh?”

“Choi Hyun… my name.” the Korean said, shifting awkwardly. “Just call me Hyun.”

Shatter blinked at him, and then stared at the words floating in the air. Then back at him.
Say something! Say something, dammit! her rational mind screamed at her.
“…Oh,” she said. She wanted to smack herself. Maybe the cold stream water was choking the circulation of oxygenated blood to her brain. She silently gave thanks to her luck for blessing her with impeccable social skills.

Hyun glanced at her, rubbing his hands on the side of his pants, clearly feeling the tension.
“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Oh right, yea…um, social convention, right?” Shatter stammered, her voice coming out a bit pitchy. She wondered if he could tell she was panicking. “I go by Shatter. Just Shatter.”

She immediately saw a quizzical expression come across his face.
“…Shatter?” he repeated.

“Uh huh.” she confirmed. “As in… breaking into million pieces. Like poohgsh.”
Shatter motioned with her hands a small interpretation of something shattering as emphasis to the sound effects. The Korean man just stared, and she took it as an immediate rejection of her panicked rambling and strange behavior. When he didn’t say anything in the next second, Shatter briefly considered drowning herself in the stream.

But then Hyun raised an eyebrow, and just nodded in acceptance.
“Okay then. Shatter it is.” he said. “So, Shatter. Are you coming out of the water?”

“Ummm…”
Shatter looked around, as if to consider her wet surroundings. She couldn’t help but feel tense; her paranoia had been running wild in her head.
“I think I’m good where I am.” She patted the surface of the flowing water lightly, splashing around a bit. “It’s comfy.”

“I’m sure,” Hyun scoffed, clearly unconvinced. “Look, I can tell even from here that you’re freezing.”

“Am not,” Shatter argued stubbornly.

“Your lips are already blue.” Hyun pointed out.

Shatter pressed her lips together tightly, trying to knead some color into them between her chattering teeth.
“Well, great. Blue is my favorite color.” she muttered.

Hyun let out a short sigh, clearly getting low on patience.
“Come on, what are you doing? You’re going to catch a cold.” he said.

“Well, thank you for your concern for my health, how strangely considerate of you.” Shatter said, getting snarky. “Didn’t realize you would care about a stranger that much.”

“I’m always considerate about other’s health.” he returned.

“I see, that’s very noble of you. But really, I’m okay.” Shatter said. “So really, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. No need for me to keep you from wherever you were heading.”

Suddenly, Hyun’s expression became cold.
“Is there a problem? What is it? And don’t say you’re fine.” he said, his smooth tone coming out icy. “What’s bothering you?”

The truth was, Shatter would’ve loved to leave her watery seat. But several reasons kept her rooted in the stream. One was that she was still struggling to swallow everything--- waking up in an ancient church, not knowing how she got there and now this strange Korean man with subtitles. She still wasn’t sure if she could trust him as she couldn’t get a read on him.
And also, everything below her waist had gone numb in the icy water ages ago, and she just didn’t trust that she could drag herself out of the water.

“Why do I have to be interrogated by a stranger, huh?” Shatter demanded. “I told you, I don’t trust you. Hell, I don’t know you at all.”

“Hey, you listen. I don’t have to be nice to you.” Hyun said. “I’m having a pretty messed up day. I would like to go home and just forget about all this.”

“Oh my, you’re having a bad day? Goodness, me.” Shatter gasped, putting a hand to her chest in faux-ladylike gesture. “You must be the only one. Cuz I’m having a fantastic day, waking up in a strange place with no memory of last night, not being able to find a way out, oh and being shoved into a small stream by a complete stranger!”

Hyun held his arms in front of himself, palms open as if to keep himself a safe distance away from the deranged girl in the water.
“To be clear, you fell into the stream all on your own doing. I didn’t touch you.” he said defensively.

Shatter was too irritated and upset---and cold to keep up this conversation so she cut straight to the chase.
“What do you want from me, Mister Choi Hyun? If you’re asking for directions, you’re definitely talking to the wrong person.” Shatter said in a cutting tone. She felt the old feeling of despair creeping over her yet again and she tried to swallow it down.

Hyun opened his mouth to say something but suddenly stopped and grew quiet, his expression reflecting a mix of emotions.
“I was just thinking... You might know how to get out…” he said.

“I don’t think you get it. I can’t help you get back home.” Shatter said. She felt as if she could cry all over again. She choked on a small dry laugh.
“I can’t even help myself out of this nightmare, alright? I. Am. Lost.”

No sooner than she spoke the last word, there was a tangible shift in the air. It was as if time had stopped, freezing everything in its place. Shatter looked down at the stream and noticed the flow of the water was slowing unnaturally. Slowly, she lifted her hands out of the water, pulling a small dribble of water into her cupped hands. Her hands moved normally as she had commanded without any lag or delay. But the water moved against her hand in a delayed motion, droplets of water rippled and hovered in midair as it fell down in slow-motion. Something told her this was not a good sign.

Shatter didn’t know what had happened, but the growing dread in her chest grew heavier to the point where she was struggling to draw in breath. Her skin crawled and her hairs seemed to stand on its ends as if a live current was running across her skin. But it was her instincts that chilled her to the bone.
The instinct that told her--- screamed at her from every fiber of her being to run.

Shatter lifted her eyes back to Hyun, and saw him looking around, a bewildered look on his face. He turned back around and his eyes caught hers. His expression seemed to match her dread and anxiety.
“What is this…” he muttered under his breath.

Before Shatter could reply something broke the silence.

…click click click click.