Chapter 8

By the time we arrived at the yoga studio, it was already almost daylight. The whole night had passed by so quickly that I didn't realize the sun was already rising.

As soon as my head hit the pillow, a night's worth of exhaustion crashed on me all at once.. The couch in the vacant room suddenly felt much softer than it had the last time I tried to fall asleep on it.

For the first time in a couple of years, I dreamed of my mother. When she first disappeared, I was heartbroken and cried almost everyday as any child would. But after a few years, I rarely cry or even think about her. The reality was sad, but because she had been gone for so long I've forgotten the majority of the memories with her.

I opened my eyes and saw my mother holding my hand as we walked. As I held onto her hand, I could feel the rough patches of skin that she would have from training. She wore her police uniform, which she took great care of. Even though I was young, I knew that to my mother becoming a police officer was more than just a career choice.

"Dae-mi, are you doing anything fun in school?"

I glanced up towards her. "Not really," I mumbled. "I'd rather be home with you and dad all day!" I declared.

She chuckled. This dream was from when I had started going to preschool. My grandma told me at first I was so reluctant to go that I practically cried every morning begging her to let me stay home.

We walked all the way to the police station where I saw my grandpa in the parking lot, waiting by our car. As soon as he saw us, he waved. After leaving me with my grandpa, my mother returned to the police station. I wanted to yell out, tell her to stop and spend some more time with me, but I already knew that this would be one of the last times I saw her.

The sheets were damp with sweat when I woke up. I sat up groggily and rubbed my eyes. The door to the vacant room where I slept was open. Instead of seeing the sun coming in through the other studio's windows into the hallway, I realized that it was already dark. I quickly got up and went to search for everyone else.

On the first floor, I followed the noise I heard to a small kitchen towards the back. Everyone sat together, Ju-In, Min-Joon, Ji-Hyun, Jae-Hyun, and Soo-In. Littered everywhere onto the table were convenience food wrappers; ramen, soft drinks, kimbap. I approached the table.

"Dae-Mi, did you finally wake up? You passed out for quite a long time," Ju-In pulled a chair out for me.

I sat down. "Yeah, I was in a really deep sleep."

We chatted a bit about how their day had been after we got back. The more we talked, the more my mind thought back to what had happened at the convenience store. My dream with my mother had pulled many memories of my childhood that I had forgotten out. Towards her disappearance, my mother was always alert and never relaxed. She barely came home and if she did, it was only in the depths of night. When I asked my father, he told me it was because of work. Did it have to do with The Moirae like my grandfather said?

As if she read my mind, Ji-Hyun said, "Guys, we have to talk about the extraction we did. It was–how to say- odd and there are a lot of loose ends," she paused. "To start off, the soul we extracted was Dae-Mi's grandfather. When he thought he was talking to Dae-Mi's mom, Ji-Hye, he mentioned The Moirae."

Soo-In's face turned grave. "The Moirae. It's been awhile since I've heard that name. Some of you may know what it is, but in all honesty we don't know much about them. The Moirae is a rumored group of outliers who have successfully taken over and now fully possess bodies of the living. They have been around for hundreds of years and various horrendous events are thought to have been their doing."

"Dae-Mi, if what your grandfather said was true, that your mother was investigating them, there's an extremely high chance that she disappeared because of them,"Ji-Hyun said. "Those who go near them either join their cause or vanish completely."

I thought of my mother's determination with each case she encountered. If she came across The Moirae, there was no way she would've just let it pass her. No, she would have dug and dug until she got to the bottom.

"The Moirae, do we know anything else about them?" I asked.

"The soul energies of the Moirae that originally inhabited living bodies persuaded and influenced the living person to kill. The more soul energies they collected, the stronger they got, until eventually they had complete control of the body. It is said that the group was originally formed in Europe hundreds of years ago when a small group of extractors defected and desired to be reborn eternally."