I Woke Up Like This

1. Prologue

The bell over the glass door jingled as the last customer stepped out.

The sound cut through the low noise of the refrigerator coolers.

Outside, the streetlights along Kensington Avenue flickered, struggling to light the cold night.

Inside the corner store, Min-Soo wiped down the counter with the same rag he’d been using for years, its threads thinning from too many nights like this.

The shelves leaned from being overpacked with canned goods and heavy bottles of detergent.

He worked in silence trying to take his mind off of his aching back.

The security camera above the register blinked a tired red light.

This store, Park’s Mini-Mart, had been his whole life. It helped keep a roof over his daughter’s head. It also gave him something to hold onto after everything fell apart when his wife died giving birth to Yoon-Ji eleven years ago.

“Yoon-Ji, you finish homework, hmm?” Min-Soo called out, his accent thick and full of love. “Then we go home. I make ramen, okay?”

Yoon-Ji sat on a milk crate behind the chip rack with her pencil pressed between her teeth as she struggled to do her homework.

The bell over the door jingled again. Two men walked in with their hoodies up, hiding their identities.

One of the men laughed loud as hell. The other man didn’t say a word.

Min-Soo smiled like he always did when customers walked in, even when they looked like trouble. “Evening, my friends. Something you need?”

“Yeah,” the taller man said, his voice heavy with attitude. “We need all that cash in the fuckin’ register, old head. You know what time it is, nigga.”

The shorter man slapped the counter. “Aye, hurry that shit up, yo. I ain’t tryna be here all fuckin’ night.”

The taller man pulled out a gun and aimed it straight at Min-Soo. Min-Soo's eyes widened in surprise.

“Please, please, no trouble,” Min-Soo said, his voice shaking as his hands shot up. His eyes jumped between them with panic written all over his face. “Take money, okay? No trouble.”

He opened the register with trembling hands, sending coins clattering to the floor.

Bills tumbled onto the counter. Yoon-Ji peeked through the rack as her small body shook with fear.

Her eyes locked on the tattoo creeping up the man’s neck underneath the hood.

A shattered skull, black and jagged that was fading at the cracks.

Then the gun went off. One shot dropped him where he stood.

Min-Soo fell back with his mouth open in shock and his eyes wide.

Yoon-Ji froze, her mouth caught in a silent scream.

She slid lower behind the shelf as her heart pounded so hard that it felt loud.

Through the wire rack, she saw her father reach for her.

His hand shook in the air. His lips moved slowly as he whispered.

“My… bay-bee… run.”

But she didn’t move. She watched her father clutch his chest as he gasped for air, while the men grabbed the cash and ran, laughing like it was a game. The bell jingled again as the two men rushed out the store, still laughing like they didn't just commit a murder.

“Yo, you see his face? Nigga looked like he saw a fucking ghost!”

The other one laughed under his breath. “Old nigga ain’t even blink, da nigga just dropped!”

And just like that they were gone. The store went quiet, with her father still gasping for air as he struggled to take his final breaths.

Yoon-Ji crawled out from behind the rack shaking.

She gripped her father’s hand tight as she watched tears roll down his face.

He had a quarter-sized hole in his chest near his heart, and it was bleeding profusely, soaking his entire shirt.

Each breath was a fight. They came out shallow and ragged, each one harder than the last. She could feel his life slipping away in her hand.

Then his breathing stopped completely, and his chest went still.

His eyes glazed over staring past her. And at that very moment, she felt it; he was gone.

The life inside her felt like it died right along with him.

The sirens grew louder, cutting through the night as she heard the ambulance racing toward them.

Red and blue lights flashed through the windows.

Her heart thumped and for a second she didn’t know if she should run or hide.

Paramedics rushed into the store. Seconds later the sound of heavy boots followed as police pushed in behind them.

“Over here, quick!!!, we got one down!”

“Check for a pulse!”

“Call it in!”

Yoon-Ji didn’t move. She just stood there small and silent like if she stayed still enough, none of it would be real.

Then someone saw her. “Hold up… there’s a kid in here.”

Everything changed after that. Hands came toward her, careful but urgent.

Someone crouched down in front of her speaking in a soft and caring tone asking her questions that she couldn’t answer.

Another voice asked for a blanket. She didn’t cry.

At least not yet, she didn’t. They moved her outside and police lights flashed in her eyes.

The cold air hit her skin giving her chills.

Voices shouted and people moved around her, but she was somewhere else entirely.

She just stared past them as if they weren't even there.

Time went by in an instant, it completely skipped past her while she just stayed frozen in another dimension. They checked her over at the hospital, then they grilled her at the police station; asking about names, faces, and every detail she remembered. She said nothing.

Not because she didn’t remember.

But because she remembered everything.

Hours later while sitting in a hard chair under the bright lights as she waited for CPS, it finally hit her.

The silence.

The emptiness.

The fact that nobody was coming to take her home.

That’s when she broke down.

The tears came fast and heavy, choking her, burning through her chest as she cried for her father. She cried until her body gave out. She cried until sleep dragged her under.

And when she woke up, those tears were gone.

Every last one of them.

All that remained was vengeance burning through her veins.

Terrified and left to grow up alone in a world without her father, she swore she would make the mothafuckas who took his life pay.