Mulholland Drive
Winter woke up covered in sweat. She checked the digital clock on her bedside table; it was only 2 AM. It was a recurring nightmare of the horrifying accident. The hospital video provided crucial details that filled the gaps in her dream—the car’s headlights lighted the dark highway and pinpointed the exact moment of the collision: 10:01 PM. But this time, something was different. Instead of the rich man’s son checking the damage he caused with blood oozing out of his body, Karina stood in front of her with a stern face. She painfully turned her head to her girlfriend, and it was also Karina with one tear falling from her right eye.
She sat up and grabbed her laptop from her bag. She searched for articles about the accident.
“1 dead, 2 heavily injured after a car collision at Highway 114”
She scrolled past the photographs of the crash and continued to read.
“The son of the CEO of J Group was heavily drinking when he decided to drive home from a party.”
“J Group.” She scrolled further.
“New and upcoming writer with the pseudonym Winter suffered from a head injury and is now in a coma. Her girlfriend, Kim Minju, was dead on arrival.” Her brows furrowed, confused by the news article. She remembered the police said that her girlfriend was dead before the ambulance arrived. She can’t be wrong because she specifically took note of that information for Minju’s relatives.
She sighed and closed her eyes. It must’ve been her mind playing tricks on her. Maybe her memories conjured a different version of the events to help her lift some of the burden of surviving.
Though she never had thoughts of harming herself, whenever Minju crosses her mind, she can’t help but feel guilty about waking up from her coma.
She put her laptop back in her bag and tried to sleep.
“Memories are not reliable. How can you depend on yours when you’re missing a chunk of it?” Winter muttered to herself. She thought of the horrible accidents she’d heard in the news throughout her years of living, and some of them who survived said that it would’ve been better if they didn’t.
Maybe some part of her wished that Minju died quickly so she wouldn’t have to feel the pain of the broken bones in her body.
Winter decided not to drink this time. She was heading out from work and stood outside their building for 5 minutes, wondering where she’d go. She slowly walked, taking her environment closely. Children played in a nearby park, tossing and kicking a soccer ball. A family of three happily chewed on their sandwich while their golden retriever puppy sniffed around them, waiting for its snack. She saw a man and a woman flirting with each other, ignoring the looks they were getting when a certain figure caught her eye.
She was wearing a white, flowy dress paired with white sneakers. She was sitting on one of the benches in the park looking somewhere. Long black hair covered most of the woman’s face when the gentle breeze revealed who it was.
“Karina?” Winter’s feet led her in front of the woman she had been thinking about since her weird dream. Karina looked up to her and brightly smiled. Her makeup was lighter this time, and Winter got to appreciate her features even more.
“Look who the wind brought me. How are you, stranger?” Winter was stunned by her beauty. Compared to the woman she met in the bar who was clad in black, this Karina felt like a twin with how contrasting her look was from before.
“Hi. What are you doing here?” Winter sat next to her, not taking her eyes from the woman.
“Just checking out some apartments around the area. I want to move here.” Right, she forgot the woman was not average in that department. Karina scooted closer and crossed her milky white legs. Winter brought her eyes back to the other.
“How about you? What brought you here?” She unconsciously licked her almost dry lips and ran her fingers through her hair.
“I work around here. I didn’t know where to go so… then I saw you and at first I wasn’t sure it was you—”
“You forgot about me? That hurts, Ms. Winter.” She forgot that she gave Karina her pseudonym instead of her real name.
“No, I’m just, you look so… different from that night.” That brought back the smile on Karina’s face.
“So you do remember me. How do you like the person in front of you now?” Winter took a deep breath and got a whiff of the same perfume from last time. There was something about it like it was somehow familiar.
“You look amazing… and you smell great.” Before Karina could say anything, her phone rang. She raised a finger to say ‘wait a moment’ and took the call. Winter exhaled, she was holding her breath again. Karina apologized for cutting their conversation short, but she had to leave now. Winter stayed there for 30 minutes before going home.
Fate was working hard to make their paths closer.
After that day, Winter kept seeing Karina in the most unexpected places. She was grocery shopping when Karina was doing the same. The tall woman ended up in an apartment around the area where Winter lives but a few blocks away. She was wearing casual clothes with her hair tied up in a bun. She wasn’t wearing any makeup and that made her look extra attractive to Winter’s eyes. They chatted the whole time while looking around for food on their grocery list. Before they parted ways, Karina asked her to come over next time and she’ll cook for her. Winter agreed.
The next time they saw each other was on Winter’s day off. She was looking for a new coffee shop she saw online, excited to try their coffee and watch a movie in peace.
Upon entering the coffee shop, Jardin de Café, Winter was greeted by the staff. She browsed the menu and ordered a Noisette and a croissant before going to the garden to look for a quiet spot. The coffee shop wasn’t full at the time, but it could get crowded due to the overwhelmingly good reviews she read. She picked the farthest table and set up her laptop to watch Mulholland Drive.
10 minutes into the movie, someone stood in front of her. Winter looked up to see Karina with a tray in her hands. “Your order, Ms. Kim?” She was wearing an apron that covered the pale cream with a hint of green coat she was wearing. She put her order on Winter’s table and asked, “May I join you this afternoon?” Winter’s smile slowly formed on her face, shocked to see that Karina’s long hair was cut short and dyed reddish-brown.
Winter nodded and Karina removed the apron she borrowed from the staff and sat beside her.
“What are you doing?” Winter asked in an incredulous tone.
“I saw you at the entrance and decided to surprise you.”
“You’re always everywhere. Are you perhaps, following me?” Winter teased.
“I was here first you dummy. I was sitting in a corner wearing a cap so… you were never gonna spot me.” Winter paused the movie she had forgotten and rewinded it.
“You look different every time I see you. You’re not from here, aren’t you?”
“I just wanted to change my look for a long time so… you like this better?” Winter shook her head and laughed, unable to answer the woman’s question.
She can’t admit that she likes her more every time they see each other, right?
But Karina was waiting for an answer.
“I think…” Winter inched closer and brushed a strand of Karina’s hair with her fingers, “I think you’re making me fall for you.”
They spent that afternoon watching the movie Winter was supposed to watch on her own. She only noticed how comfortable they got when she felt Karina’s arm dangling on the backrest. She slowly moved closer until she felt the warmth of Karina’s body. Karina moved her arm over Winter’s shoulders and pulled her even closer. Winter sighed deeply, biting her lips to keep her feelings in.
“What’s the name of this movie again?” Karina asked near the end. Winter explained the title and summarized the plot of the film, which Winter was struggling to understand.
“Let’s finish it first, I think I know what’s happening.”
The sun was setting when the end credits rolled in. Winter closed her laptop and turned to Karina with a confused look. They discussed the ending and their theories as to what it means.
“I think she felt guilty about what she did and dreamt about it. You know that theory about the people we don’t recognize in our dreams are people we’ve seen somewhere in real life?” Winter nodded. “So, I noticed this guy,” The laptop was opened again during their discussion to further understand the plot. “And he appeared here again, so maybe her mind put that guy and gave the guy a role or something in her ‘better’ version of the events. Then, this woman who was dead in Rita’s house was her… maybe? Then in reality, the assassination happened, she was full of guilt and she decided to end her life. But that’s just me.” Winter slowly clapped, amazed by Karina’s theory.
“Your mind is… incredible. You thought of that in one watch. Some movies I’ve seen that confused me took me days to figure it out.” Karina smugly smiled, scrunching her nose. Winter found that habit so adorable. This felt good, she thought. Everything felt so warm and cozy, and she wanted to get used to this feeling.
Winter now gave in. She wants to know more about the woman, share more of her life with her, do more things with her, and that is what Karina needs to happen.
For a prey to fall into her elaborate trap.