Reo's POV
The tenebrosity of the darkroom was split by occasional strands of lights form the cracked windows, which fell on a man's gloomy cheeks, ablazed eyes and his wide built.
My body had turned blue with the cold. I was lying on the floor.
I try to sit as silently as I could, try to move my feet, ...they were tied. Tied using plastic cable strings. My mouth was blocked using stockings. Pain was splitting my body. Breaking it into fragments.
Fear was penetrating deep in my heart.
"Poor child, realised what your mistake was? ...being the son of such a man…a man who killed my son...pay for your father…what he did to my son will be paid by you….."
The man said in Japanese, in a tone that increased in both depth and volume with every word.
I was shocked. The man was my father's secretary. I remain silent ..at least I try to..I close my eyes. I didn't want to cry.
"Don't worry, you'll die a rather peaceful death... soon you will meet my son up there in heaven."
BANG.CHINK
I open my eyes to see glass fragments on the floor. My body starts to shake like a leaf.
"Oops..Did I scare you?" the secretary says in a mocking tone.
A woman emerges out of nowhere and stands in front of him.
She starts to come close to me. The beams of the sun fall on her, exposing her face to me. Her hair was jet black and the white skin of her face looked too tight on her skull. A red business dress hung from her bones. I watch in horror as her fake eyelashes gaze locks onto me.
The loud sound made by her blood-red heels was piercing my ears. I fix my stare to the ground, trying not to look up.
Suddenly, I feel paralyzed. She had grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look up. Her touch was shattering my body. Even though I was wearing clothes, it felt like her hands were in direct contact with my skin. I felt her nail sink in my collar bones. My body goes out of control. I couldn't stop crying even though I had closed my eyes. My brain was numb.
"Sweetheart! It's been so long!" she spits sarcastically.
CHINK
I imagine another glass bottle shattering on the floor. My ears were aching. This kind of pain that was new to me. Though my eyes were shut, her face was spinning in my head. I was screaming even though I knew no one would hear me. Suddenly, I feel fingers dig into my cheeks, the four black ovals that would remain and discolour my skin till long after. Her fingers were threatening to unhinge my jaw if another sound were to leave my mouth. Darkness was engulfing my body.
"Oh Reo, you're such a card." She says removing her fingers from my mouth. She stares at me silently, as if debating whether to electrocute me or something worse. I look at my folded knees, my gelled hair fall loose due to sweat and cover my eyes. I hear a distinct sound. The sound was the noise of a generator. It could be anywhere. Where was I? My ears were filled with shrieks. I hear shattering of bottles, clashing of objects. I wasn't being able to differentiate between reality and imagination.
Finally the women lifts her hands off my shoulder, but it still feels like her hands are there, just a little loose. I keep my eyes shut, shut like I was never going to open them again.
How long have I been here? Is it already a week? Why isn't anyone here to save me? I want to leave. I am hungry. I have to get out of here. I try hard to think. Something strikes my mind. My watch. Maybe my father would trace my watch. I try to bring my right wrist closer to mouth. But my neck felt like a broken rod. I try to scroll the screen using my lips. I press the phone icon with the nape of my nose. But no one was picking. Why? What did I do? What sin was I paying for?
I don't know how I was still alive. Maybe God was waiting till the last drop of my blood dried.
Hope had left my heart.
No, I am strong. I have to be strong. I have to leave this place as soon as possible. I hear heavy sounds..as I open my eyes I see a women figure entering and then exiting the room.
I have to escape. I try to stand using my numb hands. I jerk my frozen knees. I crawl towards the door. Glass pieces were spread near the window. Blood dripped from my fingers as I tried to cut the cable strings. My lips twitched, stinging pain took hold of my hands. The cables had left deep bruises on my ankles and wrist. My ankles had turned purple-blue. I try to stand slowly, but my joints felt too stifled. I was not being able to lift to my head, my brain hung like a burden to my body. I try to get out from the completely broken window. The glass tears my coat, pierces a hole in my trouser and digs its way into my skin. I struggle.. I push my body using all my power. I fall on the other side of the window. My knee was surely gone know. . For the first time in two days, I had seen the open sky. Maybe it was dusk.
I run..run and run till where I saw the road existed…The sky was covered with black clouds.
Nothing was in my favour, neither the dismal weather nor god.
Reo falls outside a grocery shop. Passersby thought of him as a beggar or an orphan..indeed his state was worse than that.
It starts raining. The weather starts cursing furiously. The silence before a storm's destruction had started percolating in every inch of the atmosphere.
A boy holding the hand of his pregnant mother comes out of the shop holding a white bag bigger than his size. He had a wide smile spread from his ear to ear which disappeared as he glanced at the miserable boy, sleeping near the garbage bin outside the shop. The boy was drenched in rain and his body had turned the darkest shade of blue. His skin had cuts and abrasions. His clothes showed signs of struggles. Blood was all over his clothes.
Hyun Sook's POV
Mom, can we take that boy home?
"Hyun…these kind of people don't know what families are.. their parents abandon them..they..are not supposed to live…there are some problems which should be eliminated from this world..I believe my dear little child will work towards it when he grows up."Mother says. "Leave it …you are too young as a 6 year old to be thinking about this stuff. Our taxi has arrived, it's not safe to remain here. It's already 22:00. It's getting late. Dad must be waiting for us...", she continues as she sees that I was still thinking about the boy.
"Mom, can't we just walk? Our house is just some blocks away.", I say.
"It's raining and if any of my kids catch a cold, it will be too bad for their health." She says putting a hand on her stomach and the other on my head.
I give a little smile and hold my mother's hand.
We reach home. Dad hadn't returned from work. Mom starts placing the groceries at their places in the kitchen. An idea strikes my mind.
"Mom, I forgot my music notebook at the grocery shop. Can I go and bring it?", I say.
"Champ, don't you think it's too late for you to go outside? And also the weather might make you ill. I will call the owner and tell him to keep the book safely, we can go and collect it later.", she says.
"Mom, I need it tomorrow for my competiton.please..please.please.please.pleeeease..", I say.
"Hyun, you know you're my heart and I can't resist you..but promise me that you'll be back as soon as possible and come back straight home." She says.
'Promise..I promise to make you happy.' I think.
Hyun sees that the boy is still there. His body was there, unmoved, like it was before.
He takes out the pocket knife from his hoodie pocket and stabs the boy.