home | munhyeok

5

hyeok opened the door to his home. he'd had a fun day at school; it was his first day of the 4th grade, which he had been excited for ever since summer break of grade 3. he made a few friends. "dad?" he called excitedly, dropping his bag off of his shoulders and onto the floor. his shoes smacked against the polished, wooden floors as he ran to the living room. he spotted his dad, faced towards the television, away from him. "i'm home". his father didn't respond. hyeok could see his elbow lift, and heard as he drank something. hyeok pulled his eyebrows together and moved closer to him, nearing his back. "dad?". his father grunted and turned. he seemed to be looking somewhere far off, distant, as if he wasn't there at all. a bottle sat in his hand. "what?". hyeok smiled proudly and straightened himself, holding his hands behind his back. "school was good," he said. his father stood up slowly, taking steps towards him. hyeok seemed so excited, eager to get back to school the next day, and come home with all kinds of stories for his dad. he reached his hands out to his father, eager to hug him, but he soon felt a hand make contact across his cheek. a bottle shattered. a little boy stumbled back, bringing his hand to his face. he cried. he ran. he pulled his backpack up the stairs with him, and dropped it on the floor, pulling out his 'first day of fourth grade' badge his teacher had given him. he threw it out of the window

hyeok gasped lightly as he awoke, beads of sweat running down his forehead. he didn't know where he was. he sat up quickly, taking in his surrounding with sporadic movements. he finally settled after a moment.

the same feeling hyeok felt the past few times he'd woken up flooded through him. he was in mun's room. he sat up slowly, yawning. and then he felt a pain.

it constricted his chest and forced out a cough. he fell back onto the bed, his body racking with the force.

once he'd regained himself, he sat once again, composing himself for a moment, before sliding his legs off the bed. he felt embarrassed of his outburst, though nobody had seen. but the cold floor sent a sense of relief through him, and he sighed a bit. his chest still hurt.

and then he noticed the silence. usually he'd hear the bustling of mun's grandpa and the persistent voice of his grandma, mun holding pleasant conversation with the two of them.

and then he seemed to come to his senses, looking out the window and noticing the sun barely peaking over the horizon.

'what time is it?' he asked himself, searching the room for some kind of clock. he didn't feel the heavy weight of his phone in his pocket.

he approached the door slowly and pulled it open. the house was unusually quiet, and it sent an eerie chill down hyeok's spine. he hated it.

then he felt that same feeling of confusion. why did he hate it? he hated mun's voice, how happy he was. he hated how much they talked

yet he missed it.

he stalked out of mun's room and into the main room of the home. he got that feeling he hated, the one when he saw something he couldn't have, that was stripped from him as a child. he wanted to live in this small home with loving grandparents. but he couldn't have that, he never did.

he shook his head as to shake the thoughts out and left the house. hyeok believed it to be around 5am - birds chirped, and a light pink poked through the clouds around the barely emerged sun.

hyeok thought of where to go. as he thought, he remembered. though what he remembered was very little. he remembered being at that noodle shop, with mun and his... friends. and then he left. he went to school, hid for most of the day, not wanting to be seen by mun, or anybody, for that matter. and then he woke up in mun's house.

he didn't remember anything in between.

he continued walking, though he didn't know where he was headed to. the air was cold and he sucked in a deep breath. that's when he noticed a deep pain in his chest, one that hadn't subsided from when he'd awoken. he wasn't sure why it was there.

and then he was in front of the noodle shop. he didn't know why he went there, and frankly, he didn't know how he got there. it was like his mind subconsciously guided him towards this strange little building.

the door was slightly ajar, though the lights were off and a 'closed' sign hung off the door. hyeok wasn't sure why he decided to step inside.

he looked around the quiet, dark noodle shop that was typically buzzing with those who wished to eat their famous noodles. as hyeok scanned over the room, he saw another small door, opened, and a light shone from this one.

hyeok tiled his head slightly and approached it, his footsteps slow and weary. he reached it and pulled it open. it creaked.

a long staircase led him into somewhat of a basement, and he was met with yet another door. through this once he could hear a strange noise, a light buzzing, and he could feel an energy coming from within it. he withdrew a bit from the door.

he could have turned around and left, gone back to mun's home... no, not mun's home. somewhere else. but he instead decided to pull the door open.

his back faced to hyeok, mun stood in the center of the room. gushes of wind shot up all around him, creating some sort of barrier of swirling smoke. it distorted mun and the areas surrounding him, blurring them from hyeok.

hyeok watched as mun lifted his hands farther, the strange, mystical smoke rising and consuming mun. blood dripped onto the floor.

then mun stopped, lowering his hands quickly and resting them on his knees. he wiped blood from his nose.

mun collapsed himself to the floor, sitting with his arms rested over his knees.

hyeok stood, frozen in time, his eyes on the boy who'd just done something he'd never seen before. he stared at mun, his mouth agape. he took a stumbled step back, and then he ran. he ran up the stairs, out of the noodle house, and down the street. and then he was gone.

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sorry... this chapter is a bit short :(