Seokjin and the worry eating doll ✔️

Chapter 6 : A shadow on the stairs

Seokjin was on his own little moon, in the middle of the sea of ​​clouds.

He slept so well, his head resting on her lap, letting her hands caress his hair gently.

He felt like he had known this girl forever and let himself be lulled by her voice and touch, which already seemed so familiar to him. He wanted to see her every night. No, he would have liked her to really exist because he had the impression that with her, all his problems suddenly disappeared, he didn't think about them at all.

It was amazing to have the same dream two nights in a row. He was happy to have found again this place where he felt so good and where he had slept so well the first time. But to get there, he had to climb again the endless bars of the rope ladder weighed down by metal balls which were attached to him again. He didn't understand why it was so hard to reach his moon : if it was a dream, it should have been enough for him to want it, right? After all, it was only a dream so why so much effort? But the reward after the effort was worth it.

That night, the girl had made him "fish" again and grow not one but two people, each weighted with one of his heavy balls that he had to painfully carry with him during his ascent. The two people with erased faces had not let out a cry when they fell from the top of the moon. One of the them was the boy who was already in his dream from the night before.

The girl had told him that tonight it was up to him to throw his burdens. But without knowing why, he had refused, shaking his head. Even though he knew he wanted to feel light like the first time, his subconscious seemed to remind him that it wasn't right to push someone, even in a dream. So, sighing, she had taken him by the hand like the first time and had guided him towards the two young men who were waiting motionless.

He didn't know how, knowing he couldn't see his face, but he felt like he knew those people. Even without a face, he had the impression of recognizing the silhouettes, the postures... but the dreams were bits of distorted reality so it wouldn't have been surprising if behind the blur of that face was someone he knew very well.

Seokjin wanted to talk to them, ask them who they were, but no sound came out of his mouth so he raised a hand to touch one of them and get his attention but the girl stopped him.

"If you get rid of this one first," she told him, giving him her sweetest smile pointing at the boy he had pushed the first night. "You will fall asleep without having removed another of your burden. Push this one first."

Seokjin looked at the boy he had to push and, trying to speak again, he saw that he was able and said:

"Why do I have to push them? Is there no other way?"

"No, there isn't," the girl replied.Didn't you whisper tonight, Seokjin? Weren't you full of worries?"

"Yes, I did whisper..." Seokjin murmured without understanding what the connection was or even why he had to "get rid" of those boys to get to sleep. But after all, it was a dream and dreams couldn't be explained.  And if it was this girl who asked him to do this, he had to listen to her.

Nodding, the girl had removed one of his ankle balls to hook it to the leg of the other person who was waiting, as motionless as the first and again, looking at it carefully, Seokjin had the impression to recognize the boy without being capable to give gim a face or a name. He suddenly felt lighter without the one of the metal balls attached to him and thanked the girl with a smile. Then, the girl had drawn Seokjin to her, to place him in front of the boy.

"You can push that one, first" she whispered in his ear.

So Seokjin had raised his hands and kept his palms stretched out towards that person. But strangely, he couldn't do what she had asked. Why couldn't he manage to do it when it was only a dream and the person who otherwise had no face was not going to suffer? Why did he have any scruples about doing it?