BROKEN SPIRITS |VMIN FF|

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷: 𝙶𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 Autumn

".....young Sung Joon knelt at the height of the termite-half-eaten chair and looked into his elderly mother's eyes, which were as cloudy as diluted milk. Eyes blind and lost glared into the darkness behind his back. Her sickness had eaten her mind and her memories were like furniture in a deserted house, covered with dusty sheets from the previous occupant. Sung Joon reached over and stroked his mother's wrinkled hand.

"Mother..."

Nothing.

"Mother....."

Only her breathing, heavy as a rusty chain, betrayed that she was still alive.

But was she? This was not what life looked like. She was just an existence that breathed life into this empty carcass of bones.

She forgot everything! Her name? Forgotten.

Her son's name? Forgotten.

Time fades everything.

The past recedes, memories fade, flesh rots and stone breaks down.

Everything is subject to time.

He stood up and looked at her with a dark gaze that glistened with unspeakable pain and rage.

How could she forget him? How?

He pulled the pillow from her bony knees and brought it to her face.

His fingers clenched on the pillow and he pressed hard against her.

Her body started to twitch slightly and her breath now sounded like a broken gear.

"I have to let you go, Mother...I must."

Tears flooded his eyes when he felt her broken nails digging into the flesh of his outer palm.

And then, she finally stopped moving. Her bony hands dropped to her sides and she lay there like a broken puppet.

The icy wind outside the window howled like a rabid wolf on a mountain, and Sung Joon collapsed on the floor in terror, letting the pillow fall further.

It was then, that he saw his dead mother's lips like a distorted mask smiling at him.

"It was about time...."

He heard her mutter through her rotten teeth and cried out.

Her broken and old body slithered like a snake across the floor and Sung Joon found himself staring at her in bewilderment between his legs.

"No, no, no..." he screamed and turned to crawl away from her when....."

The phone suddenly rang and Jimin let the book fall from his hands in surprise.

It took him a few seconds to come back to reality and he immediately jumped out of bed to the desk and grabbed his phone.

"Hello?"

"I'm done, where are you?"

"Ari...I'm...."

"Why do you sound like that? Did something happen?"

Jimin got up from the chair, quickly putting on his jacket.

"Where are you? Are you far from the library? I'll come to get you."

"I'm on my way out of the building now. Are you sure you're okay? Don't tell me....are you reading one of those thrillers again?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming, don't move."

He hung up the phone and quickly putting on his shoes he ran out of the apartment.

Ari stood with her arms wrapped around her shoulders outside the entrance of the library where she worked. She was looking around like an owl, trying to locate Jimin. It was about 20 minutes since that phone call and he still didn't show up.