THE BABY MILL [[{SHINee}]]

THE BABY MILL [[57]] VERNIX

           With Key on the bed, JongHyun struggled to find the exit. There had to be one but everyone they happened to cross never went in the same direction. And his mind was so blurred from his fatigue that it was hard to choose between left and right. As well as being as antsy as he was he didn’t pause long enough to ask someone for help.

            Going in circles was tiring, though. Eventually JongHyun tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. Veering down one of the hallways he made an abrupt decision to turn right instead of left. No one was frequenting this area and the silence that met them was eerie when moments before the noise level had been intense.

            The siren indoors had stopped its racket. Somewhere beyond more sirens rang but they weren’t as intimidating since they could barely be heard.

            The hallways stretched on for a while. A few doors were imbedded here and there but what really halted JongHyun in his tracks was a large window that stretched out along the wall. It was a strange obstruction into what was usually always bare wall.

            JongHyun pulled into the space in front of the window. The gurney Key was on was almost pressed to the wall. If he turned his head he’d be able to see what JongHyun was gaping at.

            Multiple babies, some in individual cribs, some pooled together in one. He could see two to three babies in one, some even had five. They were all pooled together like they were nothing more than potato sacks.

            He was flabbergasted at their numbers. This wasn’t just the one baby he knew to have come from himself and Key. It wasn’t two babies with life thanks to them and Taemin and Minho. There were at least two dozen babies in this room alone.

            No one to be seen inside to care for them. Scanning the lot JongHyun could see the red faces of wailing babies. If he listened close enough hr could hear their cries through the glass.

            “Is that… Are those…?” Key was unable to finish his sentence. This whole time he had kept his eyes closed, whispering things too the other that he couldn’t hear. But his eyes were wide open, voice clear as he took in the room beyond the window. “Babies,” he finished.

            These were the products of their suffering. Somewhere in there was their… Thing. JongHyun could have gone a life time and more without meeting his child, even if part of him was curious about it. Key seemed to differ on that point.

            “We have to get them out… Get… Our baby and the rest of them,” he begged.

            Despite believing the whole thing to be disconcerting JongHyun held morals. There was no way he could let a bunch of innocent lives waste away here, no matter hwo they had come to life. They could have a life beyond here; a life without scars.

            “JongHyun…” Key whispered.

            He scanned the area, letting his mind absorb everything. He wouldn’t admit it but he was searching for his own child. His grotesque piece of flesh and blood. Among the dozens of babies that were there now, though, it was difficult to spot her. Or him… he wasn’t too sure.

            Her.

            It was a her. He had found her. In the third row, just off center she lay in a bed. She was with another baby but he could see her tag and the number on it clear as day.

            ‘D-C 27 – F.’ A pink tag on a bland surface. There was no feeling of attachment, so much as a need to save her from what he had lived through. Like all the other ones in the room with her.