Attraction | Ateez

Chapter 18: Watercolor

Seonghwa woke with a start. The sun was just creeping over the mountains, giving the sky a watercolor painting effect. Orange mixed with various shades of blue and tiny remnants of clouds from the nighttime hung in the sky. The mountains were a dark purple accept for the tops which were lighted with a soft yellow from the sunlight. 

Seonghwa yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His neck was stiff from sleeping in such an awkward position. He opened the car door and stretched his legs out. The back of his hair was a bit tousled and his clothes were mildly disheveled. He ran his tongue over his teeth and frowned, really wishing he could have brushed his teeth to take away the nasty aftertaste of the alcohol he had the night before. His stomach growled loudly as he stretched his arms. He blinked and looked around. He didn't mean to fall asleep, but he was actually glad he did. He felt more energized and rested. 

Now that it was daytime, Seonghwa could see better. He decided that he was going to drive back to Sangok-ri and go back home on the road he came from originally. He put the key in the ignition and started the car. It roared to life. 

Seonghwa started to back up, but the car made a loud noise and bumped almost violently. He stopped and narrowed his eyes in confusion. He tried again and it made the same sound followed by the bumping of the car again. What the hell? He thought. 

He got out of the car and looked down at the car. All the tires had been slashed so that the car couldn't go anywhere. He looked at the house.

"Hey!" He yelled, walking to the porch. "Is anyone in there? Do you think this is funny?" He climbed up the steps and pounded his fist against the old wooden door. It shook when he hit it. The glass from the window rattled loudly and he almost thought it would break, but he didn't care. 

"Hey! Come out here!" He yelled. He reached for the doorknob and turned it. The door opened.

Inside was dark and dirty. Paper and leaves littered the floor and poorly hung curtains were nailed over the windows. To his right was a knocked over table. Broken vase pieces were scattered by it and a puddle of water was on the floor as though it had just been knocked over and didn't have time to dry yet. The rest of the room was empty except for a few pieces of fabric and trash. Seonghwa stepped in.

"Hello?" Silence answered him. There was an odd smell, almost like perfume that floated around. Seonghwa pushed aside a piece of wood with the toe of his shoe. The floorboards groaned under him as he walked and he felt as though he would fall through the floor. 

He crept through the main room and into a small room on his left. Inside was an old cloth chair that showed years of wear and abuse along with a low table that was pushed against it. A window on the far side of the room was covered with a wooden board that looked like it had been re-nailed to the wall several times. A part of the wall had a hole in it from being hit with god knows what and a torn canvas painting lay on the floor, partially impaled by a stool leg. It was quite sad really, the house. It looked as though it could have been beautiful once, but now it was a big sad abandoned building that was in dire need of help. 

He continued through the house, looking for any signs of recent activity, but found none besides the vase that had been knocked over when he first entered the house. He cursed under his breath, squinting to make out the silhouettes in the dim-lit house.

He almost gave up when he noticed an ajar door that had a stairway leading up. He opened it all the way and looked up the stairway. The walls on either side of the steps were white with small pink floral designs, much like the kind found in Western-styled homes. There was a railing on the side that was falling off, only hanging on by a single screw that was falling out of the wall.