Macabre | Dowoo

t w o

It was a strange feeling, walking through the halls of a unfamiliar place when everyone else seemed to know what was happening. There was a bell ringing through the speakers as everyone walked, a slow church one that drilled through the air in a continuous aching sequence.

However Jungwoo wasn't phased by the strange environment he was put in. He just walked alongside everyone else, as they were wearing the same thing as he was and they seemed to know the whereabouts of this cafeteria way better than him.

After some walking they had arrived at big metal double doors that had guards standing at each end. They entered the cafeteria in two straight lines, the people that were talking and fooling around before in the hallways now silencing themselves when they passed the guards.

Once they passed the guards the other patients dispersed back into clouds of fine dust, packing together in close groups with many of the friends they were talking to before coming to the room.

It was a simple room, really. Everything painted while, with guarded off windows resembling the ones in Jungwoo's room pretending to let in sunlight. There were big strips of led lights up on the ceiling, shining on the things below.

A small food counter was to his right, something that looked identical to the ones Jungwoo used to have in his school cafeterias. The rest of the room was filled up with white lunch tables with connected benches and small round tables, also white, but the patients that were sitting on them quickly stood up when the people they were waiting for came to greet them.

Everyone mostly gravitated towards the line that was leading up to the ladies who were serving trays of breakfast. Jungwoo took the hint and stood behind the last person currently in line, hands in his pockets as he waited.

In a matter of time he had a metal tray in his hands, looking around the room for a place to sit. Luckily there was a small empty round table near the wall at the middle of the back of the room that he claimed for himself as he sat down and examined what he was given.

A small paper bowl of watery porridge, a mere five apple slices and.. were those supposed to eggs?

Jungwoo sighed and picked up his plastic spork that had come on his tray already unwrapped. He stared at the food for a moment before stabbing a piece of apple with his utensil, but before he had the chance to put it in his mouth he was interrupted by a peppy voice from someone who he hadn't noticed had sat across from him at the table.

"Hi! My name is Donghyuck. What's your name?" Jungwoo looked up to see the boy who had spoken to him in a volume and tone he was not used to. He looked a bit younger than Jungwoo, sporting a smile that was barely fitting his face.

Next to the ecstatic-sounding boy sat another, who had a much more toned-down expression as he joined to stare at Jungwoo.

"Uh," Jungwoo said, "I'm Jungwoo." Immediately the boy named Donghyuck reached across the table, having to stand up to be able to grab Jungwoo's hand and shake it enthusiastically.

The other boy quickly pulled their hands apart and held Donghyuck until he was sitting back in his chair. "Remember, Hyuck? Hands to yourself," Jungwoo could see that this boy's hands were slightly twitching as he held on to Donghyuck's wrists gently.

"Oh yeah," Donghyuck paused for a moment before turning back to look at Jungwoo. "Anyways this is Mark, he's my best friend!"

The boy named Mark raised one of his hands and waved timidly at Jungwoo. When he placed his hands back so they were resting on top of the table Jungwoo could see that Marks fingers were bruised and bit, with nails that were threatening to burst out into fluid if they could get any shorter than they already were.

"You're new," Donghyuck took an apple slice from his own tray and snapped it in half, popping it into his mouth and continuing to speak after he quickly chewed and swallowed, "right?" Gosh, even the way he ate was energetic.

Jungwoo just shook his head up and down a couple times before he brought the apple slice still on his spork up to his lips and took a bite. It wasn't the best, but he knew it was going to seem that way after a while in this place.

Donghyuck was already on his last piece of apple when Jungwoo looked back at him. How did this dude eat so fast?

"How is it so far? The asylum?" He said this so casually as he ate the last piece, his chewing loud but not as obnoxious as Jungwoo had first thought it to be. Mark noticeably flinched from what the other had said. Maybe he didn't like being reminded that they were stuck in an asylum for the mentally insane. Who would, really?

"Considering the fact that I'm not actually insane?" Jungwoo replied, his spork going straight through the surface of the porridge when he poked at it. "Terrible," he finished.

This caused Donghyuck to erupt into a loud fit of laughter, startling Jungwoo but not making the other patients do so much as flinch. They must be used to this behavior. 

When he calmed down a bit, Mark helping by touching his arm softly to bring him back to reality. "That's so funny, Jungwoo! Insane people don't think they're insane. That's why I'm not crazy, because I know I'm crazy!"

Donghyuck took a deep, exaggerated breath before folding his hands on the table in a somewhat more collected manner. "Sorry, Jungwoo. My therapist says I gotta stop doing that, but sometimes I can't help myself," he giggled quietly.

Mark offered the boy across the table a small smile, "Do you want to be friends with us? Donghyuck can be a little too much sometimes but he's really nice too."

At this Donghyuck fell back into his seat, whining quietly, "I'm not too much, I'm just better than you at socializing."

Jungwoo chuckled to himself. As much as these two were weird, they didn't seem that bad. It wouldn't hurt to have some friends at this place.

"Alright," he shrugged in amusement, causing Donghyuck to sit up in his chair and wave his arms around in excitement.

"That means we're friends! And especially breakfast and lunch buddies."

a/n

my school calls the cafeteria the dining hall

we're too extra for real I forget that sometimes cause I just got used to it xD