Macabre | Dowoo

c h i t t a p h o n

The next couple of days had the same pattern of events for Jungwoo as the previous ones. Sleepless nights, naps during the day in the blinding white light from exhaustion, taking pills every time that Doctor Lee came into his room.

Somehow he managed to steer away from the boy every time Doyoung came close to him or looked like he was going to initiate conversation. He just turned the other way or started to talk with the nearest person next to him. Turns out, the other patients here were pretty nice.

Sometimes he had no choice, actually, but to talk to someone he barely knew to successfully ignore Doyoung. There were several more instances where Jungwoo had come to the trio's "assigned" table and the other two were nowhere to be seen the entire time, even if he hoped they would come.

Currently he was sitting up on the side of his bed, Mr. Lee sitting a couple feet away from him on the stool that he brought with him to every patient's room.

"Have you been getting enough sleep, Jungwoo?" Mr. Lee asked, breaking Jungwoo's train of thoughts.

Of course he was going to lie. He didn't trust the doctors here that much. "Yes," he nodded in response.

Mr. Lee struck the paper on his clipboard a few times with his pen before looking up again at Jungwoo. "How have you adjusted to the place so far? Have you been having any side effects from the pills we've given you?"

Other than feeling drowsy and disassociated after every time he gulps them down? Nope, no side effects whatsoever. He didn't say this, though. "I've been doing fine. No symptoms."

"Alright, then," Mr. Lee smiled, tucking his clipboard and pen into his coat. He stood up and grabbed the stool with his other hand, somehow managing to free a hand to open the door. "Thank you, Jungwoo. I'll see you again tomorrow."

His body had almost fully disappeared from view when Jungwoo called out to him with a last minute request. "Wait, Mr. Lee!" Mr. Lee opened the door another creak until he could see Jungwoo. "May I use the restroom before bedtime?"

Jungwoo could see Mr. Lee crack a soft smile, nodding with a little laugh. "Of course you can. Come back quick, I can't supervise you because I have patients but there should be somebody to keep an eye outside so it's alright."

With a nod Jungwoo stood up and walked over to the door with a calm pace, walking through the door that Mr. Lee held open for him. They waved goodbye to each other and went their separate ways, Mr. Lee going to the right of the room and Jungwoo heading around the near corner to the left.

Jungwoo had been to the bathroom a couple times before, and he already knew that there was no such person like Mr. Lee described guarding the doors.

The bathrooms were in a short corridor close to his own room, with shaky lights and a dead end. It didn't seem like much care was put in to it's up-keeping. Jungwoo was fine with this, though, because it meant that nobody cared how long he spent there as long as he was back in his room by the time the doors automatically locked for the night.

The weak bathroom door creaked open beneath his fingertips under the slightest push, his fingers ghosting the metal coating at the right edge of the door when they slid across. He was in the white bathroom again.

Jungwoo walked in plain white slippers until he reached the back of the bathroom. There was a little opening large enough for two or three people to sit in behind the last stall, and Jungwoo found that it was a good place to be in to collect his thoughts and stare at a dark black stall instead of something white for once.

Only when he leaned against the cold square-tiled wall and slid down to sit on the equally chilly floor did he realize the other person in the space with him.