1000 Lives (ONEUS)

~One~

The sounds of war filled his ears. He cowered in the corner of his bedroom, shivering with fear as he listened to the sounds of screams and begs for life from outside. His vision was rimmed with red and he felt his veins popping out. His skin was pale and clammy and his palms were sweaty.

"K-K-Keonhee?" Xion stumbles up from his little corner as his best friend, Keonhee sits on the bed. His lip was red with blood and the scars on his face didn't make Xion feel very safe. He sits down with the mute boy. Keonhee is yet to say his first word since he was born, he was born with problems with his vocal chords.

Keonhee wrote on a paper he took from Xion's dresser and wrote in his messy handwriting "Help me."

Xions heart was racing "What's wrong?!" He asks the older boy, who shifts in his seat to give Xion a better look of the scars on his face. "Can you tell me exactly what happened?" Xion asks, Keonhee nods and begins to write a long story, in his messy and rushed handwriting. 

I was in my house with my parents in a closet, then my dad decided to help people outside. He said he wasn't going to sit around knowing people where dying in a war outside. He ran, leaving me and mom inside. We listened and

Keonhee stopped, and rested his fingers for a second. Then continued quickly

We heard dad scream from outside, I was scared. My mom then told me she was going to go and help dad

A tear streamed down Keonhee's pink cheeks

She said bye then left me in the closet. I sat there for about thirty minutes And just waited. I hadn't heard my mom or my dad since my mom went outside. I got worried and ran outside. I went to go find them but I couldn't focus when I saw my parents, they

A tear dripped onto the table... He reverted to a different sentence.

I don't know if they were dead, but they were definitely out cold. I ran towards them until I felt someone grab me. 

He didn't write any further, But Xion still understood everything else that happened. "Don't worry, this will all be over soon. They wouldn't hurt innocent kids right?" Xion points out, but Keonhee gulps which told Xion that Keonhee thought otherwise. "Why don't we do something else? Like...Uhhh.. Wait– Where are my parents?" Xion asks, Keonhee shrugs. "Mom, Dad!" Xion speeds downstairs with Keonhee not that far behind. "Mom?" Xion repeats "Dad?" Xion checks every roomin the house, desperate for any sign of his parents. But there were none. He sunk in the couch in the living room, and stuffed his head in the nearest pillow. 

He felt someone tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Keonhee, with a note in his hands. There were stains on it, as if the person writing it was crying. It read:

Dong-Ju, 

We love you so much, but we had to do this. If we are away from you then you are safe. If you don't understand now, you will soon. We are very dangerous son, if they find you with us then you will be in grave danger. Just know this is for your own good. You have great friends to help protect you. Please stay safe. 

-Mom & Dad 

Xion felt his hands ball into fists "Pfft, more like one friend" was all he could grumble as he stormed upstairs, totally consumed by his anger. How could they leave him?! As the rage flowed through his body, the words they had wrote on the note circled his head. this is for your own good. He highly doubted that. He stuffed his head in his pillow and started to groan for so long that it started to hurt. He stopped when he felt Keonhee tap him. Xion looked up and saw that Keonhee had written "I guess we should stay together for now" Xion sighed, then nodded. 

 "So... You wanna ruin all my parents important stuff?" Xion asks, a smirk stretched across Keonhee's face. Xion took it as a yes and dragged the other boy downstairs, leading him to his parents room. The room was quiet and peaceful. Two walls were mint green And the other two were white, and fruit and flower paintings hung all around. "Ok," Xion says "just throw around whatever looks important" Keonhee's smile was outstanding as he picked up Xion's moms laptop. Keonhee hesitates, but he slams the laptop onto the ground. The sound of it hitting the ground was especially annoying. 

The two boys stared at the broken laptop, then both smiled and started to throw stuff down. 

"Ooh here's some of my dads work nonsense!"

Keonhee giggles, and Xion opens the folder. Now that he thought about it, Xion didn't actually Know what his dads job was. But the papers inside the folder where nowhere near what he was expecting. They were a whole pile of notes. "Eh, it's just a pile of crap" Xion throws it back on the table with no interest in it at all. "Hey Keonhee, do you think it's safe to go out there?" Xion asks quietly, there had been no noise at all for the past few minutes. Keonhee shakes his head no, this disappointed Xion. He was really hoping to go out there. But he knew Keonhee was right. "Let's go back upstairs, I'm sleepy" Xion admits, the two boys walk upstairs. Both hoping to wake up to a calm silence, and no war. 

But it was the opposite.