Touch || Lee Jeno

thirty.

Beep...

The skinny boy sat on the cold metal chair, hunched over quietly. The hallways were silent, except for that beeping. That stupid beeping. He didn't even know where it was coming from, but he hated it.

Beep...

He looked up to see Mrs. Heo leaning against the wall opposite from him. She had her hands crossed, biting her lips with a blank expression. The wrinkles on her face were evident from her frown. She noticed his gaze, a mixture of pity and concern etched on her face.

Beep...

He looked away. His eyes scanned the floor below him, how they were scrubbed white. The fluorescent lights above were shining an unbearable glow of white.

His ears caught the occasional chatter from passing nurses; he listened closely to the sounds of carts moving, probably in the next hallway. He tried not to think about the strong smell of antiseptics, the blinking green sign a few doors down to his left that said 'OCCUPIED'.

Ring, ring!

He whipped his head to his side and observed as the receptionist answered the phone. Her soft, commercial voice echoed faintly in his ears, and he tried to block them out.

He tried to block everything out. How did he end up here?

He knew how he ended up here— walking home from school, up the steps to his house only to be stopped by Mrs. Heo from next door, a face of sympathy urging him to step into her faded red Hyundai. Sitting on the back seat, heart thumping, as Mrs. Heo explained that Mom had fallen down the stairs and had to be taken to the hospital immediately.

Now here he was.

A sudden crackling of radio chatter caught his attention. He looked up to his right to see a man dressed in a police uniform, walking in their direction; he had a solemn look on his face. His eyebrows furrowed when Mrs. Heo took furtive steps towards the officer.

His eyes were glued on them as they conversed in hushed whispers.

"We have him in custody. We'll have to take the kid in for questioning," the police officer spoke as he adjusted the radio on its holster.

Questioning?

He tried to listen in, but Mrs. Heo's voice was too soft.

A distinct sound of irregular beeps sounded on his far left. He looked just in time to see the double doors swing open. A man in a white coat stepped out and walked swiftly in their direction, immediately towards Mrs. Heo. Always to Mrs. Heo, but never to him.

She turned around and looked at the doctor expectantly. The doctor started to speak; she looked speechless.

"He's just a kid," she whimpered, her hand now covering her face.

He fought for breath as the police officer looked his way. It was impossible to ignore the hard thumping in his chest, like his heart had just swollen twice its size. The boy didn't know what else to do but sit there as the officer walked up to him and knelt in front of him.

"Hey, kid—" the officer cleared his throat— "I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through, but I want you to know that we'll get to the bottom of this, okay?"

The boy paused in hesitation; he didn't quite understand what they were getting to the bottom of, but he nodded.

The officer offered him a gentle smile, one arm still balanced on top of his holster.