Tainted

Chapter 12.

Recommended song: Alexander Stewart- Blames on me.

Kwang-hoon's steps stop, his school shoes resting on the tar. His hooded eyes drifted to the sky where flashes of light burst behind plump, dark clouds. The cool beads landed on his steaming skin running down his neck to soak the torn shirt that hung off his slender figure. The broken fabric flapped in the wind, missing shirt buttons lining the path he walked from the school. He let his head hang back, water pooling in his ears as some raced through his sleeves, turning from a crystal clear drop to a crimson bead as the water soaked up the blood from his hand and dripped from slender fingers onto the road. 

Inside, tears mimic the rain. They ran in and out every wrinkle and ridge as faces contorted in worry. The storm outside went unnoticed as voices roared through the apartment, hands gripping at thinning hair. Aunt Hana hunched over, shaky hands clenching at the kitchen counter as she listened to another person tell her husband they didn't know where Nari could be. Donghyun smashed the phone down, a rumble of thunder following soon after. 

Tires sliced through the thick layer of water already gathered on the tar, white-knuckled gripping at the steering wheel. The boy's face was stone cold and worryingly pale. The only signs of anxiety were his shaky blinks and unsteady breathing, his chest rising and falling at an alarming rate. Gwang-il was numb, totally and helplessly numb. His usual calm and nonchalant vibe slowly fading and giving way to a devastatingly broken feeling. 

The rain bounced off chubby cheeks causing eyes to jump back and forth behind their lids. A motionless silhouette sunk into the ground as the dirt turned into gooey mud. Dark and sunken eyes tried to open but bits of sand had dried them shut. Her breaths were wheezy, air bounced through her damaged airways. Raindrops pooled and flowed into Nari's nose, forcing her to drop her head to the side. Her face winced, a sharp pain spreading from her neck. 

There she laid, waiting patiently for the raindrops to wash her eyes to the point she could open them. Nari knew where she was, and what had happened. She knew Kwang-hoon had left her for dead. He had choked her until she lost consciousness until her fighting stopped until her lips parted and turned blue. 

Light pierced through her thin eyelids causing her face to scrunch up in a scare but she quickly realized that someone could be there to help her, but then she quivered that it could be Kwang-hoon coming back to make sure he finished the job but Nari decided she would take her chances. 

Her whole body shook, exhausted, her lungs hiccupped to try and force cries from her lips as her swollen red elbow dug into the mud in an attempt to lift her up. Gwang-il walked to the front of the school and pressed his face to the glass doors to see the never-ending black hallways. He tried his like and shook the door but it was locked. Small whimpers couldn't reach him and he turned away from the school. Blood clotted and dried in Nari's ears stopped her from hearing his footsteps fade into the distance. 

Gwang-il slammed his car door shut and began reversing his car out of the school. Nari cried out when the light became dimmer and dimmer. She dropped back onto the ground her body jerking at the devastating loss. 

What Nari didn't notice was the headlight had slowly begun to approach her again. Gwang-il stared at the school with furrowed brows and slowly parked his car before getting out. He walked back to the school as the rain soaked him to the bone. He stopped in front of one of the walls surrounding the main entrance and leaned in, his fingertips brushing at what looked like dry red paint but at closer inspection Gwang-il instantly knew it was dried blood, perfectly preserved from the rain by the roof eaves. 

His eyes grew wide and began darting side to side, he stood frozen for a moment before he darted to the side of the building. 

Nari jumped viciously when two gentle hands wrapped around her, cradling her head carefully. The sudden scare ripped her eyes open, the skin dry and flakey.  Gwang-il shaky eyes scanned over her, he felt sick to see her like this. He was fighting to control the shock threatening to take away all his senses, he never expected to find Nari like this. 

"Nari." His voice shook just as she shook in his arms. Her eyes were glossy as they hovered over his lips in an attempt to read them. "I need to get you to the hospital." He whispered as his arms slowly scooped her up.

"I can't hear anythi..." Nari slurred and began to panic, the deafening silence bringing along crippling fear as her fingers tips traced along his thick lips.

Gwang-il grunted a disheveled 'fuck' and shot up with Nari in his arms.  Gwang-il struggled to open the car door with Nari clinging to him before he slipped her onto the leather and pulled the lever on the side of the seat, letting it slowly lower before pulling the seatbelt over her.

Gwang-il drove like a madman, no stop sign or red light would stop him as the sound of Nari's breathing becoming more shallow forced him to push the gas pedal to the floor. It was an orchestra of car horns and skidding tires but he navigated it all, each second feeling like it was too late.

He kept a tight squeeze on Nari's wrist, shaking it ever so often in an attempt to keep her awake, but she was slipping away as her airways slowly began to collapse on themselves and there was nothing he could do. Every second she was still conscious Nari made sure to stare at his face, needing the image to slip away with her.

Fat raindrops splattered violently against the fast moving windshield. Bulbous black clouds had engulfed the city but no one had noticed. The skyscrapers reached up, their antenna's cutting into the clouds as their polished windows reflected the car speeding past them.

"Nari!" Gwang-il yanked on her wrist when he peered over and saw her eyes closed. When there was no response from her, his face scrunched up painfully, a desperate glossiness glazing over his eyes. 

He had finally broken.

"Fuck!" The crack in his voice coincided perfectly with a strong crack of lighting as he shook the steering wheel violently. Fear was already clawing at his chest, causing it to burn uncontrollably as his lips quivered.

His stomach churned violently, almost flying out his mouth as Nari's blood dried on his hands, pulling his skin tight in the process, his lips pulled in agony as he gawked at it. He was on the verge of losing it, on the brink of slipping out of the situation and running off a bridge just to end the unbearable torture of losing her before it got any worse. Gwang-il's dark thoughts clouded him and convinced him that Nari's dead body was the only thing he had clenched in his hand.

"Don't leave..." He broke the silence, gently shaking Nari again. "Nari!" He sang in distress as if to trick her into a reply, "You can't leave me!" Every time her voice didn't fill the car, the pit in his stomach collapsed into a deeper, much darker hole and it started to consume his shaking figure whole.

In a matter of months, he had unknowingly poured his life into Nari's gentle hands and she had an unwavering grip on it. If she left, she would be dragging Gwang-il right behind her and he would be thanking her while she did.

"Nari I love you!" He shook the steering wheel with devastating aggression he would never want Nari to see. "I love you so much it hurts..." And it did hurt.

Whenever Gwang-il let his mind wander into the details of the girl that ruled his mind, the passion that swallowed him made his muscles spasm and a needy ache that taunted him with the knowledge that he would never be able to get enough of her.

Her skin was the softest silk he ever had the pleasure of touching. Her glittery eyes evaporated any moisture in his mouth. Her hair had the most addicting scent and all he wanted to do was bury his nose in it all day long. And her lump lips made his own tingle relentlessly.

Every inch and every flaw was entrancing, Nari was Gwang-il's most devastating obsession.