Later Never Comes | Lee Eun-Hyuk|

Desires

Sleeping felt weird.

It didn't feel like it usually did. The feeling of weightlessness, of bliss, of relaxation. No, for Ae-Cha, it felt tense, heavy, stressful. And she didn't understand why, but she was suddenly in the middle of a void. Darkness was surrounding her and she couldn't see anything else, not even the ground beneath her. She assumed, at first, that she was just having a nightmare. But that wasn't entirely true.

"Scared?" A voice echoed in the void. Ae-Cha quickly turned to see herself, standing a few feet away. She looked exactly like her, except for one difference. Her eyes were fully black.

"No. Just confused." She replied calmly, as she stood up. Her copy just laughed at her.

"You can lie and act all tough around those idiots, but you can't do that to me. I'm in your head. I know you too well." She explained, inching closer.

"If you know everything about me, then why ask if I was scared? You would already know, wouldn't you?" Ae-Cha asked, making her double stop.

"Now I'm guessing you're the monster infection that's growing inside me, but what I want to know is why you're invading my dreams." She said, the monster let out a low chuckle.

"Because I wanted to make you an offer."

"Offer?"

"Yes, you idiot, an offer." She huffed before continuing. "You tell me what you desire, and I'll kill anyone you want. I'll take control and give you everything you've ever wanted. Anyone you've wanted revenge on, you can get it. Just tell me your desire."

This time, it was Ae-Cha that laughed.

"Do you really expect me to fall for that shit? You really must not know me to be asking me things like that. There's no one I'd want to hurt, no one I want dead. I don't even know what I desire, so you've really got bad timing." She shrugged. However, the monster didn't stop, she only got closer.

"But you must want something. Just tell me."

"I don't want–"

"What about your family? Don't you want them back?"

Ae-Cha froze, her surroundings started to change. She was suddenly standing in the middle of an empty road. She looked to her right and saw a car that had flipped upside down. The windows were shattered and there was blood dripping onto the road.

"Oh yes, I know all about how you lost them. They were all you had. And the one time you weren't in the car with them..." The monster said, standing right next to her. Ae-Cha was on the verge of tears as she stared at the broken car.

"I should have died, too." She muttered before looking at her feet, seeing massive shards of glass that came from the window.

"If you want them back, just say. I can help you there." It told her. Ae-Cha moved to her knees, resting on the road. She seemed like she was about to break.

"You know, the thing about dreams." She began. "I've heard you can wake yourself up by hurting yourself. Let's test that, shall we?" She said before swiftly picking up a glass shard and pulling up the sleeve of her shirt.

"Wait, don't–"

The monster didn't have time to finish before Ae-Cha rammed the glass into her arm, piercing the skin and tearing it open.

Ae-Cha jolted up from the wall, awake. Her breathing was heavy, she was sweating, and she could almost still feel the pain in her arm from where she stabbed it. She rubbed her arm slightly before looking up to see that someone else had been sent into the room with her. His face was stained with his own blood.