fear ↜ hjs

ꕥ four

After long hours of researching and writings, Joohyun finally decided to call it a day. She was exhausted. Luckily, Hyunjin helped her a lot as the both decided to ease each other's work so it'd be done faster.

She had to admit, his company was rather enjoyable. Not only was he smart, he also knew how to crack jokes. Instead of dull hours of reading, Hyunjin was very helpful with explaining things to make it more understandable and easier to remember. He was one of the professor's favourite anyway. No wonder.

The moment she exited the library, she felt droplets of water on her face. Looking up to the sky, it was raining drizzly. Joohyun knew she had to get home fast before it started to pour. As soon as she got into a cab, she felt better. She leaned her head against the window as she stared at the water droplets free falling from the sky.

Out of a sudden, the car came to an abrupt halt causing her body to jerk forward. What the— her thoughts were cut off by a sudden sight of packed cars up front. There was a traffic jammed, she sighed as she look down on her phone. It was 11 minutes past 6, she didn't want to be late.

She looked outside, the raining hadn't stop, but the route was familiar and she only had to make a corner and she'll be home. Eagerness took over her and she decided to pay the driver up to here. Joohyun got out of the car and was about to cross the street, but the commotion up front caught her attention.

An accident? She thought and walked towards the scene. As she got closer to the crowd, she could not spot any shattered glass or broken parts of a vehicle. It didn't look like an accident happened, but the amount of people surrounding a particular scene was so suspicious. She squeezed herself forward, to get a better view of what had happened. Maybe she could help since she was a medical student.

As soon as she managed to squeeze herself to the front, she got a better view of a body. True, there was no car accident or anything but only a body. It was a body of a guy, he looked young, probably around her age or older. However that could not be the thing that made this body so attractive to others. No, it would be his scars, or maybe the thing he had between his fingers, tightly gripped.

He had large streaks across his face. She counted, three streaks that so deep it distorted his face completely. Not only that, his torso was torn apart as if he was chewed hastily. All parts of his insides were all over on the road, pouring out if his body. Some parts of his body was missing, for instance, his left arm. However, he was gripping something so tightly in his right hand. It was black, sharp. It was long and bloody, it looked as if it was a bear's nail.

For the first time, Joohyun felt sick looking at a dead body. She wanted to vomit. She didn't know what got into her but something about this body terrified her. It was a familiar feeling, as if she knew him. She felt connected for some reasons and it was eerie, goosebumps all over her body.

She looked down on the male's face again, although she could not see any features on him but she could picture how he used to look like. Out of nowhere, her lips trembled.

"J-Jaewon?" She whispered the familiar name. The name she had not call for years, a name she missed so dearly. It was impossible because he had been long gone, but her heart ached for her to call out the name. Unexpectedly, she got a reply from the dead.

"You were too late, Joohyun." The body replied.

Fear rushed down her spine and she screamed until someone pulled her into an embrace. She wanted to pull away as she didn't know anyone there but a familiar cologne made her realise it was someone trustable. Joohyun hadn't realise she had been trembling in fear as she tried her best to shake the image away from her mind.

His voice was so familiar, she heard him before. He said the same thing to her last night. Who is he? She had never met him before only until last night. He called for her name as well. She thought she knew him, but she mistook it for the wrong person. How did he know her name?

Was she going mad?

The image of his torn lips calling her name was terrifying. She had so many questions to ask but she didn't know who was the right person to refer to. It was madness, she had never felt fear like this before.

"Let's go home, okay?" She heard Jisung's voice above her head. He held onto her waist as they crossed the street. He held an umbrella on one hand but his eyes kept its gaze on her. He was worried, she was fine a moment before she suddenly screamed.

"Are you alright?" Jisung asked as soon as they arrived home and Joohyun went to sit in the living room. He handed her a hot cup of tea as the weather was starting to become colder from the downpour. He sat next to her and waited for Joohyun to calm herself down. A weak nod came from her but Jisung wanted to know more.

"How did you find me?" Joohyun asked. "I went to buy dinner and then I saw you in the crowd. I called your phone a few times but you didn't pick up so I decided to approach you, but then you screamed at the body." His voice became softer towards the end. At the mention of the body, her adrenaline was rushing, fear overtook her body again.

She shut her eyes, trying to erase the image and most importantly his voice. It took her a while before she calmed down. "I guess I'm not used to violence." She said. Deep down inside, she knew that what the body went through wasn't just violence, it was inhumane.

"I think my insomnia is coming back." She said, recalling the nightmare she had last night. She knew she would have a hard time falling asleep now. "Are you taking those meds again? If it's not working, we could always—" Jisung's words were cut off when Joohyun agreed to take the pills again.

"I'll keep you accompany, don't hesitate to wake me  up if you can't sleep." Jisung said reassuringly as he wrapped his arms around her, planting a kiss on her temple. He didn't like seeing her in this state. She had insomnia before due to stress but now it was something different. He was worried as much as he was curious of it.

——ꕥ——

🐾There we have it, the angst ;))