TRACKSiDED

넘사벽*

He doesn't turn back, and I wonder if he knows if they know what their daughter did.

Of course, they do. How on earth could she get away with something like this? I'm about to stand when I see Mona Austen and Brad Nixon arrive.

They start talking to her parents, and then Brad notices me. He runs and grabs my collar, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?"

Everyone is suddenly aware of my presence, and they rush to me.

"What happened, Mr. Kim?" Mona yells as Brad is still gripping me.

I let out a chuckle at the irony of the situation; I should be the one asking the questions.

"You're laughing? How dare you laugh," Brad says as he shakes me.

I don't react.

Mona and that woman's father try to hold Brad back as her mother approaches me, "can you please tell me what happened to my baby?

"What happened?" I say, trying to find the answer to the question as I repeat it. "Can you tell me what happened to my parents?"

Her mother's reaction is what I expect; she steps back to fall on a chair.

And it's her father who charges at me, "what did you do, what did you do to Ava?" he says as he grabs on to my collar just like Brad did. Two doctors attempt to separate us.

I don't fight back; I let him pull.

How dare he treat me like is?

The thought passes like a midnight train in the void of my mind.

I should be the angry and aggressive one, but he is looking down on me. They all are.

People like the Austen underestimate the less fortunate. Like chaebols, they stamp and crumple the weak aware that they're the ones in the wrong.

Narcissistic and self-absorbed, her father carries on gripping my shirt as though I am his property, and she can dispose of me the way he desires.

"Stop it, think of Jane."

Everyone regains composure as they remember the primary reason for their visit.

At this instant, the surgery doors open, and a group of doctors comes out to meet Jane's parents. The head starts to speak," your daughter is alive. We managed to extract the bullet. It's a good thing she didn't know how to aim. The shell was light, and its velocity was high, there were no side movements, and it went through none-critical parts of the brain. However, falling in the water caused another shock. To assure a better chance of survival, we have plunged Ms. Austen in a medically induced coma to give time for the swelling to go down."

The doctor doesn't add any comforting words to imagine the worst scenarios, her mother crumbles to the floor, and Mona breaks down next to her.

I imagine they turn to see where I am, but I leave.

She's alive.

The next day, it's the smell of my vomit, the one left before chasing after her, that revives me from my position, at the front of my door where I fell in the early hours this morning. Jane's scent is everywhere. I would gladly stay where I am, but my apartment is a mess, and I have an appointment at the police station.

My body moves in its own accord. I don't know how I manage this exploit, but I get up, clean, and throw away the sheets on the mattress, which even washed would remind me last night.

The naked mattress will always be a crime scene in my memory. A sigh escapes from me as I ponder on whether or not to dispose of it.

Unable to decide the mattress's future, I go to take a shower.