I quietly slipped into my bedroom from my window accross the street from Chenle's. Once in my room, I spotted a sleepy Chenle waving and yawning at me from his room.
Cute.
I actually ended up giving Chenle a piggyback ride the entire way back as he had been too sleepy to walk. Everytime he opened his mouth to speak, another yawn would leave his lips. I couldn't let him walk home from there, because it was about twenty minutes away and I felt guilty for dragging him with me in the first place.
I returned a small smile, waving back at him before he pulled his curtains shut. I sighed in relaxation, turning on my bedroom lamp and slumping into my gaming chair after I also closed my curtains. Ouch.
I had to remind myself to be careful because of all my injuries and bruises. They were healing, but recovering was a slow process. I mentally scolded myself for joing the fight in the first place.
There were just a few hours before school since it was now approaching six AM. I felt sorry to Chenle since he would definitely be tired at school, but I really couldn't sleep earlier. The more I tossed and turned in my bed, the more pain I felt. From everywhere. I gave up on trying to sleep, deciding to just stay awake, but that would be much easier if I wasn't awake alone. Therefore, I got the brilliant idea to wake my neighbor, Chenle.
It had honestly been one of the most fun nights I'd ever had. I often bought fireworks and went to the closed down amusement park alone to pass time, but being there with Chenle showed me how much more fun an experience could be when you're with the right person.
I smiled, closing my eyes and resting my arms behind my head, reliving every moment that had happened in the last three hours. Just as I thought I'd finally be entering dreamland, I slumped a little further down in the chair and my entire torso burned in pain. I hissed, giving up on sleep altogether.
Instead of sleeping, I leaned over and turned my PC on, deciding to play video games. I played a few rounds of NCT which was an abbreviation for No Time for Corruption. I lost badly in each round due to my inability to focus.
All I seemed to think about was that boy. The one accross the street. It wasn't anything in specific, but still, it was everything and anything, all at once. Every thought was connected to him in one way or another.
I grew frustrated and turned my PC off.
I checked the time again, it was now a few minutes from seven AM, but I realized that I couldn't spend the entire day sitting here, doing nothing. I reached for my phone and began mindlessly scrolling through social media until I found something interesting: The Windy City: Samurai Ink.
✩☞⚣♥
"Is this your first tattoo?" I gulped as I watched the shop owner prepare the tattoo gun.
"Yeah." I affirmed the man. The man was sitting next to me in a plastic chair while I laid back in a black tattoo chair. The seat was leather, but you could tell it had been sat on many times since the leather in the center of the cushion was wearing out.
The whole tattoo shop had this very artistic vibe going on with its messy tables and walls plastered with erotic art. There were a lot of signs in vibrant colors with very expressive words on them. A rap playlist was playing in the background, smothering the whole store in a obnoxious feeling.
The man was wearing a white tank top over his muscular frame paired with grey cargo pants. Though he was sitting down, I could tell he was at least 180 cm. On one side, he had a tattoo of what looked like some kind of thin branch with green leaves and berries slightly lower than his collarbone. Under that, there was a humming bird tattoed into his skin. Below the bird, was a tattoo of a leopard emerging from trees with leaves surrounding it on his bicep.
I wanted to ask him what his tattoos meant, but his voice pierced through my thoughts.
"Yuta!" he called. "Can you bring me a soda?" Shortly afterwards, another guy came out from a door I hadn't noticed before. He had long, black hair and sharp features. He didn't have perfect posture, but something about it looked so comfortable that he came off as cool and laid back.
"Do you want anything?" He turned to me, taking me by surprise. Between him and the muscular guy in front of me, they were both so good looking, I thought for a second that I might be into guys.
"Uh, no. I'm good, thanks." I rejected his offer.
"You sure? Not even a cigarette? It's free." He stooped down to my level giving me a look of what I couldn't see before. There was black ink poking out from the collar of his v-neck shirt, but I couldn't see enough to tell what it was.
"No thanks." I said more certainly. Yuta squinted his eyes at me.
"Aren't you underaged to be getting a tattoo?" I shifted in the chair uncomfortably under the older's intense stare.
"Just don't rat us out to the police, alright?" I nodded firmly.
He seemed satisfied with my answer and went back to wherever he came from, disappearing behind the door again.
The man next to me took a sip of his soda befire setting it down on a glass table nearby, covered in tattoo design ideas and a color pallete.
"So, where do you want it?" The man asked. His voice was low, but smooth in a soothing way. It made me feel calmer considering the fact that I was nervous to get my first tattoo.
I shrugged in response. "Somewhere it'll look good." I replied honestly. He smiled, pointing towards his own tattoos.
"Right there." He pat his shoulder area. I nodded in agreement. I liked that spot.
"What's you're name?" I asked. It took me by surprise when the man stretched out his hand.
"Johnny," he paused. "Johnny Suh."
✩☞⚣♥
"Oh, no you didn't." Aunt Jihan dropped the bag of groceries she had worked hard to haul from the car.
I grew sweat on my forehead. Could she see the redness from my tattoo?
I highly doubted it since I purposely wore clothing that covered more skin of my neck than usual. It was the middle of spring and I was wearing a shirt with a collar high enough to qualify as a turtleneck.
Just as I freaked myself out a little more, I realized that she seemed to be looking right past me. I scrunched my eyebrows together.
"Huh?" Was all I could manage.
Aunt Jihan frowned, walking straight past me with heavier steps than normal. I turned to watch her stop right in front of a flower vase set on our dining table, or..what used to be a flower vase. It was shattered, the clear glass scattered over the table while a handful of flowers lay in a heap, water pooling beneath it.
"No," Aunt Jihan sighed. "Did you break it?" She turned to me, but I was so relieved she hadn't noticed the redness of my neck that I could hardly comprehend what she asked.
"Me?" I used my index finger to point at my chest once I understood. She nodded sternly.
"No, I've been in my room all day." I insisted. Aunt Jihan stared me down, but I could tell she's already removed me from the suspect list. She sighed heavily.
"Then it must've been—"
"Would you shut up already! I can barely sleep!" Gongsung entered the room, stumbling around grumpily, creating a scene with an empty bottle of beer in his hands. He was very drunk. He dragged his feet across the floor, swinging the beer bottle around in his hand carelessly, knocking down another vase.
The glass, shattered the moment it hit the ground, creating a piercing sound.
"Argh!" Gongsung cursed, covering his ears. I watched Aunt Jihan flinch while her gaze lingered on the marigolds which were now on the floor. Her eyes stayed unmoving as she spoke.
"Jisung, can you help me clean that up?" Her voice was frail, shaking even. I quietly obeyed, grabbing a towel from the bathroom and soaking up the water from the broken vase, careful to avoid the glass shards.
Aunt Jihan tried to help Gongsung take a seat athe table, but he pushed her away. I wanted to say something, but I bit my tounge. It was probably best if I stayed out of it. Right?
"Agh! Stop!" He stumbled around some more, making a fuss about everything in his way as he aimlessly traveled the room.
"Please sit down. I'll get you a glass of water." Jihan tried, gently directing Gongsung toward a chair set at the table, but he pushed her off, sending her falling back. A sour taste filled my mouth as I watched her pick herself up. I couldn't just sit here, cleaning water off the floor while that freak was being a reckless drunk.
"Hey, hey. Not cool." I stood up, walking towards him. He had a dumbfounded look on his face like he couldn't believe I was daring enough to speak to him. I walked up to him with big strides, tearing the empty beer bottle out of his grasp. Gongsung expression changed multiple times while I set aside the bottle.
Firstly, a surprised look. Followed by an astonished one. Lastly, an outraged expression took over his face. He reached out his arm, once again holding the bottle in his hand. I hardly had a moment to think when he swung the bottle at my face. I ducked just in time as the bottle swung cleanly overhead.
I shot back up, easing towards Gongsung. He came at me again with his fist, but he was just drunk enough for me to grab his wrist and twist it.
"Argh!" He made another commotion by trying to drag the table down with him as his knees gave in and he fell to the floor. He succeeded in dragging the table, but it didn't go very far. It just made an obnoxious, low pitched screeching sound.
Gongsung seemed to pass out once he hit the floor. Aunt Jihan looked at.
"Do you think he's okay?" She cocked her head to take a good look at her boyfriend.
"Eh, he'll be fine." I shrugged. How could she even care for a jerk like him?
The two of us picked up the groceries from off the floor, storing them where they belonged in the kitchen. We cleaned the water and flowers form the floor, sweeping up the glass to not get our fingers cut.
"Thank you." Jihan thanked me once we finished.
"Yeah, sure." I didn't really know how to respond and I knew Jihan could tell. She had an unreadable expression set on her face. Her usually bright eyes seemed to loose it's shine. They now carried a look of seriousness which I wasn't used to coming from Aunt Jihan.
"Jisung," she paused. Her face now looked weary and unsure. "We need to talk." Her voice was tight and it made me nervous. I pulled out a chair for myself, sitting down.
"What about?" I scanned my brain for anything I could've done wrong after getting suspended. Did she find out about me sneaking out? Or was it the tattoo afterall?
Aunt Jihan followed suit, taking a seat next to me. She grabbed my hand as if she were trying to comfort me, but it seemed as if she was trying harder to comfort herself. She took a deep breath before she finally spoke.
"They found him." She said. I furrowed my brows.
"They found who?" I asked, tilting my head slightly. Was she talking about what I thought she was talking about?
"Well, they haven't exactly found him yet, but they have a good idea of where they can find him." She started rambling nervously.
"Who?" My voice surprised myself with how tense it sounded. She took another deep breath.
"The man who murdered your parents, Jisung." I shook my head.
"What are you talking about? I murdered my parents." I confirmed, though I honestly wasn't sure of myself.
"They found my fingerprints on the knife that was used on both of them and I was the only one who could've been there." I starting putting the peices together of everything I remembered from that day.
It was a cool summer evening. My family of three was crowded in front of the TV as we sat together and watched a family movie. There was a ring from the doorbell. It was the pizza we ordered. My Dad paused the movie, getting up to retrieve the pizza from the front door with my mother while they told me to stay in the living room.
I sat there obediently until I heard a ratting sound from the back door. I heard my parents having small talk with the pizza delivery man, so I got up from my chair quickly to see what the noise had been about. I passed through the hallway connecting the kitchen to the living room and reached the back door.
The knocking sound continued, so I called out to the person on the other side of the door.
"Hello? Who is it?" I asked. My voice was stil high back then, especially compared to the voice from the other side.
I got no response, but I could see the man's silhouette from the other side of the door. He was avergae height with a buff build. Unfortunately, that was all I could see.
I stepped away from the door, but a loud banging sound came from behind me. Terrified, I ran back to the living room. My memory was kind of fuzzy after that, but what I could remember was waking up with the lights off around me. I was holding a bloody knife and walking into the living room.
I saw a dots of red on our usual spotless, white carpet. I folowed the dots that turned into splotches and eventually a huge pool of blood where my parents were both laying, lifelessly.
"Mom? Dad?" I dropped the dagger, but it was already too late. They were both injured badly. I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from or even better, where the blood wasn't coming from.
I heard sirens from afar, nearing as each second passed. My head felt heavy and my legs felt weak. I fell to the floor hovering above my parents limp bodies. I remembered shivering despite the hot weather we'd been having and the warmth of my parent's blood reaching my legs.
"Run, Jisung." My mother croaked, but I didn't have time to. Police officers burst through the doors with bright flashlights and guns. One officer's light went straight at my face. I covered my eyes, the brightness, stinging my pupils.
The officer pulled out a walkie talkie. "We got a kid over here. Around five or six years of age. He's unhurt." The officer pulled me off the ground, steadying me as I stood up shakily.
"What are you doing here, kid?" The officer questioned me.
"I live here, sir." My voice was incredibly wobbly. He said some more things into his walkie-talkie, but I was too busy focusing on my parents.
Why were they sleeping at this time?
"Hey kid, we're gonna take you with us." I shook my head in protest.
"You have to take my parents with me. They'll be upset if I go alone." The man looked at me sorrowfully. He forced a smile though his eyes betrayed him. His eyes looks so scared and so sad.
"You won't be alone. You'll be with us. C'mon."
I cursed, retracting my hand from Jihan to run them through my hair.
"Jisung?" Her voice sounded muffled.
Could there really have been someone behind that door? After all these years of the police forcing the belief that I had made it all up and to think that maybe I'd been right all along. The thought alone drove me crazy.
Everything that happened after that had gone by so quickly I could hardly remember. I honestly didn't want to remember.
"Jisung, are you okay?" I heard Jihan ask, but her voice was even less audible. I looked around me. Everything was blending together into a frenzy of colors. I tried to blink the confusion away, but to no avail.
"I'm uh.. I'm gonna go for a walk. I'll be back." I mumbled something about dinner and that I'd be back by then before taking off, hearing Jihan's voice calling after me.
The moment I stepped out of my house, I started running with no real destination in mind. I just ran, wanting to leave everything behind me.
"My youth, my youth is yours Trippin' on skies, sippin' waterfalls"
Word count: 2867 words