𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺𝑰𝑫𝑬 | 𝐊. 𝐆𝐖 - 𝐢. 𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

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Blood

It was everywhere.

It pooled around his feet then gradually rose until his clothes were tight against him, neck buried against a sea of red and then he was drowning in it. Choking. His vision blurred crimson, and the screams followed on command.

Geon-woo

His head whipped, the blood suffocating as her voice echoed distantly but ever so distinctly in his ears. She called his name so softly, so dearly yet her tone had somehow sent a shiver down his spine. It felt unreal, leery as if something wasn’t quite right.  She called his name once more and he felt her voice lull him into resignation. He blinked, dazed and he unconsciously gravitated towards the sound like a siren call. 

Had she come to save him once more.

“Nari” he slurred, blood sliding down his throat.

Geon-woo

A figure materialised before him from a shadow, darkness washing over her and revealing her long dark hair, pleasant smile and grinning eyes. Her name fell from his lips like a breath of fresh air. He tried and failed to move, his brows furrowing as he glanced at the blood seeming to grow a more violent shade of red. When he glanced up, he wanted to scream. Nari remained grinning, head tilted with a more grim snarl in her eyes and a big gaping hole in the middle of her chest. The wound dripped with liquid fire and he watched as it flowed towards him and suddenly the blood felt crushing. 

His screams merged with others, voices of whom he heard before, of those he cherished, before it overpowered his own and he became nothing in the void of eternal regret. 

Regret that everyone had died for this plan, a plan he fuelled to quench his thirst for revenge. Regret that his actions had resulted in the death of the people Nari loved and of which he too learned to care for. Regret that his brother laid frozen in time and fighting to survive and Nari. Beautiful, perfect Nari. His regret swallowed him whole.  He should’ve saved her, he should’ve never left her, he should’ve protected her, he should be laying there not her. 

He should be dead. 

Not Mr Choi, not Mr Hwang or Mr Lee or Mr Kwan …. Nari shouldn’t be so still. 

It’s your fault

He couldn’t look at her as stood before him, his eyes shut as blood spewed out of her lips and joined the puddle at her chest, faster than her words of venom.

It’s your fault

Yes it was-  he wanted to scream. 

It should’ve been you

He wished it had been

His name began growing with violent protest, once tender became desperate until it bellowed, restless and hurt. He thrashed, and then the blood consumed him.

The blood of everyone he held dear.

“Geon-woo!”

The man jostled awake, heart hammering in his chest with a bead of sweat rolling down his face. His wide, fearful eyes jumped around the room before landing on the woman who gazed upon him with sympathy.

“You okay?’ Hyeon-ju asked, taking a seat next to him. Geon-woo inhaled deeply, calming his erratic heart to ground himself.

He was alive, there was no more blood.

It had been a month since the incident and Woo-jin and Nari were alive. It should’ve been you. He clenched his eyes shut and took a deep breath in to rid those sinister thoughts. 

He glanced at Hyeon-ju who in turn had her gaze fixed upon the body hooked up to various machines on the bed.

Byun Nari was ever so captivating, despite the wires keeping her alive and bandages that peaked beneath her hospital gown. She had not moved since she had been wheeled in and merely laid there motionless, undisturbed and not quite so peaceful. But the gentle rise and fall of her chest was the only thing keeping the two friends from completely spiralling into pits of grief and self-loathing.

Hyeon-ju had just returned from Woo-jin’s room next door. The man laid similar to Nari with the exception of a few scars on his face. They both had not made any signs of change and it had been a month of utter throe for both Hyeon-ju and Geon-woo who had only each other to cradle in this time of need.

Hyeon -ju remembered vividly how she felt that night.

She had remained in the hospital, waiting to hear hopeful news of Woo-jin when the doors of the ER burst open and a frenzy of paramedics and doctors alike flocked to the stretcher that wheeled in a body. There was so much blood, and so much yelling.

Hyeon-ju had lurched to her feet in panic like the rest of the curious onlookers as they rushed past her, gasps and concerned whispers were drowned by the cries of the doctors’ barking orders and the paramedics replying just as fervently.

But when Hyeon-ju made the mistake of glancing at the body, of whom a paramedic was sat on top of, his hands firmly pressing down on her chest to resuscitate her, she felt her legs trail after them with a defeated desperation.

Nari.

It was Nari. Her familiar black hair was littered with red highlights under the florescent lights, her clothes drenched and blood sodden stuck to her lean figure and she was not breathing.

”Wait, wait, Nari!” Hyeon-ju had cried desperately as they rolled her through the doors. She didn’t even register arms wrapping around her, tugging her back as she screamed.

“Nari!” Hyeon-ju thrashed in whoever’s arms had kept her at bay from her friend. The woman whimpered and sagged in some stranger’s arms as she weakly clawed towards the door that shut in her face. She had just lost her grandfather, Woo-jin was in critical condition and now her friend was on the brink of death. She could not lose Nari, anyone but Nari.

“Hyeon-ju”

The woman turned, the arms around her disappearing at the sound of Geon-woo’s gravelled voice. He looked even worse than she did.

A paramedic with bright blonde hair had his arm around Geon-woo as the man swayed in his step as if he was too was about to collapse. He had blood all over him, a mixture of who knows how many of his loved ones mixing like an abstract art piece. His face was drenched in tears, hair mattered over his eyes and hands-stained red. His feet did not move until the paramedic helped him forwards.

“Nari’? Hyeon-ju gasped out as she fell into him, her hands fisting his shirt as she looked at him in raw despair. “She- she, what happened?” she stuttered but Geon-woo just stared at her as if she was not there, like he was looking straight through her, almost as if he himself was dead. He sure as hell looked like it.

Hyeon-ju became more desperate, tugging him rather harshly as she repeated her question over and over until her words slurred with her sobs. Onlookers watched them in pity. 

“Ma’am. Let him go please” the paramedic said softly, gently unclasping her hand of which she reluctantly obliged. He gently sat Geon-woo onto the nearest chair, offering Hyeon-ju to do the same as he flagged down a nurse.

” You will all be okay” the paramedic assured and then he too was gone.

It had been a very long and exhausting night. The two friends did not sleep as they mourned the family that they lost and prayed for the family that was currently fighting to survive. Hyeon-ju and Geon-woo held each other as if either of them blinked the other would disappear too.

It was only the next day did they get the news that Nari was out of surgery and Woo-jin had been moved to a room.

It was later that day did they get the news of Mr Kwan and Yang-jung’s death certificate, followed by the news of Mi-kyung and Du-yeong.

It was then did they realise that if Nari woke up, she would never be the same again. They had began dreading how they would tell her of the news because in a matter of hours everything she held dear to her was suddenly gone.

 Nari would survive but she’d grow to live wishing she had died with them.

Pain

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