(for anita_dee) I Could See You
For: anita_dee
Title: I Could See You
Pairings: Kai/D.O
Rating: R
Word Count: ~4,100
Warnings: slight!Gore, murder, ghosts
Summary: When a compulsive possession turns everything into tragedy.
Author’s Note: I love the original idea of the horror prompt. I hope everyone will like it. This is my first time writing horror story. Thank you so much for my dearest beta 'A' who always supports me and help me with the grammar. (mod note: updated on 140914)
Author's Note (continued):
I also have prepared a music playlist for you to listen while reading this story:
- Peppermoon - “Lonelunaire"
- Snow Ghosts - “And The World Was Gone”
- Evanescence - “Haunted”
- We Are The Fallen - “Tear The World Down”
- Homogenic - “Faraway Dreamer”
“I COULD SEE YOU”
There is a great house over the hill.
There lives a boy named Do Kyungsoo and his father with their obedient dog.
One night, when Kyungsoo is sleeping soundly, there is a whisper among the sound of the wind in the midnight during the cold winter.
“Thief......”
Kyungsoo is awake in the middle of the night.
“Uh, a nightmare,” said Kyungsoo as he holds his aching head.
He walks to the bathroom. But then he hears the strange whisper again there.
“Thief……”
Kyungsoo is scared. “W-who’s t-that?” said Kyungsoo with a tremble voice.
When he gets back to his bedroom, he sees a dark figure standing in the corner of his bedroom.
He hears the whispering voice again.
“Thief……”
“Thief?” he is confused. “But I’m not thief.”
Kyungsoo turns on the light.
However, he sees nothing in the corner of his bedroom. There is nobody standing in his room.
Afraid of darkness, Kyungsoo spends the night with light turned on and with eyes wide opened.
He can’t go back to sleep.
He just sits on his bed with a blanket wrapping his shivering body.
*
In the morning, Kyungsoo feels tired because he didn’t get enough sleep at night. After a breakfast, he goes back to his bedroom to take a nap to pay off his lack of sleep.
A minute after Kyungsoo feels the comfort on his pillow and he is about to sleep, he hears a noisy sound. There is a noisy sound from the upper floor. He can hear footsteps tapping from the ceiling of his bedroom. Then there is a slight sound of dance music from the upper bedroom, along with the sounds of footsteps.
Annoyed, Kyungsoo goes to the second floor to see what is happened. There should be nobody here, he thinks. Then Kyungsoo knocks the door of a bedroom on the second floor.
“Hello… Is anybody there?” asked him.
But no answer.
When Kyungsoo opens the bedroom door, there is nobody there. The room is tidy and there is no music played there.
Kyungsoo goes down to the first floor as he hears a dog growls from the downstairs.
“Ah, it’s you who make the noise,” Kyungsoo relieves. “Come here, Suho. Be a good boy.”
The golden retriever barks and runs around the living room toward Kyungsoo.
“Sit down,” Kyungsoo orders. Suho sits and Kyungsoo pats Suho’s head. “Good boy.”
Kyungsoo goes back to his own bedroom and sleep all day.
*
Kyungsoo has a nightmare again.
He is lying in a surgery room. His body has been injected by anesthesia but his mind remains conscious.
He can see some doctors cut open his chest and his stomach, but he feels nothing.
He sees the doctors take his organs out.
“No, don’t take my kidney. Please…” Kyungsoo wants to say that but he cannot move his mouth. He cannot speak anything as he lost his voice.
“Don’t take my heart… Don’t take anything from my body….” Kyungsoo begs.
Then the doctors inject Kyungsoo’s head. Kyungsoo cannot see anything. Strangely Kyungsoo can feel the doctors take off his eyes, but he cannot feel the pain. He feels numb and painless.
“No! Don’t steal my eyes!” cried Kyungsoo in his mind.
Darkness.
All Kyungsoo can see is darkness.
*
“Aaaaaaaaahhhh!” screamed Kyungsoo as he wakes up.
The dusk has fallen. The twilight has gone and changed into the night.
Kyungsoo is sweating all over his body. His sweater is wet. He is scared with his own dream.
He walks to the bathroom but he sees a creepy face with gray hair and a pair of bloody eyes on the mirror in his bathroom. It says, “Thief!” to Kyungsoo.
“Aaaaaaargh!”Kyungsoo screams and throws a vase to the mirror.
The mirror is broken and Kyungsoo falls to the floor as he is very scared.
“G-go away….” Kyungsoo shakes.
“Kyungsoo! What’s happening?!”
Kyungsoo’s father suddenly goes inside Kyungsoo’s room. He finds out his son sits on the floor and afraid of something.
Kyungsoo is still shaking. His father takes him to the dining room.
“What happened?” said Kyungsoo’s father tries to calm Kyungsoo down.
“I see something. Something is haunting me. I hear voices and I have nightmares and I saw a scary face on the mirror, and… and…” Kyungsoo is hyperventilating.
“Ssshhh… It’s okay, Kyungsoo. It’s gone. Everything’s fine,” his father caresses Kyungsoo.
“I often hear voices whispering and calling me ‘Thief’,” explained Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo’s father is surprised. “It’s just a nightmare, Kyungsoo. It’s just your imagination,” he says calmly and clears his throat.
“I’m afraid, father. I can’t sleep peacefully.” Kyungsoo looks so stress.
“Don’t worry, my son,” said his father who is a doctor.
“Now eat your dinner. Then I’ll give you a Mirtazapine. It will help you to sleep peacefully.”
*
The next day, Kyungsoo awakes from his peaceful sleep.
It is still a cold winter morning. Kyungsoo changes his pajama into layers of thick long-sleeve t-shirt under his fur sweater. Then he eats breakfast alone in the dining room. His father has gone to work in the laboratory.
Suddenly he hears noisy sounds. There is a music played and footsteps as if someone is dancing in the bedroom on the second floor.
Kyungsoo goes to the upstairs. However, when he opens the bedroom door on the second floor, he sees nobody. Just like before, there is no music played and there is nobody in the bedroom.
Curiously, Kyungsoo gets in. He checks every corner of the room and everything seems fine. Then he finds out a circle sign on a calendar on the desk.
It circles the date January 14th and there is a small writing there. It is written “My 16th Birthday” there. Kyungsoo is confused.
“My birthday was on January 12th, not January 14th. And it was my 17th birthday, not 16th birthday,” muttered Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo sits on the bed. “I think nobody lives here except me, my father, and Suho. My father rarely has a guest. So who had stayed in this room?” Kyungsoo thinks seriously as he furrows his eyebrows.
“Thief……”
He hears the whispering voice again.
“Who is that?” asked Kyungsoo. “Stop disturbing me.”
“Give back what you stole……”
The whisper sounds louder.
Kyungsoo hears it comes from the bathroom inside the bedroom.
He walks carefully and opens the bathroom door.
Then he sees a bathtub full of blood overloads to the tile floor.
“Noooooo!!!!” shrieked Kyungsoo as he runs away from the bedroom and goes downstairs.
He runs uncontrollably that he slips his left foot at the end of the stairs.
Kyungsoo rolls on the stairs and falls to the wooden floor. He faints.
*
The cold air of winter morning was piercing the skin at the beginning of January. Snow was everywhere. Even in the hustle bustle of the city, the winter has frozen the atmosphere
There was a tall teenage boy with a tan skin stood near the window in his bedroom at the attic. Jongin was his name. He stared to the front yard then saw a middle-aged man got out of the car and walked to the house. It was too early for a guest to visit, Jongin thought.
Living in an orphanage throughout his life had made Jongin got used to the random visitors who came to adopt the orphans. Jongin didn’t have any parents. Jongin didn’t know who his parents were. He had been abandoned in front of the gate of the orphanage since he was a baby.
Jongin once had the expectation to have any parents to adopt him as their child. But it was a long time ago. Jongin didn’t expect it any more since he was ten years old. There were no parents who want to adopt him. It was not because he was a bad child, neither because he had low intelligence.
There was that time when a parent nearly adopted him, but when they see Jongin, they cancelled it. It was just because Jongin’s hair was gray. His hair was gray since he was born and no hair dye could change his hair color. Whenever the hair dye compounds reacted with his hair, the color would fade and it would not change the hair color. The hair remained gray as if no chemical reaction can affect the hair pigment. Besides, Jongin’s appearance looked older than his age.
Jongin was disappointed with those parents who had judged a person physically, whereas Jongin had excellent skill in dancing. Dancing was the only thing that made him feel happy in his life.
Mr. Kim appeared at his bedroom door. “Come down, Jongin. Someone wants to meet you.”
As the orphanage owner, Mr. Kim had treated Jongin well for over fifteen years. In return, Jongin must work at the orphanage. He did housecleaning, laundry and some houseworks every day. Even Jongin got his family name from Mr. Kim that made his name into Kim Jongin. The name sounds nice.
“Jongin, please meet Dr. Do. Dr. Do, please meet Jongin,” introduced Mr. Kim when they met in the living room.
“Hello Jongin, nice to meet you,” said Dr. Do awkwardly.
“Hello Dr. Do. Nice to meet you too,” said Jongin politely as he bowed his head.
“So, how old are you Jongin?” asked Dr. Do.
“I’m fifteen. Going on sixteen next month,” Jongin replied indifferently.
Dr. Do smiles to Jongin. “You look… so unique. But that’s okay, as long as you’re healthy.”
Jongin was careful. “Are you okay with my hair color and my physical that looks older than my age?”
“It’s okay. But let me check your health condition. May I, Mr. Kim?” Dr. Do asked the orphanage owner.
“Sure. You can use Jongin’s room at the upstairs.” Mr. Kim looks so happy there was someone interested in Jongin.
In Jongin’s room at the attic, Dr. Do took his stethoscope, sphygmanometer, and small electric torch from his bag and started to check Jongin’s heart rates, blood pressure, eyes, ears, and nose.
“What is your hobby, Jongin?” asked Dr. Do while he checking Jongin’s blood pressure.
“I love to dance, Sir,” answered Jongin.
“Dancing. You must be have a good balance and body coordination,” Dr. Do was nodding. “Alright, your check up is finished. As far as I know, you are very healthy. Even though I still need to do a roentgen and a blood test to you, but we can do it at my house.”
“Thank you, Dr. Do,” Jongin was impressed.
“Now go pack your stuff. I’ll take you to my house today,” said Dr. Do.
*
Jongin had arrived at Dr. Do’s house. It was a great house over the hill. A mansion you can tell. It has a great wall surrounding the great yard of the house. Snows were piling on the roof of the house. The great gate opened with a metal creaking sound.
“We’re arrived. Come in,” invited Dr. Do.
Jongin was amazed with the house. The house looks very luxurious and expensive. He carefully sat on a comfy white sofa in the living room as he warmed himself in front of the classic fireplace.
Suddenly there was a golden retriever dog running toward Jongin. The dog was big but so friendly.
Jongin chuckled as he caressed the dog’s fur. “Do you want to play? What’s your name buddy?” Jongin was so excited.
“His name is Suho,” said Dr. Do. “Now let me take you to your room. It’s on the second floor.”
Jongin followed Dr. Do to the second floor and Suho the dog was following him.
After taking Jongin to his bedroom, Dr. Do continued the medical checkup as he took Jongin to the roentgen room and checked his internal organs. Then Dr. Do did a blood test to Jongin.
“Everything seems fine,” Dr. Do smiled. “You are very healthy and you have good healthy organs inside,” explained Dr. Do.
Meanwhile Jongin was still amazed with all the medical technology Dr. Do had in his own house.
Dr. Do warned him something, “Now you can relax and rest. I hope you like to live here. But please don’t go to the house at the backyard. It’s my laboratory and everyone is restricted to go there. Understand?”
“I understand, Sir,” said Jongin obediently.
*
Jongin had lived for a week at Dr. Do’s house. The freezing winter made Jongin too lazy to go outside. But he also got bored staying inside the house. He had been dancing in his bedroom while listening to some music, but lately he also got bored with that. Dr. Do was not in the house during the day. Jongin only met Dr. Do during the dinner time and then they went to their own bedrooms to rest. Suho was Jongin’s only friend.
One day, Jongin saw Suho was running to the house at the back yard. So Jongin tried to catch Suho to return him to the main house.
“Suho, don’t go there! It’s a restricted area!” Jongin yelled as he run to the house at the backyard.
But Suho disappeared. Jongin wondered if Suho get in the laboratory. When Jongin got back to the main house, he stared at the window from his bedroom. He saw a boy in the second floor of the house at the back yard. He saw Suho was there too. He saw the boy was brushing Suho’s hair.
“There is another boy living in this house?” Jongin was curious.
The day after, Jongin decided to sneak to the house at the back yard. He followed Suho who showed him the way to the secret door. There was an unlocked door behind the house at the back yard. Jongin came in as he sneaked inside the house to the second floor.
At the second floor, Jongin saw a room with an opened door. He peeked inside and he saw a boy sat on a wheelchair. Jongin unintentionally nudged a table at his side by his elbow and a photo frame fell from the table.
The boy in the room was shocked, “Father, is that you?”
But then Suho run to the boy as he licked the boy’s hand.
“Oh, it’s you Suho. I thought it was father,” said the boy as he stroked Suho’s head.
Jongin saw the photograph in the frame. It is the picture of Dr. Do and the boy. “The boy is Dr. Do’s son and he is blind,” Jongin thought.
Jongin carefully tried to go back to the main house. But when he sneaked to the first floor, he felt someone’s arms caught him from behind.
Someone shut his mouth and nose with a handkerchief which has a strange strong smell. Jongin tried to fight but the smell of Chloroform is too strong it made Jongin weak and dizzy.
“This is for Kyungsoo,” said Dr. Do.
Jongin could hear that a second before he lost his consciousness.
Then everything was dark.
*
Darkness.
The only thing Kyungsoo can see was darkness.
It was his regular daily checkup every morning. Kyungsoo was used to the cold metal surface of stethoscope, syringe needle, and other medical instruments touching his skin.
Dr. Do swang the beam of a penlight back and forth to Kyungsoo’s eyes but both of his pupils dilated from prior constricted state.
“Be patience, Kyungsoo. Soon I will find the suitable transplant donor for you,” said his father as he was done checking Kyungsoo’s daily health condition.
Dr. Do caressed Kyungsoo’s hair. “I promise you will be able to see again in your upcoming birthday on January.”
Kyungsoo answered, “Don’t push yourself too hard, father.”
He felt a pain in his chest and a pain in his left hip. “Therefore, I wish I could see the outside world soon.”
“No, Kyungsoo. You can’t go outside due to your poor health condition,” said Kyungsoo’s father calmly.
Kyungsoo gulped. He could feel a pain in his chest as he feels a pain inside his abdomen while he sat on the wheelchair.
“It’s time for haemodialysis,” Dr. Do started an intravenous infusion to Kyungsoo’s pale skin using a tunneled catheter.
Kyungsoo heard the sound of blood dialyser was being turned on.
*
It was January 12th. The morning sun shone brightly through the cold winter. Kyungsoo was ready. He was ready for the day.
“Good morning, Kyungsoo. Today, I will take off your blindfold.” said Kyungsoo’s father.
Kyungsoo smiled, “Good morning, father.”
When Dr. Do took off Kyungsoo’s blindfold, Kyungsoo tried to open his eyes.
Everything seemed bright. Kyungsoo could see the light. Kyungsoo could see his father now.
“Father, it works. I can see! I can see!” Kyungsoo was excited.
“Happy seventeenth birthday, my son,” said his father as he embraced his beloved son.
“Father, thank you so much,” Kyungsoo hugged his father tightly.
“I found the right donor for your organs transplantation. Now you have new eyes, new heart, and new kidney as your birthday present,” explained Dr. Do while he brushed Kyungsoo’s hair
“This is the best birthday present for me,” Kyungsoo was so happy that tears fell from his eyes.
“Now you can move back to the main house. I’ve prepared your bedroom.”
Dr. Do took his son to the main house and let him see the view of the house.
Kyungsoo’s bedroom was on the first floor of the main house.
“I’m afraid your heart condition is still weak after the heart transplantation. That’s why I move your bedroom to the first floor. You shouldn’t go upstairs because it will make you feel tired,” said his father when he prepared some medicines, an infusion pump, and a syringe driver on the desk in Kyungsoo’s bedroom.
“You still need to drink medicine regularly, alright?”
“Alright, father,” replied Kyungsoo obediently.
“I will be in my laboratory during the day as usual. You just stay here and relax,” said Dr. Do as he walked out of Kyungsoo’s bedroom.
*
Kyungsoo is sprawled on a puddle of blood.
He can hear the haunting voice blames him, “You are thief…! Give back my eyes… Return my heart… Bring back my kidney…”
Kyungsoo tries to run away but his legs are numb. A dark figure with red eyes and gray hair is approaching him.
“N-no! No… please…” Kyungsoo crawls.
The ghastly figure tries to possess Kyungsoo’s body. “Thief...” he said. “Thief…!”
Everything looks red.
*
Kyungsoo awakes and finds himself lies on the maple wood floor. Suho is licking his cheek as if he tries to wake Kyungsoo up.
The orange sunset of twilight is shining through the window of the living room.
Kyungsoo’s head, arms, and legs hurt, but he is still able to walk. Luckily he fell from the end of the stairs, so it didn’t harm him much. He just feels dizzy.
It is only been few days after he could barely see. He wonders why he can hear a strange voice too. It sounds creepy, Kyungsoo thinks.
Kyungsoo needs his father. He decides to find his father at the laboratory.
He brings a flashlight because it is already dark outside. Suho is following him from behind. They are walking through the snow to the house at the backyard.
At the backyard house, the laboratory room feels so creepy for Kyungsoo. The room is surrounded by white walls and medical armamentarium like ventilator, ECMO machine, ECG monitor, dialysis machine, cardiopulmonary bypass pump, and defibrillator¬. The smell of antiseptic fills the air of the laboratory.
“Father, where are you?”
He is searching for his father, but his father is not in the laboratory.
Accidentally, Kyungsoo finds a door on the floor. He is curious. He never knows that there is a basement floor in this house.¬
He opens the door and sees the stairs to the underground. The room looks bright down there.
Kyungsoo steps down to the stairs.
When Kyungsoo arrives at basement room, he sees another laboratory room which has the same white walls and some medical equipment, but the room is colder. There is a surgery bed in the middle.
Kyungsoo quivers, his teeth are rattling.
There is another door on the wall, but it looks like an extra-large refrigerator.
The room smells strange.
Actually it is a combination smell of cadaver and formaldehyde.
Kyungsoo opens the refrigerator door and he sees a frozen corpse.
The corpse is a boy with tan skin and gray hair. It is preserved in a very low temperature of the freezer. The corpse doesn’t have eyes, its chest and abdomen was cut open that it has no heart and kidney.
Kyungsoo screams. The fear that haunts him is clear.
The transplanted organs in his body were taken from another boy by force.
He runs upstairs and leaves the laboratory in a rush.
He runs through the freezing snow.
*
Dr. Do is back from the city. He has visited the hospital to take some medicine for his son. Out from the car, he walks inside the house.
He puts his bag of medicines on the marble dining table. Then he goes to Kyungsoo’s bedroom.
“Kyungsoo, it’s time for dinner,” said Dr. Do while he knocks the bedroom door.
No answer.
Dr. Do is surprised when he opens the door and finds Kyungsoo is not there.
He goes to the bathroom, no Kyungsoo. He goes the bedroom on the second floor, no Kyungsoo. He checks the kitchen, no Kyungsoo.
Dr. Do is worried. “Kyungsoo!” he yells.
“Where are you?!” He goes downstairs. “Suho!” he calls the golden retriever.
But still there is no answer.
The kitchen door is slammed open.
Dr. Do runs to kitchen and finds Kyungsoo is standing there. Kyungsoo shakes and looks scared as he is out of breath.
“Where are you from, Kyungsoo?” asked Dr. Do anxiously.
*
Kyungsoo runs from his fear, as if the raging spirit of the dead body in the laboratory chases him.
The snowy wind blurs his vision. Kyungsoo forgot his flashlight at the laboratory.
He tries very hard to run away to the main house.
Kyungsoo enters the house from the kitchen door.
His body shakes very hard. His vision is not clear anymore as he begins to hallucinate.
Then he sees the figure of a boy with tan skin and gray hair is standing in front of him in the kitchen.
“Go away!” shouted Kyungsoo as he takes a knife from the kitchen drawer.
“Don’t disturb me!!!” screamed Kyungsoo while he runs and stabs the terrifying figure.
“Kyungsoo!” a familiar voice calls him.
The figure falls when Kyungsoo strikes him.
Then Kyungsoo comes to realize that the figure he stabs is his own father.
“Father?” Kyungsoo is confused with his blurry vision.
“Father! I’m sorry… I don’t know it’s you… Please, wake up!” Kyungsoo cries when he sees his father is dying on the floor. Blood rushes out from his father’s chest.
“The thief must die!” the strange hissing voice threatens from the air.
The kitchen tools are flying and swirling in the air.
A poltergeist is chasing Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo runs to the living room and screams.
“Stop! Don’t disturb me!”
The translucent figure of a boy with gray hair and bloody eyes appears again. He is floating in the air and approaching Kyungsoo, along with the poltergeist.
“I shall revenge!” the spirit’s shrieking voice is echoing in the living room.
Kyungsoo takes a flaming birch wood from the fireplace. He throws the wood to the ghost.
Unfortunately, the burning wood hits and burns the sofa.
The house is on fire.
Kyungsoo sees the raging ghost is laughing to him.
“Thief must be burned in hell!” said the wrath of Jongin’s spirit.
Kyungsoo tries to get out but the door handle made of bronze is very hot. He tries to break the window but too late, a flying chair from the poltergeist knocks his head very hard. He faints.
Kyungsoo is trapped inside the house. He cannot run away.
The flames burn down the house and everything inside.
The flares are blazing in the middle of snowy winter night.
The dark smokes are swirling in the air together with the dark spirit.
The revenge has been paid.
The evil has gone and swallowed by the dark sky.
*
In a silent winter morning, the house has become burnt of ruins and ashes.
There is a golden retriever dog staggers near the house debris.
He bites a piece of hand in the mouth.
The toxic formaldehyde from the rotten flesh is poisoning the dog.
Suho trembles and collapses to the snowy ground near the front gate of the house.
The freezing snows slowly bury him and his innocent agony.
There was a great house over the hill.
But nobody lives there anymore now.
--- END --
a/n:
I apologize if my imagination has reached the gore level.
Title: I Could See You
Pairings: Kai/D.O
Rating: R
Word Count: ~4,100
Warnings: slight!Gore, murder, ghosts
Summary: When a compulsive possession turns everything into tragedy.
Author’s Note: I love the original idea of the horror prompt. I hope everyone will like it. This is my first time writing horror story. Thank you so much for my dearest beta 'A' who always supports me and help me with the grammar. (mod note: updated on 140914)
Author's Note (continued):
I also have prepared a music playlist for you to listen while reading this story:
- Peppermoon - “Lonelunaire"
- Snow Ghosts - “And The World Was Gone”
- Evanescence - “Haunted”
- We Are The Fallen - “Tear The World Down”
- Homogenic - “Faraway Dreamer”
“I COULD SEE YOU”
There is a great house over the hill.
There lives a boy named Do Kyungsoo and his father with their obedient dog.
One night, when Kyungsoo is sleeping soundly, there is a whisper among the sound of the wind in the midnight during the cold winter.
“Thief......”
Kyungsoo is awake in the middle of the night.
“Uh, a nightmare,” said Kyungsoo as he holds his aching head.
He walks to the bathroom. But then he hears the strange whisper again there.
“Thief……”
Kyungsoo is scared. “W-who’s t-that?” said Kyungsoo with a tremble voice.
When he gets back to his bedroom, he sees a dark figure standing in the corner of his bedroom.
He hears the whispering voice again.
“Thief……”
“Thief?” he is confused. “But I’m not thief.”
Kyungsoo turns on the light.
However, he sees nothing in the corner of his bedroom. There is nobody standing in his room.
Afraid of darkness, Kyungsoo spends the night with light turned on and with eyes wide opened.
He can’t go back to sleep.
He just sits on his bed with a blanket wrapping his shivering body.
*
In the morning, Kyungsoo feels tired because he didn’t get enough sleep at night. After a breakfast, he goes back to his bedroom to take a nap to pay off his lack of sleep.
A minute after Kyungsoo feels the comfort on his pillow and he is about to sleep, he hears a noisy sound. There is a noisy sound from the upper floor. He can hear footsteps tapping from the ceiling of his bedroom. Then there is a slight sound of dance music from the upper bedroom, along with the sounds of footsteps.
Annoyed, Kyungsoo goes to the second floor to see what is happened. There should be nobody here, he thinks. Then Kyungsoo knocks the door of a bedroom on the second floor.
“Hello… Is anybody there?” asked him.
But no answer.
When Kyungsoo opens the bedroom door, there is nobody there. The room is tidy and there is no music played there.
Kyungsoo goes down to the first floor as he hears a dog growls from the downstairs.
“Ah, it’s you who make the noise,” Kyungsoo relieves. “Come here, Suho. Be a good boy.”
The golden retriever barks and runs around the living room toward Kyungsoo.
“Sit down,” Kyungsoo orders. Suho sits and Kyungsoo pats Suho’s head. “Good boy.”
Kyungsoo goes back to his own bedroom and sleep all day.
*
Kyungsoo has a nightmare again.
He is lying in a surgery room. His body has been injected by anesthesia but his mind remains conscious.
He can see some doctors cut open his chest and his stomach, but he feels nothing.
He sees the doctors take his organs out.
“No, don’t take my kidney. Please…” Kyungsoo wants to say that but he cannot move his mouth. He cannot speak anything as he lost his voice.
“Don’t take my heart… Don’t take anything from my body….” Kyungsoo begs.
Then the doctors inject Kyungsoo’s head. Kyungsoo cannot see anything. Strangely Kyungsoo can feel the doctors take off his eyes, but he cannot feel the pain. He feels numb and painless.
“No! Don’t steal my eyes!” cried Kyungsoo in his mind.
Darkness.
All Kyungsoo can see is darkness.
*
“Aaaaaaaaahhhh!” screamed Kyungsoo as he wakes up.
The dusk has fallen. The twilight has gone and changed into the night.
Kyungsoo is sweating all over his body. His sweater is wet. He is scared with his own dream.
He walks to the bathroom but he sees a creepy face with gray hair and a pair of bloody eyes on the mirror in his bathroom. It says, “Thief!” to Kyungsoo.
“Aaaaaaargh!”Kyungsoo screams and throws a vase to the mirror.
The mirror is broken and Kyungsoo falls to the floor as he is very scared.
“G-go away….” Kyungsoo shakes.
“Kyungsoo! What’s happening?!”
Kyungsoo’s father suddenly goes inside Kyungsoo’s room. He finds out his son sits on the floor and afraid of something.
Kyungsoo is still shaking. His father takes him to the dining room.
“What happened?” said Kyungsoo’s father tries to calm Kyungsoo down.
“I see something. Something is haunting me. I hear voices and I have nightmares and I saw a scary face on the mirror, and… and…” Kyungsoo is hyperventilating.
“Ssshhh… It’s okay, Kyungsoo. It’s gone. Everything’s fine,” his father caresses Kyungsoo.
“I often hear voices whispering and calling me ‘Thief’,” explained Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo’s father is surprised. “It’s just a nightmare, Kyungsoo. It’s just your imagination,” he says calmly and clears his throat.
“I’m afraid, father. I can’t sleep peacefully.” Kyungsoo looks so stress.
“Don’t worry, my son,” said his father who is a doctor.
“Now eat your dinner. Then I’ll give you a Mirtazapine. It will help you to sleep peacefully.”
*
The next day, Kyungsoo awakes from his peaceful sleep.
It is still a cold winter morning. Kyungsoo changes his pajama into layers of thick long-sleeve t-shirt under his fur sweater. Then he eats breakfast alone in the dining room. His father has gone to work in the laboratory.
Suddenly he hears noisy sounds. There is a music played and footsteps as if someone is dancing in the bedroom on the second floor.
Kyungsoo goes to the upstairs. However, when he opens the bedroom door on the second floor, he sees nobody. Just like before, there is no music played and there is nobody in the bedroom.
Curiously, Kyungsoo gets in. He checks every corner of the room and everything seems fine. Then he finds out a circle sign on a calendar on the desk.
It circles the date January 14th and there is a small writing there. It is written “My 16th Birthday” there. Kyungsoo is confused.
“My birthday was on January 12th, not January 14th. And it was my 17th birthday, not 16th birthday,” muttered Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo sits on the bed. “I think nobody lives here except me, my father, and Suho. My father rarely has a guest. So who had stayed in this room?” Kyungsoo thinks seriously as he furrows his eyebrows.
“Thief……”
He hears the whispering voice again.
“Who is that?” asked Kyungsoo. “Stop disturbing me.”
“Give back what you stole……”
The whisper sounds louder.
Kyungsoo hears it comes from the bathroom inside the bedroom.
He walks carefully and opens the bathroom door.
Then he sees a bathtub full of blood overloads to the tile floor.
“Noooooo!!!!” shrieked Kyungsoo as he runs away from the bedroom and goes downstairs.
He runs uncontrollably that he slips his left foot at the end of the stairs.
Kyungsoo rolls on the stairs and falls to the wooden floor. He faints.
*
The cold air of winter morning was piercing the skin at the beginning of January. Snow was everywhere. Even in the hustle bustle of the city, the winter has frozen the atmosphere
There was a tall teenage boy with a tan skin stood near the window in his bedroom at the attic. Jongin was his name. He stared to the front yard then saw a middle-aged man got out of the car and walked to the house. It was too early for a guest to visit, Jongin thought.
Living in an orphanage throughout his life had made Jongin got used to the random visitors who came to adopt the orphans. Jongin didn’t have any parents. Jongin didn’t know who his parents were. He had been abandoned in front of the gate of the orphanage since he was a baby.
Jongin once had the expectation to have any parents to adopt him as their child. But it was a long time ago. Jongin didn’t expect it any more since he was ten years old. There were no parents who want to adopt him. It was not because he was a bad child, neither because he had low intelligence.
There was that time when a parent nearly adopted him, but when they see Jongin, they cancelled it. It was just because Jongin’s hair was gray. His hair was gray since he was born and no hair dye could change his hair color. Whenever the hair dye compounds reacted with his hair, the color would fade and it would not change the hair color. The hair remained gray as if no chemical reaction can affect the hair pigment. Besides, Jongin’s appearance looked older than his age.
Jongin was disappointed with those parents who had judged a person physically, whereas Jongin had excellent skill in dancing. Dancing was the only thing that made him feel happy in his life.
Mr. Kim appeared at his bedroom door. “Come down, Jongin. Someone wants to meet you.”
As the orphanage owner, Mr. Kim had treated Jongin well for over fifteen years. In return, Jongin must work at the orphanage. He did housecleaning, laundry and some houseworks every day. Even Jongin got his family name from Mr. Kim that made his name into Kim Jongin. The name sounds nice.
“Jongin, please meet Dr. Do. Dr. Do, please meet Jongin,” introduced Mr. Kim when they met in the living room.
“Hello Jongin, nice to meet you,” said Dr. Do awkwardly.
“Hello Dr. Do. Nice to meet you too,” said Jongin politely as he bowed his head.
“So, how old are you Jongin?” asked Dr. Do.
“I’m fifteen. Going on sixteen next month,” Jongin replied indifferently.
Dr. Do smiles to Jongin. “You look… so unique. But that’s okay, as long as you’re healthy.”
Jongin was careful. “Are you okay with my hair color and my physical that looks older than my age?”
“It’s okay. But let me check your health condition. May I, Mr. Kim?” Dr. Do asked the orphanage owner.
“Sure. You can use Jongin’s room at the upstairs.” Mr. Kim looks so happy there was someone interested in Jongin.
In Jongin’s room at the attic, Dr. Do took his stethoscope, sphygmanometer, and small electric torch from his bag and started to check Jongin’s heart rates, blood pressure, eyes, ears, and nose.
“What is your hobby, Jongin?” asked Dr. Do while he checking Jongin’s blood pressure.
“I love to dance, Sir,” answered Jongin.
“Dancing. You must be have a good balance and body coordination,” Dr. Do was nodding. “Alright, your check up is finished. As far as I know, you are very healthy. Even though I still need to do a roentgen and a blood test to you, but we can do it at my house.”
“Thank you, Dr. Do,” Jongin was impressed.
“Now go pack your stuff. I’ll take you to my house today,” said Dr. Do.
*
Jongin had arrived at Dr. Do’s house. It was a great house over the hill. A mansion you can tell. It has a great wall surrounding the great yard of the house. Snows were piling on the roof of the house. The great gate opened with a metal creaking sound.
“We’re arrived. Come in,” invited Dr. Do.
Jongin was amazed with the house. The house looks very luxurious and expensive. He carefully sat on a comfy white sofa in the living room as he warmed himself in front of the classic fireplace.
Suddenly there was a golden retriever dog running toward Jongin. The dog was big but so friendly.
Jongin chuckled as he caressed the dog’s fur. “Do you want to play? What’s your name buddy?” Jongin was so excited.
“His name is Suho,” said Dr. Do. “Now let me take you to your room. It’s on the second floor.”
Jongin followed Dr. Do to the second floor and Suho the dog was following him.
After taking Jongin to his bedroom, Dr. Do continued the medical checkup as he took Jongin to the roentgen room and checked his internal organs. Then Dr. Do did a blood test to Jongin.
“Everything seems fine,” Dr. Do smiled. “You are very healthy and you have good healthy organs inside,” explained Dr. Do.
Meanwhile Jongin was still amazed with all the medical technology Dr. Do had in his own house.
Dr. Do warned him something, “Now you can relax and rest. I hope you like to live here. But please don’t go to the house at the backyard. It’s my laboratory and everyone is restricted to go there. Understand?”
“I understand, Sir,” said Jongin obediently.
*
Jongin had lived for a week at Dr. Do’s house. The freezing winter made Jongin too lazy to go outside. But he also got bored staying inside the house. He had been dancing in his bedroom while listening to some music, but lately he also got bored with that. Dr. Do was not in the house during the day. Jongin only met Dr. Do during the dinner time and then they went to their own bedrooms to rest. Suho was Jongin’s only friend.
One day, Jongin saw Suho was running to the house at the back yard. So Jongin tried to catch Suho to return him to the main house.
“Suho, don’t go there! It’s a restricted area!” Jongin yelled as he run to the house at the backyard.
But Suho disappeared. Jongin wondered if Suho get in the laboratory. When Jongin got back to the main house, he stared at the window from his bedroom. He saw a boy in the second floor of the house at the back yard. He saw Suho was there too. He saw the boy was brushing Suho’s hair.
“There is another boy living in this house?” Jongin was curious.
The day after, Jongin decided to sneak to the house at the back yard. He followed Suho who showed him the way to the secret door. There was an unlocked door behind the house at the back yard. Jongin came in as he sneaked inside the house to the second floor.
At the second floor, Jongin saw a room with an opened door. He peeked inside and he saw a boy sat on a wheelchair. Jongin unintentionally nudged a table at his side by his elbow and a photo frame fell from the table.
The boy in the room was shocked, “Father, is that you?”
But then Suho run to the boy as he licked the boy’s hand.
“Oh, it’s you Suho. I thought it was father,” said the boy as he stroked Suho’s head.
Jongin saw the photograph in the frame. It is the picture of Dr. Do and the boy. “The boy is Dr. Do’s son and he is blind,” Jongin thought.
Jongin carefully tried to go back to the main house. But when he sneaked to the first floor, he felt someone’s arms caught him from behind.
Someone shut his mouth and nose with a handkerchief which has a strange strong smell. Jongin tried to fight but the smell of Chloroform is too strong it made Jongin weak and dizzy.
“This is for Kyungsoo,” said Dr. Do.
Jongin could hear that a second before he lost his consciousness.
Then everything was dark.
*
Darkness.
The only thing Kyungsoo can see was darkness.
It was his regular daily checkup every morning. Kyungsoo was used to the cold metal surface of stethoscope, syringe needle, and other medical instruments touching his skin.
Dr. Do swang the beam of a penlight back and forth to Kyungsoo’s eyes but both of his pupils dilated from prior constricted state.
“Be patience, Kyungsoo. Soon I will find the suitable transplant donor for you,” said his father as he was done checking Kyungsoo’s daily health condition.
Dr. Do caressed Kyungsoo’s hair. “I promise you will be able to see again in your upcoming birthday on January.”
Kyungsoo answered, “Don’t push yourself too hard, father.”
He felt a pain in his chest and a pain in his left hip. “Therefore, I wish I could see the outside world soon.”
“No, Kyungsoo. You can’t go outside due to your poor health condition,” said Kyungsoo’s father calmly.
Kyungsoo gulped. He could feel a pain in his chest as he feels a pain inside his abdomen while he sat on the wheelchair.
“It’s time for haemodialysis,” Dr. Do started an intravenous infusion to Kyungsoo’s pale skin using a tunneled catheter.
Kyungsoo heard the sound of blood dialyser was being turned on.
*
It was January 12th. The morning sun shone brightly through the cold winter. Kyungsoo was ready. He was ready for the day.
“Good morning, Kyungsoo. Today, I will take off your blindfold.” said Kyungsoo’s father.
Kyungsoo smiled, “Good morning, father.”
When Dr. Do took off Kyungsoo’s blindfold, Kyungsoo tried to open his eyes.
Everything seemed bright. Kyungsoo could see the light. Kyungsoo could see his father now.
“Father, it works. I can see! I can see!” Kyungsoo was excited.
“Happy seventeenth birthday, my son,” said his father as he embraced his beloved son.
“Father, thank you so much,” Kyungsoo hugged his father tightly.
“I found the right donor for your organs transplantation. Now you have new eyes, new heart, and new kidney as your birthday present,” explained Dr. Do while he brushed Kyungsoo’s hair
“This is the best birthday present for me,” Kyungsoo was so happy that tears fell from his eyes.
“Now you can move back to the main house. I’ve prepared your bedroom.”
Dr. Do took his son to the main house and let him see the view of the house.
Kyungsoo’s bedroom was on the first floor of the main house.
“I’m afraid your heart condition is still weak after the heart transplantation. That’s why I move your bedroom to the first floor. You shouldn’t go upstairs because it will make you feel tired,” said his father when he prepared some medicines, an infusion pump, and a syringe driver on the desk in Kyungsoo’s bedroom.
“You still need to drink medicine regularly, alright?”
“Alright, father,” replied Kyungsoo obediently.
“I will be in my laboratory during the day as usual. You just stay here and relax,” said Dr. Do as he walked out of Kyungsoo’s bedroom.
*
Kyungsoo is sprawled on a puddle of blood.
He can hear the haunting voice blames him, “You are thief…! Give back my eyes… Return my heart… Bring back my kidney…”
Kyungsoo tries to run away but his legs are numb. A dark figure with red eyes and gray hair is approaching him.
“N-no! No… please…” Kyungsoo crawls.
The ghastly figure tries to possess Kyungsoo’s body. “Thief...” he said. “Thief…!”
Everything looks red.
*
Kyungsoo awakes and finds himself lies on the maple wood floor. Suho is licking his cheek as if he tries to wake Kyungsoo up.
The orange sunset of twilight is shining through the window of the living room.
Kyungsoo’s head, arms, and legs hurt, but he is still able to walk. Luckily he fell from the end of the stairs, so it didn’t harm him much. He just feels dizzy.
It is only been few days after he could barely see. He wonders why he can hear a strange voice too. It sounds creepy, Kyungsoo thinks.
Kyungsoo needs his father. He decides to find his father at the laboratory.
He brings a flashlight because it is already dark outside. Suho is following him from behind. They are walking through the snow to the house at the backyard.
At the backyard house, the laboratory room feels so creepy for Kyungsoo. The room is surrounded by white walls and medical armamentarium like ventilator, ECMO machine, ECG monitor, dialysis machine, cardiopulmonary bypass pump, and defibrillator¬. The smell of antiseptic fills the air of the laboratory.
“Father, where are you?”
He is searching for his father, but his father is not in the laboratory.
Accidentally, Kyungsoo finds a door on the floor. He is curious. He never knows that there is a basement floor in this house.¬
He opens the door and sees the stairs to the underground. The room looks bright down there.
Kyungsoo steps down to the stairs.
When Kyungsoo arrives at basement room, he sees another laboratory room which has the same white walls and some medical equipment, but the room is colder. There is a surgery bed in the middle.
Kyungsoo quivers, his teeth are rattling.
There is another door on the wall, but it looks like an extra-large refrigerator.
The room smells strange.
Actually it is a combination smell of cadaver and formaldehyde.
Kyungsoo opens the refrigerator door and he sees a frozen corpse.
The corpse is a boy with tan skin and gray hair. It is preserved in a very low temperature of the freezer. The corpse doesn’t have eyes, its chest and abdomen was cut open that it has no heart and kidney.
Kyungsoo screams. The fear that haunts him is clear.
The transplanted organs in his body were taken from another boy by force.
He runs upstairs and leaves the laboratory in a rush.
He runs through the freezing snow.
*
Dr. Do is back from the city. He has visited the hospital to take some medicine for his son. Out from the car, he walks inside the house.
He puts his bag of medicines on the marble dining table. Then he goes to Kyungsoo’s bedroom.
“Kyungsoo, it’s time for dinner,” said Dr. Do while he knocks the bedroom door.
No answer.
Dr. Do is surprised when he opens the door and finds Kyungsoo is not there.
He goes to the bathroom, no Kyungsoo. He goes the bedroom on the second floor, no Kyungsoo. He checks the kitchen, no Kyungsoo.
Dr. Do is worried. “Kyungsoo!” he yells.
“Where are you?!” He goes downstairs. “Suho!” he calls the golden retriever.
But still there is no answer.
The kitchen door is slammed open.
Dr. Do runs to kitchen and finds Kyungsoo is standing there. Kyungsoo shakes and looks scared as he is out of breath.
“Where are you from, Kyungsoo?” asked Dr. Do anxiously.
*
Kyungsoo runs from his fear, as if the raging spirit of the dead body in the laboratory chases him.
The snowy wind blurs his vision. Kyungsoo forgot his flashlight at the laboratory.
He tries very hard to run away to the main house.
Kyungsoo enters the house from the kitchen door.
His body shakes very hard. His vision is not clear anymore as he begins to hallucinate.
Then he sees the figure of a boy with tan skin and gray hair is standing in front of him in the kitchen.
“Go away!” shouted Kyungsoo as he takes a knife from the kitchen drawer.
“Don’t disturb me!!!” screamed Kyungsoo while he runs and stabs the terrifying figure.
“Kyungsoo!” a familiar voice calls him.
The figure falls when Kyungsoo strikes him.
Then Kyungsoo comes to realize that the figure he stabs is his own father.
“Father?” Kyungsoo is confused with his blurry vision.
“Father! I’m sorry… I don’t know it’s you… Please, wake up!” Kyungsoo cries when he sees his father is dying on the floor. Blood rushes out from his father’s chest.
“The thief must die!” the strange hissing voice threatens from the air.
The kitchen tools are flying and swirling in the air.
A poltergeist is chasing Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo runs to the living room and screams.
“Stop! Don’t disturb me!”
The translucent figure of a boy with gray hair and bloody eyes appears again. He is floating in the air and approaching Kyungsoo, along with the poltergeist.
“I shall revenge!” the spirit’s shrieking voice is echoing in the living room.
Kyungsoo takes a flaming birch wood from the fireplace. He throws the wood to the ghost.
Unfortunately, the burning wood hits and burns the sofa.
The house is on fire.
Kyungsoo sees the raging ghost is laughing to him.
“Thief must be burned in hell!” said the wrath of Jongin’s spirit.
Kyungsoo tries to get out but the door handle made of bronze is very hot. He tries to break the window but too late, a flying chair from the poltergeist knocks his head very hard. He faints.
Kyungsoo is trapped inside the house. He cannot run away.
The flames burn down the house and everything inside.
The flares are blazing in the middle of snowy winter night.
The dark smokes are swirling in the air together with the dark spirit.
The revenge has been paid.
The evil has gone and swallowed by the dark sky.
*
In a silent winter morning, the house has become burnt of ruins and ashes.
There is a golden retriever dog staggers near the house debris.
He bites a piece of hand in the mouth.
The toxic formaldehyde from the rotten flesh is poisoning the dog.
Suho trembles and collapses to the snowy ground near the front gate of the house.
The freezing snows slowly bury him and his innocent agony.
There was a great house over the hill.
But nobody lives there anymore now.
--- END --
a/n:
I apologize if my imagination has reached the gore level.