Winrina Drabbles

(16) At 3 AM in Her Kitchen

All the tossing and turning, and still, Minjeong laid wide awake on her bed. She turned to her side to glare at the red digital numbers on her clock, which glared back at her with 2:49 AM. Minjeong groaned into her pillow, roughly combing through her hair with only one question in mind.

Why can't I sleep?

It wasn't because it was noisy, and it wasn't because she had the energy to spare. The girl was dead tired, eyes drooping and all, yet her head was as active as it could ever be. Maybe it was her fault for procrastinating on that paper she had to do, and now the adrenaline wouldn't leave her alone. But that was hours ago, and Minjeong should've passed out the moment she hit 'send' on the email. It was more likely that all-nighter she had been forced to endure four days prior, and now it has messed up with her body clock.

Aside from her procrastinating self, the smoke detector out in the hallway had kept her up with its beeping throughout the odd hours of the night, and then it would weirdly shut itself off. Minjeong had already called the maintenance guy, and he told her there was nothing wrong with it and that she was probably hearing things, but she swears she wasn't. The guy left without doing much since Minjeong didn't have any concrete proof about the device going off.

It wasn't like she could go around and asked her neighbors about it. Minjeong had just moved in and had yet to see a single neighbor cross paths with her. They were either as introverted as she was, had night classes or jobs, or were plain deaf to the noises during the small hours of their floor. She'd like to stick to all three options because apparently, she was the only one who had reported the beeping of the smoke detector.

But that didn't matter now. The night was surprisingly still, and she was upset that she couldn't take advantage of it and sleep already. For about three hours, Minjeong had already done everything to try to get some. A glass of warm milk, counting sheep, a thick book, a boring podcast...nothing.

She decides to blankly stare at her ceiling instead, making mental notes of her to-do's for the following day. It turns out it was all she needed to do, and now her head started to get fuzzy as her eyes drooped down for the nth time. Minjeong tries not to get too excited as that would ruin the peace that was to come, so she lets it in, finally feeling sleep wash all over her.

The feeling was gone too fast, just as fast as the ruckus on the other side of her thin apartment walls. It was a heavy thud on the floor, followed by numerous clinks and clanks of what sounded to be metal.

Eyes are wide open, and a searing ache makes its way up Minjeong's head. She brings her hands to her face and lets out a deep groan when the noises continue, almost wanting to cry. This had to be a punishment of some sort for being lazier than usual, and Minjeong silently mutters a promise never to be lazy again. But that doesn't stop the apparent catastrophe her neighbor was up to. There were more sounds now, probably furniture being pushed around and whatnot.

Her hands slowly trail upwards, past her bed frame and onto the wall above it. She feels around before landing a few hard smacks against it. The walls of her single apartment felt like hollow cardboard, so it didn't really hurt, and it was surely thin enough for her neighbor to hear the warning. There was silence after that, and Minjeong sighs out in relief.

Technically, it wasn't nighttime anymore, and whatever it was continues to prove her wrong when the smoke detector begins its beeping. Minjeong was sure that she would never sleep at this point, definitely not with the erratic clamor around her, but it gives her an idea to do something else. Her neighbor's business was something she couldn't do anything about, but the smoke detector was.

She slips out of bed and quickly searches for her phone, praying for the first time that the beeping would continue for a little longer. When her hands reach it, she makes a mad dash to her door, eager to have that piece of evidence in her hands and rub it on the maintenance guy's face. Minjeong's phone is switched on to the camera, ready to aim at the white cylinder on the ceiling, but she is greeted with grey smoke and something—somebody else.