Clear and Present Danger

Epilogue : Evening Sun

'Eui Song-ah!!!! Kim Eui Song, where are you?' I could hear Tae Pyung screaming as he looked out into the vast open field of our humble abode in Gurye. I could see him placing his hands on his waist, a sign that he was already getting weary of looking and wanted to end the search as the seeker of the game. I wonder why he didn't see me, when I was hiding somewhere that's very obvious for him to see. 

'Is he blunt or what?' I asked myself when he walked past me in the bamboo grove. I slowly got out and wondered why he never saw me. I waited for him to look back but then he didn't.

'What's wrong with him?'

'Eui Song ah!!' He shouted once more. 'Appa will leave you and go home.'

Suddenly, our boy came running to him, wearing his white sweatshirt and black jogger pants. He was sporting a bowl haircut and his eyes were lost when he smiled. His dimples were deep, he surely got that from Tae Pyung. He was smiling as he came up to his Appa and bumped into him on purpose.

'Appa!' he shouted as he bumped into his thigh. He smiled as he crouched down to reach his eye level and was talking to him. Looking into his eyes, he smiled and ruffled his hair. Our son then went on to hug him, and as his father picked him up, he laid his head on his shoulder. I saw them walk past me still, and as I followed him, I overheard their conversation.

'Appa,' Eui Song asked him. 'Where is Eomma?'

'Eomma is in a place where everything is beautiful son,' he answered. 

What was that?

'Ya, Tae Pyung! I am behind you!' I shouted as I walked faster than I did earlier. I tried to catch them but they slowly vanished in front of me. They faded, like a memory of someone who suffers from amnesia or worse. I stopped and was surprised that they were gone. Completely gone. I looked around me and I couldn't see them, then everything was transformed. The vast open field of green and blue faded and became white. Stark white lights that nearly blinded me. I closed my eyes and slowly, sounds came in. Softly, like a murmur of a heartbeat that gradually became louder as the minute went on. Until I heard a voice, calling somebody. Calling my name.

My name?

'Kim Yeon Hong? Maam,' the voice said. It was an unmistakably male voice, and as I tried to open my eyes, I found it difficult to fully open them.

'Maam, can you hear me? Maam?' he called once more.

I wanted to shout and scream about what was happening. I couldn't understand a thing. I slowly tried to recall, as I know I am in my subconscious and that I will eventually wake up.

'Yeon Hong, you can do this,' I cheered myself up.

Slowly I recalled where I was. I tried to calm myself down and drown out from the voices who were calling me to respond. I wanted to know what happened, and when I slowly remembered everything, I was surprised.

Tae Pyung and I came from the OB to check on me. I was pregnant, yes I am. We were traversing the highway when an unidentified vehicle swerved to the left and hit our car head on. I couldn't remember anything else after that. 

And Eui Song, he is named after my father. What I had earlier was the future. But where did I fit? Why did Tae Pyung say I am in a beautiful place?

Could it be? 

Could it be that I am dead? Or will I die from this?

No. That cannot be. I have to fight. I have to see my son. I have to build my family.

**

'Maam,' the voice once more called out. I tried so hard to open my eyes.

'There's REM! Maam, can you hear me?' he called. Then I opened my eyes, and I saw people in white, the one calling me was wearing a pair of eyeglasses and a stethoscope was hung around his neck. He wore it, checked my vitals and I could see he was relieved when I woke up.