The Memory Keeper

Chapter 2 - Toska

TW: ⚠️⚠️ The following chapter contains a topic that may be sensitive or traumatizing to some readers. Please proceed with caution. 

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SUNJIN’s POV

I woke up to the feel of being too hot. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was wrapped snugly in a grayish weighted blanket while the sun was beaming through the white-colored blinds. I groaned when the first beam of sunlight hit my face.

Putting my hand on my throbbing head while I tried to sit, that is when I realized I was in a catastrophically untidy, albeit large, bedroom.

A massive oak desk sat below a large picture window, beside a shelf overflowing with books. Meanwhile, a piano sit in the far corner of the room, covered haphazardly by a white cloth. 

Whoah! I have a piano? I know how to play the piano?

As I aimlessly took in the shabby room with its grayish paint, drab white curtains hanging from ceiling to floor and an almost bare interior, I heard the hanging clock beat slowly, relentlessly from across the room.

Is this my room? Why is it so untidy? So cold? Dreary it is almost sad?

I slid my leg over the side of the bed and saw that half of my leg is bare.
Wait, what? My leg, bare??!!!????

I hastily moved out of the bed, the sudden movement making me dizzy. Then, I saw it. I was wearing a man’s t-shirt, so big, that it reached my knees. I let out an ear-splitting scream of terror that I’m sure could even wake up the dead.

The sudden and almost violent opening of the door from the outside coupled with a man’s voice jolted me from my screaming that I jumped right back into the bed I vacated just mere minutes ago. I hid behind the covers, frightened out of my wits.

The blanket was suddenly pulled off me that I started to scream like a banshee once again while keeping my eyes closed.

AIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Two arms enfold me in a bear-hug like a favorite blanket on a cold, winter night and the panicky voice turned gentle as he kept on saying that it’s alright. I am safe.

“Shhhhh, it’s alright. It’s alright. You are safe.”

There was something comforting in his voice and so warm in the embrace, something that felt right, smelt right. 

My body ceased shaking, my fear faded, replaced by the hum of an intangible bond between us. I let my body sag, my muscles, loose.

“No one can harm you. I am here now.”

Confused by what I heard, I slowly opened my eyes, lifted my head that is cradled between his shoulder and his arms and looked up to the most expressive peepers I have ever seen. Grief, guilt, dread and a few more where mirrored in those orbs as they stared back at me.

As though shaken from a daze, I saw him flinch. A line appeared between his brows, his forehead furrowed, as he looked at me intently.

He loosened his grip on me, stood up and hovered over me. Every muscle in his face was tense. Where there was grief, there came a hooded look and thinning of his lips, depicting anger. 

Who are you?

He did not answer even after I repeated the question in a louder voice, just in case he did not hear me the first time.