granny

9// out

"who's making a fuss?," granny entered the vestibule with a loud clamour. once she saw the two hugging, she clicked her tongue, "i need you," she turned to minho.

"granny, why did you lock him in a closet?," the older reproached.

"do you know how many times my son has been in there? don't teach me how to punish, little brat," she hissed back, "go to the store. i forgot that we're out of tea."

"can't i go tomorrow? you only have tea in the afternoon..?," minho proposed, hopeful that the old woman could still get some sense knocked into her.

"no, we can have tea in the morning too," she protested, "go now, before the store closes."

minho turned to jisung and rolled his eyes in annoyance. the younger sniffled but smiled and nodded. it was no use reasoning with her.

"it will be dark before i return, granny," minho made one final attempt.

"so what? you won't be eaten by the wolves, and you're too old to fear darkness," she shrugged.

"just go, before it gets too late," jisung encouraged quietly.

minho kissed his forehead, "be safe, okay?"

"yes, i'll be fine. you should be extra careful," the shorter whispered.

"come on now, what is this? the little red riding hood?," granny interrupted, "you-out, and you get to the kitchen," she separated them and closed the door behind the older.

"take off your shirt," she instructed when jisung was in the room and received a terrified look from her grandson. she sighed and opened a box filled with long and sharp needles, "i'll give you an acupuncture massage."

granny took out a needle with her trembling bony hands and twirled it around but the youngster's eyes were still petrified, "your grandfather likes getting those from me. i saw you crack your neck before, and i don't think you're sleeping as well as you should, so i thought i'd give you a push."

"um.. granny, i don't think i need that," jisung licked his lips nervously, "i was just cold, i'll put a second blanket on and i'll be fine."

"come here, don't be stupid," she smiled, "it doesn't even hurt. you won't feel yourself falling into a deep sleep.."

"n-no, i'm well, granny, really," the boy argued. he didn't want to be rude but he thought about the needles and got scared. what if granny accidentally made the wrong move and paralysed him? she could maybe even kill him if she hit the wrong nerve.

"you're being foolish. don't you trust me?"

she seemed crushed and jisung's heart fell but he really wasn't sure she is to be trusted with that task. if it didn't involve needles, sure, but those sharp things didn't need to go in his neck just so that she'd be delighted.

granny started weeping and jisung wanted to hug her but the needles in her hand were already scaring him and he didn't want to admit that. god knows how she might react if he tried to get close to her.

"we old people mean nothing to you, right? you're just here on vacation," she accused between gritted teeth.

"n-no, granny, i.."

"you won't even do one little thing for me," she went on, her hands in her lap in a timid posture, "you don't respect anything."

jisung opened his mouth but realised he better shut up. if he said something else then she would say another thing and they'd go on. she surely knew he was doing a lot for her, and minho too, so maybe that was just an old people thing - throwing a tantrum when things don't go their way.

granny continued snivelling for a while and jisung watched her, empathetically biting his lip.

"i'll go upstairs, granny, tell me if you need anything," he finally said and exited the room when she didn't respond.

*

the wait till minho comes back was eternal. twilight came and went and the village sunk into darkness. the three inhabitants of the house had dinner and the elders went to bed, while jisung kept waiting.

he had asked granny if they should call the police but she said, "he knows where the door is, he knows how to open it," and shrugged. damn, how cold she was at her own grandson's expense.

he waited and waited, in his room under the covers until it was late and the night became cold. the open window of the staircase was letting in the freezing cold wind and jisung trembled like a leaf for a while before deciding to go close the damned window.

".. that's going to be difficult when they're both here," jisung heard grandpa say as he closed the window, "i told you."

"what should i have done? it's going well so far," granny returned.

"taking care of one is easy but two?," he insisted flatly.

"we can always say the second one isn't here. nobody has seen him anyways."

jisung gulped.

"well, do you plan to let the second one go then?," grandpa questioned and added something in a low voice that the boy couldn't quite make out.

"no. but if the he's empathetic he will snap.."

jisung put his hand to his lips and tried to listen more, though he knew he probably wasn't allowed to.

blop.

the sound came from the phone in his pocket, only now receiving service here, at the staircase.

blop.

fuck. maybe once they wouldn't hear but two texts? who the hell was so insistent?

the conversation downstairs went quiet instantly. jisung ran to his room as rapidly as possible, hoping that the elders wouldn't get angry at him for eavesdropping.

he got into bed, covering himself with the blanket as if he was sleeping even though they heard the phone's chime clearly. and he was the only grandson in the house. stupid, stupid! he should've left the phone on the staircase, as if it was forgotten!

he cursed himself and felt a lump of fear in his throat, choking him. his shaking hands unlocked the phone. the texts were from minho.