pretty flower | 강새벽

016

"Sae, I'm scared. Deok-Su just killed someone because he wanted his food!" I shake in Sae's arms as she holds me tightly.

"I won't let anything happen to you, okay?" She answers, still rubbing my back.

"But what if he knocks you out and tries to kill us? You know what's he's capable of! He just killed someone!" I was terrified as the endless cycle of thoughts circled my head. At least I knew that when my father was beating me, he wasn't going to kill me. He needed me too much. He needed my body.

"Sun-Hi. Listen to me." Sae grabs my face between her hands, squishing my cheeks slightly "I will not let anyone touch a single hair on your body. Not your father. Not Deok-Su. And not any other assholes who think they can touch you. You can trust me, nothing is going to happen."

Nothing is going to happen? How can she be so confident about it?

"Fine," I mutter, fear still flowing through my veins.

I bury my head back into Sae's shoulder, feeling her move around and carrying me somewhere. When I looked up again, we were near her bed. Sae placed me down on her bed and sat next to me.

"Get some rest now, while you can," Sae says as I lay my head down on her lap. I closed my eyes and the horrific scene played through my head again. Deok-Su beat up the player, over and over and over again. Killing him on replay. It was almost like someone had recorded it and was playing it on loop.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" I cried, thinking it was all part of the nightmare.

"Shhh, you're okay." I feel a hand rub my back again and Sae's calming voice talking to me again.

"Sae, stop him. He's gonna kill him!"

"Sun-Hi, it's over. You're okay."

I open my eyes, tears still streaming down my face. I had never felt this scared in my life. I didn't know what was going to happen. I had a screwed-up life, but I wasn't ready to die.

"Sae, he killed him."

"I know."

"He killed him. And no one went to help him until after he was dead!"

She stays quiet this time, sadness creeping across her face.

"We all stood there and watched as it happened! We could have helped him! We could have stopped Deok-Su. But instead, we all stood there and let him get beaten to death!" The tears were more intense this time and my body ached.

"Yes. We all stood there and watched, but you need to think about what the better option was. Letting Deok-Su kill one person because no one got involved or helping him kill more people because we got involved. If anyone went to help, Deok-Su wouldn't have shown any mercy. That's the type of person he is." Sae wipes the tears from my cheek and as I looked up at her, I could tell she was holding back tears.

"But he's dead."

"And we couldn't do anything without getting hurt ourselves. It's not our fault Sun-Hi."

"I can't even close my eyes without seeing it all over again. I'm scared, Sae. Fuck it, I'm terrified."

Sae grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers together. "I know. But you don't have to be. I will keep you safe."

Lights out in 30 minutes.

"No one will be sleeping tonight," Sae says quietly looking around the room.

"Hey pickpocket," I hear a voice and I look up to see Gi-Hun standing there "You sure you guys will be okay? Neither of you seems to be on good terms with the thug over there."