Catharsis ❀ Haechan

❀ 55

i'm here regardless of the pain
don't ever tell me to go away
from you

❀

She had a dream. A memory.

Her grandma was there. She was sitting on a bench as Hwayoung played with the beach sand.

"Ma, look at this!" teenager Hwayoung said, finding a shell hidden deep inside the sand. "It's purple, your favourite colour."

Hwachan walked over to the kneeling Hwayoung, looking at the object. "Oh dear, this is beautiful."
"I know right!"

She sounded like a kid again.

Even though she was way too old to be admiring the things inside sand and even playing with it, she didn't care.

The satisfaction she felt for making her grandmother in awe was enough.

"Let's turn it into a necklace," Hwayoung smiled up at her.
"Let's do that."

They went home after admiring it for a few more minutes.

The shell was shiny when brought into the light. It was iridescent. Beautiful.

As they looked for their craft supplies, Hwayoung chose a crème string to go with it. "Good choice," her grandmother said.

She felt even more good about it.

Hwachan was a crafty person. It ran in their family. So, she helped with majority of the making, just guiding Hwayoung with what to do.

As she tried to to tie the string onto the shell, her hand lost grip and it fell to the ground. "Oh no," she panicked. Hearing the crack on the ground made her heart crumble

"I broke it," she whispered to herself. There was nothing else she could do to fix it. "I'm sorry Ma."
Hwachan came out of the kitchen, finding the shell cracked in half on the ground. "My Hwa, it's not your fault."

She picked the two split parts up. "Besides, now we can make two necklaces. Matching ones," her eyes sparkled as she looked at Hwayoung.

Her grandmother was so optimistic about everything. She was good at making other people feel better.

"Okay then. Whatever you say."

So, they made two separate pieces of jewelry and it turned our beautiful. Hwachan swore to wore it everyday for the rest of her life.

And that was the shell resting on her neck in the hospital. It glowed on her dead body.

Hwayoung woke up with a gasp. She sat up straight, holding onto her neck. She could feel the familiar handmade string wrapped around her.

"Hwa..." Donghyucks raspy voice said. He was asleep when he felt the figure next to him move. "Go back to sleep."

She looked back at him.

It was like a sudden trigger hit her. She wasn't at home in her bed but at her boyfriend's. Lilac was alone and she forgot about her dog. She was so used to her grandmother being there all the time and now it felt like the world was falling on her.

"I left her alone. There's no one there. I have to go back and feed her. I need to leave. I have to walk or bus or run, something that will get me there fast." She was hyperventilating at that point.

Her heart was beating so fast and loud she couldn't hear the confused Donghyuck. "What are you- wait. Do you regret what happened last night?" he sat up immediately and took in her tense face.
"No- no. Lilac. I need to see her. I miss her so much."