dream-like encounters

somnum exterreri

Blank. Deadpan. Lifeless. Quiet. Mute. Creepy. Unfeeling. Uncaring. Sociopath. Arrogant.

Yeon Sieun had been described with those words for as long as he could remember.

Maybe when was a child, too young to notice, too young to understand, he had been a cheerful kid like any other who had smiled unknowingly and innocently at the world he was too clueless to know was ugly. Maybe he was a bright kid who asked for hugs and kisses and comfort once upon a time to parents that were clearly unprepared and unequipped to be, but he was too blind to see it.

Maybe he would've remained that way, a normal kid his parents wanted if things hadn't turned the way it was when he reached six years old.

It all went downhill from there and Yeon Sieun changed.

He had no idea what prompted it. It might be that time he slipped down the stairs and suffered a head injury. The impact must've triggered an abnormal amount of activity in his occipital lobe and his hippocampus that the doctors simply missed.

Or if he believed in the supernatural, it might just be a higher being's idea of a joke to grant this troublesome power to a human and a child, no less.

It could've been anything but Sieun stopped caring how it came to be the moment he found out that nothing good came out of it.

He had mistakenly told his parents about his sudden ability to see a short duration of the future through dreams and that was the start, really.

At first, his parents must've thought he was simply being a child who had too much fun imagining nonsensical things. However, he hadn't stopped pestering his parents about it, especially since the dreams affected his concentration in class due to his lack of sleep.

He might be young back then, but he always did have a good memory so as recalled it now that he was older, he knew the trip to the hospital back then had been a tense one. At least it was for his parents.

The doctors did a full body checkup on him and aside from the usual results – Yeon Sieun had always been physically weak despite his parents' attempts to change it – not much else was found to explain his dreams. They did detect faster neuron activity in his brain but that was because of his ability to retain information typically found in more older children. They hadn't found anything else to explain his 'psychic dreams'.

He remembered the doctors pulling aside his parents for a private talk and maybe, it was the doctor's words that day that really started it all.

Yes, he was young back then, but he was smart as well. He was aware enough at that time to notice how different his parents became after that hospital visit.

They didn't turn physically abusive and Sieun was distantly grateful enough for that, but their interactions turned awkward and it put a toll on his parents' marriage.

They were clearly unprepared to become parents and it was obvious the additional weirdness their little Sieun possessed left them even more lost about the whole thing.

By then, he painfully understood not to say anything about his weird ability anymore. Resolved to pay it no attention. Forced to ignore the dreams that always came true. Made it a habit to keep his mouth shut despite the urge to tell someone.

At least the dreams had enough sense to cooperate with him and made them about trivial things instead of something concerning, so it was easy enough to do so.

For young Yeon Sieun, a smart kid filled with curiosity but still a child yearning for his parent's approval, the questions ate at him. And when the dam burst and he finally ought to ask them, they were always left unanswered because, after the first time he did, his parents skirted around the issue. After that, every time he so much as opened his mouth to ask, his parents always assumed that he was about to tell them his weird dreams.