GASLIGHTER // BBANGSAZ

39|brutal reality 🚭❗

I don't trust happiness.
I hate, or rather, I fear being happy.
Once you're happy there's so much more to loose.

The fluorescent lights of the asylum flickered softly, casting a sterile, almost dreamlike glow over the long, empty corridor. The air was thick with a quiet hum, the kind of stillness that felt almost oppressive. Behind a heavy, reinforced door at the end of the hall, Hanni lay curled up on a narrow, institutional bed, her eyes shut tight, tears streaming silently down her cheeks.

Her heart raced, her mind a chaotic storm of confusion and grief. She clung to the remnants of the dream that had felt so vivid, so real—the wedding, the arrest, Minji’s smile as they were taken away. It had all been so visceral, every emotion, every sensation. But now, it was slipping through her fingers like sand, dissolving into the cold, harsh reality of the white room around her.

She let out a soft, broken sob, her fingers clutching at the thin sheets beneath her. Her heart ached with a pain so deep it felt like she was being torn apart from the inside. The love, the connection she had felt to Minji—it had been everything to her, the only thing that had ever felt real. But now, as she lay here, surrounded by the unyielding walls of the asylum, she felt it all slipping away, unraveling into nothing more than a cruel figment of her imagination.

Outside the room, Minji stood with a clipboard in hand, her brow furrowed in concern as she listened to the muffled cries coming from within. She glanced at the nurse beside her, who was shaking her head sadly.

“She’s been like this all morning,” the nurse said softly. “Crying, shouting, calling out your name. We’ve tried to calm her down, but nothing seems to work.”

Minji nodded, her heart heavy with a familiar ache. She had been caring for Hanni for years now, ever since she had been brought to the facility. A young woman, broken and lost, trapped in the confines of her own mind. Minji had been assigned as her primary caregiver, and over time, she had come to care for Hanni deeply, far more than was perhaps professional. She saw something in her—a spark, a light that, despite everything, had refused to go out completely.

“I’ll talk to her,” Minji said quietly, handing the clipboard back to the nurse. “Maybe I can help.”

The nurse nodded, giving Minji a small, encouraging smile. “She always seems to respond to you. Good luck.”

Taking a deep breath, Minji pushed open the door and stepped inside. The room was small and bare, the only furnishings a bed, a small table, and a chair by the window. Hanni was curled up on the bed, her body trembling with the force of her sobs. Minji’s heart twisted at the sight, and she crossed the room in a few quick strides, kneeling down beside the bed.

“Hanni,” she said softly, reaching out to gently touch her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m here.”

Hanni’s eyes snapped open at the sound of her voice, wide and red-rimmed, filled with a desperation that took Minji’s breath away. Without warning, Hanni lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Minji’s neck, clinging to her with a strength that seemed almost impossible given her frail state.

“Minji,” Hanni choked out, her voice breaking. “It was all a dream, wasn’t it? All of it... the wedding, the arrest... it wasn’t real?”

Minji swallowed hard, her arms coming up to hold Hanni gently, carefully. She felt the weight of the question, the raw, aching need in Hanni’s words. She had heard fragments of Hanni’s delusions before, stories of a life that seemed fantastical and tragic in equal measure. And every time, it broke her heart a little more to have to pull Hanni back into the cold reality of their world.