Zero Encounters

Purging Demons

           Jisung sat up in daze, feeling all the paper scattered over his body. He glanced at the clock to see that it was early morning and he had once again, fallen asleep reviewing cases on his living room floor. He stretched and groaned, squeezing his lower back. His entire body ached not just from his poor sleep, but from over exerting himself while chasing down a perp the day before. He gently pushed the papers off of him and pulled himself onto the couch with another groan. He promised himself he would at least get to his couch if he were to stay up and not repeat the same mistake as last time. The soft, cold cushioning underneath him instantly relieved his back and he rolled over, tugging at the blanket tucked over the couch.

Two more hours. He thought, as he shut his eyes. What was two hours felt like two minutes. His phone rang and his eyes snapped open, tearing up from how dry they were. He scanned the mess before him in search of his phone and heard the ringing from his bedroom. He raced to his room and dove for his phone which he had left on his bed the night before. "Hello?" He croaked.

"Ah, son. Did I wake you?" A cheery voice greeted back. It took him another second to register the voice to his mother. He crawled into bed and threw his blanket over him. He placed the call on speaker and left it by his head. His eyes drooped the more he listened to his mother go on about the latest health trend and he tried his best to form sentences in the midst of his grogginess.

He cleared his hoarse voice, "Mom, is everything okay?" He rolled over to face the screen and saw that her rant spanned five whole minutes. His mother was always the talkative type and tend to forget what she intended to speak of in the first place because of all the side stories she would narrate.

"Ah, nothing, I just wanted to see if you're coming over for dinner today. Your Dad misses you, have you been seeing him lately?"

"Work has been busy and I'm sure he's busy too." He covered his yawn with the corner of his blanket, "What's the occasion? I see you two every Sunday."

"I know, but you missed the previous Sunday and you know how he gets when it comes to you." She explained, "Can you do me a favour today?"

"Mmh, of course, Mom."

-

Yeonwoo stood before a Catholic church renowned for it's historic lineage and beauty. The property has since expanded thanks to the donations of faithful followers to build a chapel, convent and school for the church. It was only the last decade where the church had been recognized by the city for taking in orphaned and troubled children. Now, a sector of the church focuses on protecting these children and registered their work with the city, acting as another orphanage.

She felt a pit growing in her stomach as she walked along the cobble-stone path to the main building. She saw a group of children playing tag in the distance with a nun watching over them and heard the organ playing from within the chapel. She admired the stained glassed windows walking in and sat herself in the back row while the choir group stood before her on stage.

Are you purging my demons? She thought to herself, looking at the cross above them. The children sang a familiar tune and she found herself mouthing along to the words. Eventually, the children were dismissed and she watched them from the pews, racing by her with excitement despite their designated Sister urging them to walk. Yeonwoo stood before the Sister and greeted her with a bow.

"Can I help you with anything?" The Sister asked, while urging the small child clinging next to her to play with the others. He looked about Nana's age with a single tooth missing from the bottom row. He shyly waved at Yeonwoo before excusing himself politely.

"I'm actually looking for someone, Sister.."

"Sister Yu is what the children call me." Sister Yu said and smiled with the soft creasing of her eyes. The religious habit she wore was light gray with the coif and veil in white. Yeonwoo couldn't tell exactly how old the woman was, but from all the nuns she had seen so far, she seemed to look the eldest among them. "Are you in the process of adopting or looking to adopt? Our next event is a week from now."