One step at a time

Chapter Four - Accidents

"SEO YOUNG I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU SLACK TODAY"

Second day of the holidays and the second time I've woken up to my mother shouting at me. It even earlier today: 9AM. Luckily I'm not meeting anyone today in half an hour.

After Chan Hee had told me that I might have met Chanyeol, I confirmed that I hadn't, because if I had told Hyo Rin she would have freaked. So I decided to keep it quiet. We stayed in the shopping centre until we decided to go home. Later that day So Hyun hadn't contacted any of us so we started to get worried, however we assured each other she is probably fine.

I slid out of bed the same as I did yesterday, and took a shower and washed my light blonde hair. As I wasn't going any where today, I threw on some jogging bottoms and a baggy tshirt. I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I walked over to my desk where my hair dryer was laying and turned it on. Once my hair was dry I brushed it and put it up into a messy bun. Grabbing a pair of socks out of my draw, I sat down onto my bed to put them on. Then I went down the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

My mother was outside, doing some laundry. I wasn't in the mood to cook any thing for breakfast, so I grabbed some cereal and milk. I turned on the TV in the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast bar watching it.
There wasn't much on at this hour, so I decided to watch the news. There had been an accident in the North District of Seoul. I hope no one I know was involved.
After finishing breakfast, I went outside to my mother.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked her
"The bathroom and the kitchen.." She began
"And am I done after that? Can I do whatever I want after" I ask expectantly
"... And then clean your brothers room" she finishes
"WHAT NO PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME DO THAT" I hadn't been into my brothers room for two years now, and I hadn't wanted to. But the smell was starting to become a problem.
"And then after that I want you to study your English for 2 hours, then you can do whatever you want"
"Mother.." I began
"Don't try anything with me, you are going to clean his room" my mother ends the conversation.
I drag my feet away from my mother and let out a long moan to let her know how hard this is going to be for me. I start with the easiest jobs, cleaning the kitchen and the main family bathroom. It only takes me an hour and a half to do both as they were pretty clean already.
Then I grab a face mask out of my room and put it over my face, I take some goggles I have for my science classes and make sure my eyes are protected and don't shrivel up and die when I go in there. I also go into the bathroom and grab some rubber gloves. I'm going to need them so I don't touch anything with my bare hands.
I gingerly push the door open and immediately I'm assaulted with the smell. Slamming the door shut to keep the smell inside, I collapse on the floor, trying to regain my breath. It was unlike anything I've ever smelt before. A mix of something rotting, sweat, and something I'm not entirely sure of, but it was horrible none the less.
I sit up, psyching myself up to re enter the room. Shuffling forward until I am sitting right outside of the door, I push the door open with my foot. This time I had prepared for the smell, however I still couldn't bare it. I decided to carry on, after all I would only have to do it this once.

"Oh God" I had started to clean my brothers room, beginning with picking everything off of the floor and sorting it out. Half of it was dirty clothes. I decided to grab a bin bag and just put them all into it. I would get him to clean them later. What I had just unveiled was disgusting though. An array of bowls filled with the meals we had had in the past couple of weeks, each in a different case of decomposition.
"EWWWW THIS IS SO GROSS" I screech. My brother is still asleep. He doesn't wake up, only turn over in his bed. My mother comes up the stairs, to find out what the commotion was. "LOOK" I scream.
She gasps in horror at the remains of food, and gets an empty bin bag I had collected. She starts to put the bowls in the bag and tells me she's going to soak them. I still have to carry on cleaning though.

Two hours later I am done. It was a tough job, however his room is as clean as I could get it. My brother woke up while I was cleaning his room and shouted at me to leave. I told him mother had told me to clean his room. He just shrugged after that and went and started playing on his Xbox while I continued to clean.

It was already 1PM. Now I only had to study English for two hours. I didn't mind studying English, as I enjoyed learning a new language. I went back up to my room and opened my textbooks. I plugged my phone into my speaker and began to play music from it. It was only then that I realised I hadn't spoken to anyone all day, and that I had messages from my friends.

Hey Seo Young. Did you hear about the accident?

Hyo Rin must have been watching the news too. Chan Hee has sent a similar message. I replied to them both

Yeah. It was awful wasn't it. I hope no one we know was involved

Chan Hee replied in an instant.

So Hyun's family live around there. Her older sister was involved. She's in hospital.

It was so unreal. A terrible situation like that happening, and so close to you. I couldn't imagine how So Hyun was feeling. I decided to give her some space, as it would be no use me overloading her with questions.

I continued with my English practice, however my mind was pre occupied. Once I had done enough as I was meant to, I was stuck on what to do. My phone buzzed as Hyo Rin had replied

Yeah, So Hyun's sister was involved. I'm going to the hospital to visit her.