JiHan | one-shot ( book II )

Last piece

Top : Jeonghan

Type : Some angst, hard things to read but happy ending

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Joshua has been locked up in the cellar of his house since he was a child. His parents have never wanted him there, and they've made him understand. Every day the young man is subjected to insults, threats, belittling, bad looks, sometimes he doesn't eat for three days, sometimes he only has bread, changing into clean clothes is becoming extremely rare too, and drinking water is a great luxury it's so exceptional that most of the time the boy even forgets what it tastes like.

Today, as every day, his mother comes down to see him, just to spit out her hatred, she yells at him, hits him, insults him, and once she's had her fill, she grabs her son by the hair and pushes him away from her, Joshua's back hitting a wall while his head bangs violently against a small shelf purposely mounted at this height so that the boy's torture is even more painful. Joshua struggles to keep his eyes open, but manages to keep them open long enough to watch his mother unravel the only toy he has: a puzzle.

" I had just one last piece left..." He said in a desperate breath.

But his mother didn't hear him, she finished her destruction and abandoned her son once more to go back upstairs. As for Joshua, he succumbs to his wounds and plunges into a deep sleep, his body slipping and he knows that when he wakes up his clothes will be covered in his own blood as usual.

When he wakes up, he has no idea how long he's been asleep. Honestly, given that he's immersed in darkness all the time, he has no notion of time inside this space, he doesn't even know what the outside looks like, what's a light source ? What is the sun ? What is rain ? Wind ? Snow ? He has absolutely no idea. He'd really like to get to know the world and go outside, but he's forbidden to do so, of course.

His parents are keeping him in captivity, so if he gets out of here, he's bound to tell someone about what's happened to him, and so for them it's the end, they'll end up in prison and they don't want that, but they're even less keen to take care of their child, so leaving him for dead inside this dingy place is the best thing to do. Joshua, with what little energy he has, manages to crawl to his puzzle and starts again, it takes him a while but he appreciates what he's doing, it's not much but it's enough for now, anyway he has no choice but to settle for this.

" Are you finally awake, idiot ? Come here."

His mother. Again...
Surprisingly, he doesn't see much of his father; he rarely hears the sound of his sire's voice, but he hears far too much of that atrocious woman's voice for his liking. He's really fed up with it, with the time he spends here being martyred, he doesn't know a thing about her. His age, where he lives, his family, he thinks he knows his first name, but he's not even sure, he's so seen and treated like an object here, he doesn't even feel human anymore.

Just as he was about to receive his umpteenth blow, someone seems to move upstairs and suddenly voices rise up, causing Joshua's eyes to shine with a strength he never thought he had, he pushes his mother away and screams with all his soul. He hears footsteps approaching and the cellar door opens to reveal policemen. For Joshua, this is deliverance and he collapses into the arms of one of them. For him, the nightmare is finally over.

[ A few days later ]

Joshua wakes up in something he's never really known : a bed.
He's in a space he knows absolutely nothing about, but he feels safe. He couldn't describe why he feels so good, but he has the feeling that here, in this very spot, nothing more can happen to him.