monster | junmyeon

n i n e

1987, london
21:42:07

the silence was suffocating.

just minutes before, clanking of pots and careless shifting of furniture had woken the 11 year old from his sleep. the moment he sat up in bed, hushed whispers escalated to loud hurling of insults between his parents. something, or someone, was thrown against the door of his bedroom, causing him to flinch.

but junmyeon was used to this. 

the argument had died down, and all that's left was silence. the bubble of tangible silence was occasionally penetrated by his mother's sobs. 

just as junmyeon hid himself under the blankets and tried to lull himself to sleep, the door to his room burst open and banged the wall loudly. light spilled in harshly, illuminating his tightly balled up form. 

"wake the fuck up, you bastard!" a slurred voice that sounded like his father's shouted. 

he was drunk, very drunk.

a gasp fills the air and junmyeon turns to find his mother standing at the doorway, trying to pull his dad away. "are you crazy?!" she whispered harshly. her usual perfect bun was now an unrecognizable mess with strands of hair sticking out wildly. the plum lipstick that was painted on her lips was smudged and fatigue was evident through the crescents of grey under her once-twinkling eyes. 

as soon as his parents were out of view, a blood-curdling scream fills the air. junmyeon rushed from his room to find his mother on the floor with her hair getting pulled. he tried to push his father away but even when drunk, his father was a hell of a beast.

"mother!" he cried out, searching desperately for ways to help her.

the ragged woman found a weak spot and bit down hard on her husband's hand, earning a string of profanities in return. the smashing of glass bottles was heard and before junmyeon knew it, his father was holding a part of the broken alcohol bottle, reading to swing it down.

he scrambled as fast as he could, the bottle shattering when it came into contact with his shoulder instead of his mother's head. junmyeon cried out and clutched onto his right shoulder, the pain shooting through his body like electricity. 

the next thing he knew, a sickening sound made clear to junmyeon and a strangled grunt escaped from his father's lips. the 11 year old lowered his gaze. 

in his hands held a glass bottle, the jagged ends of it piercing straight into the drunkard's stomach. 

blood was pouring out mercilessly, the red sharply contrasting to junmyeon's pale hand. 

what the fuck did he just do?

and as he turned, he found his mother lying in a pool of blood of her own. when he tried to help her earlier, he had accidentally pushed her onto the floor where glass shards were littered and majority of them had pierced the soft skin of her neck. 

with his last breath, junmyeon's father managed to croak a word out that sent junmyeon into a frenzy of fright.

"monster."

bile crawled up to junmyeon's throat and he had to bite on his lips hard to not scream. he bit so hard that the chapped lips bled. the silence was sickening. he couldn't tear his gaze away from his dead parents.

"i didn't m-mean to—" he mumbled as a tear slipped down. 

with legs that felt like lead, he struggled to stand and stumbled his way to the front door. trembling fingers fumbled with the lock and when he finally did open the door, he rushed out into the open. with a blurring vision and twisting gut, he stopped trying to swallow the saliva back. at the pavement just outside his house, he emptied his stomach's contents with a pounding headache.

and when he was finally done, he ran.