The Boy In Pink

Chapter 17: Choices, Decisions

Sungmin

After what felt like 6 perilous days of listening to Hankyung and Lim arguing over everything, I couldn't take it anymore. Leeteuk always tried to weather the storm that constantly hung over Lim and Hankyung, but as the days went on, his attempts got less and less useful and by the sixth day the only thing stopping them from arguing was the fact that the doctor had told them to leave if they were going to disturb the other patients with their yelling. I was actually grateful for this, because it was painful to hear them destroying each other over me.

On the sixth day, during one of their new whispered arguments, I felt drowsy. Which was weird, because I had felt wide awake just a second before. I slipped into unconsciousness with a painful twist in my chest, just hearing the monitor making an alarming sound. I hung onto consciousness for a second to see what was happening.

"Get a doctor! Something's wrong with him!" screamed HyeLim. That was the only thing I heard before I lost consciousness.

I woke up on hard ground. It took a bit of effort to open my eyes but I did. I looked around in surprise. I wasn't in hospital with Lim, Hankyung and Leeteuk surrounding me. There were no tubes or monitors hooked up to me. I wasn't in a hospital gown.

I was in some kind of temple, on a mountain overlooking a great green field, and further below that, a dangerous looking place that was dark and had little fires burning everywhere. My entire body was completely free of any machine and I was wearing completely white: white shirt and white pants but no shoes.

I walked up some stairs, peering around curiously. It was an old temple: the walls had crumbled  partially but it was still standing up tall. It was an open and airy place overlooking those two places down below. I smiled at how beautiful the green field looked from up here, and then shivered when I looked further down. It looked like hell: there were fires burning down everything and black, leaf-less trees. The sky turned orangey-black as the green field turned into a burning wasteland. I kept walking. I was 10 metres away from a set of stairs which lead up to a golden gate.

"Hello?" I said, looking around.

"Ah, there you are!" said a faintly familliar voice. I rummaged through my head, wondering who it could be, when he walked out from behind a beam.

"Hi, son. Took you long enough to get here" said a man. He was middle aged and was wearing white, like me, but he had white shoes on too. I recognised him straight away.

"You're that nice taxi driver!" I said. 

He held out his hand.

"I was rude for not introducing myself. I'm Jung Dae-Hyun"

I walked up to him and shook his hand. "I'm Lee Sungmin"

"I know. I've overlooked your friends talking about you quite a bit while they're in the hospital"

"Why aren't we in the hospital now? Where are we?"

"You are in hospital. Well, your body is. Your soul has taken the journey to the gate that bridges you from life and death."

"Are you here too?"

"I was. I was too weak to make the journey back down to life, so I climbed the stairs and opened that gate"

"So...you're dead?"

"My soul is resting. Basically, yes, I have passed away down in the real world"

I gasped. "That's...horrible. When did you get here?"

"That night, when we were both in the car, I was crushed against the pole. I passed away almost instantly. I found myself here just like you did, and I was greeted by my father, who explained everything"