the kids aren't alright. / golden child

17 ✕ lonely nights

that day would be the first of countless ones that jibeom went home with the sun still up. he had been walking every street, turned every corner.

it was time he finally started to miss home, the emptiness of it.

he pushed open the door, and the silence welcomed him. the house was empty, something he wasn't used to, for he had always come home to the clinging of bottles and stench of smoke.

in place, were the empty bottles and crumpled packs his parents never learnt to discard away.

his house seemed more like a dump than a home. he stared at the pile in disgust as he took his shoes off, then headed straight towards his room.

his eyes widened as he opened the drawer, where he kept his packs of cigarettes. some were unopened, still wrapped in plastic.

the drawer was empty. they were gone.

his eyebrows furrowed as he stormed back to the living room. the moment he grabbed an empty pack, the door unlocked, revealing his mother.

jibeom immediately glared at her, shoved the pack in her face. "is this mine?"

his mother stared back.

"did you take my cigarettes?" he asked again, calmer.

his mother laughed, pushing his hand away like she was handling garbage. "your father, not me."

jibeom pressed his lips together. she looked back at him, pointed at the pack.

"you. don't waste your money on these," she said. "save it up. you have college to pay for."

jibeom sighed, let out a scoff. "you're seriously gonna talk about my future? when yours," — he gestured to the pile of trash — "is like this?"

he pushed pass her, slammed the door behind him. he went out with just his phone, wallet and not a single clue where he was headed.

but he kept walking anyway.

a few streets across from him, he spotted a cinema. he crossed the empty road without much thought, bought a ticket for a movie that was going to show in about ten minutes.

his fingers hovered over his phone, wanting to call the other boys to join him, but decided not to. it wasn't like old times. everything had changed.

they didn't go out for movies or lunch or cycling anymore. they didn't laugh as much as before. they had their own lives, miserable as they were.

and so he made another decision right as he took a seat in the cinema: to waste yet another night away, but this time, alone.

—

i had this draft for like 3 days i keep forgetting to post it im sorry ajdns