TEENAGE → SVT

INCOMPLETION

TRACK 13: INCOMPLETION

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Minghao looked around him at the colorful room. He walked into the room carefully and noticed that the room was basically a funhouse but smaller. He walked past a ball pit, a couple of paintball machines, a guitar just lying on the ground, a trampoline, and a white booth. He walked into the white booth.

In the white booth was a bunch of paint. Minghao dipped his finger into the red paint and noticed that the paint was still fresh- the paint must've been set there just for him. He left the white booth and looked for a place to clean his now red finger. He couldn't find anywhere to clean his finger, so he went back to the white booth. He went to one of the walls of the booth and traced a smiley face onto the wall with his red finger. The paint on his finger went away, and the white walls now had a smiley face plastered to it. Smiling, Minghao left the booth again.

As he exited the booth, Minghao started to look for an exit out of the room. He couldn't find a door or anything to leave from, so it looked like he was stuck there. Normally, Minghao would've freaked out and try desperately to find a way out of this enclosed space he was now in, but for some reason, he was compelled to stay. He went to the ball pit, only to hear a giggling come from his right. Minghao looked to the giggle, only to realize that the giggle came from the white booth he was in earlier. He headed back to the booth.

Part of him should've been cautious about entering the booth again, but another part of him thought that it was just his friends pulling a prank on him. He entered the booth dramatically and noticed that there was no one else in the booth. The only things in the booth were the paints and the smiley face that he drew. Minghao was about to leave when he heard the giggle again. He turned towards the source of the giggling and saw the smiley face bobbing up and down on the wall.

"Come on!" the face giggled. "Paint some more!"

Minghao stumbled backwards, his back hitting one of the walls in the booth. He tried to leave the booth, but the walls of the booth closed up and trapped him between four white walls. The face started growing, and it started giggling more.

"Paint!" the face said cheerfully.

"No!" Minghao screamed. "I don't like painting!"

"That's a lie, we all know you like to paint," the smiley face grew even more.

"Who is we?" Minghao whispered half to himself and half to the smiley face.

Suddenly, all of Minghao's paintings appeared on the walls of the booth, and they started to dance around the smiley face. Minghao's body trembled with fear as they went around and around. It seemed as if they were mocking him, but the only thing that really did freak Minghao out was the ever growing smiley face. It kept growing, and growing, and growing, and it kept giggling, and giggling, and giggling.

Minghao was on the verge of insanity. His hands went to his head, and he clutched his hair in his fists. The dancing artwork around him made him want to scream in fear and frustration. The stupid smiley face would just not vanish. It got so big that it was right in front of Minghao's nose- it was so close that it could touch him.

"Come on," the smiley face repeated. "Paint some more."

Minghao sat up quickly, beads of sweat dotting his forehead and neck. He rubbed his eyes before looking up to see his canvas staring back at him. He fell asleep while painting, again. Minghao groaned and rubbed his eyes again only to realize that there was red paint all over his fingers which meant he must've had red paint all over his eyelids.

"Alright, no more late night painting," Minghao exhaled as he got out of his chair to clean his eyelids.

Before he left his room, though, Minghao painted a smiley face on the canvas and hung it up to dry. As he left the room, Minghao could've sworn he heard a giggle.

"Junhui, cut it out," Minghao hissed as he slammed the door to the room shut.