Just Before The Dawn [DaeJae]

Intro

"Dae! Are you leaving already?"

The young man, who had just taken his jacket from the hanger in the hallway, turned around. Junhong, his friend, was standing in the doorway to the living room where the younger's birthday party was still going well, even though it was about two in the morning.

Daehyun smiled. "Yes, I should go get some sleep. I have to study tomorrow, don't forget about the test on Monday."

"Aah, Jung Daehyun, the school's smartest student, leaves his best friend's party to study." the younger laughed. "Take care, its cold outside. Text me when you're home."

"I will. See you tomorrow then." he hugged the boy and left, zipping his jacket quickly before leaving the house.

It was an icy October night, the wind was howling through the streets, dead leaves uncontrolled flying through the clear, cold air.

He yawned and put his hands in the pockets of his warm jacket. His way led him along one of the cities biggest streets. He liked it here at night. Differently from daytime, when it was full of cars, buses and bikers, there wasn't a single person to be seen now.

It stayed like this, until he reached the bridge. Down underneath it, on the rails leading to the main station on the left and out of the city on the right, stood lots of trains. Silently waiting for being started again in the morning, with dark windows, so peaceful like they were sleeping.

As he walked towards the bridge, he noticed a person, standing at the barrier on the right.

Reacting to a sudden feeling, Daehyun stopped. The young man on the bridge hadn't noticed him yet.
Daehyun watched how he pulled a pen out of his pocket and wrote something onto the barrier. When he finished, he quickly walked off.

Curious, but with a strange feeling in his chest, Daehyun went to the place where the stranger had stood. There were words written with red marker onto the rough iron, in a slightly uneven handwriting.

'Bang bang go the coffin nails, like a breath exhaled, then gone forever'

The words made the feeling in his chest grow. It was a feeling of sadness. Of worry and fear. He could feel that the mysterious writer of these words felt hopeless. He knew the words. It was a quote from a song he used to listen to a lot.

The things he felt reading this, confused him. He felt that he couldn't just ignore this. It was important. He has to answer, he had to let the stranger know, that he understood.

With shaking hands, he searched his bag for the black marker he would always carry with him. Then, he wrote his answer.

'Think back to the days we laughed. We braved these bitter storms together.'

Daehyun could not sleep this night. His thoughts kept going back to the scene on the bridge. To the young man, almost still a boy, who hadn't seemed older than Daehyun himself. The fact that he hadn't been able to see the writer's face worried him, because it meant that there was nothing he could do. Nothing, except waiting for an answer on the barrier.

Drawing by StarlightDarknight66