narcolepsy | norenmin

02

"i fell in love with the dream that might be..."

a normal knock of the door and a quite shuffling of feet usually stirs a normal human awake, but normality was not something 'normal' in renjun's case.

four alarm clocks, the most annoying song from his phone, and a creaky old butler shaking his shoulder as roughly as his aged hands would let him, were the only things that could wake renjun.

even on a day like this,

"renjun!" his butler would call to him softly, not wanting to disturb the only peaceful sleep the young boy had.

"renjun today is the day!" he said slightly louder, and like magic the boy arose.

the music screamed into his ears as he finally snapped back into his hazy reality, his head painfully reminding him of his condition. he quickly reached over to his phone and muted it then he stopped all of the alarms so that his head didn't implode.

his elderly butler stopped the clocks while he was doing so, the old man had become deaf to the noise long ago. "wait-" renjun said once and then gasped loudly, his butler rolled his eyes at his dramatic expression.

"don't get your hopes up, kiddo..." he said quietly, busying his hands with the edges of the boy's sheets.

"why didn't you get me up earlier?" he exclaimed, nearly flying from his bed in excitement and fear.

"i tried believe me..." the older whispered, knowing that the boy had buried his face in his laptop's screen.

renjun's room was definitely not normal like the boy who lived in it. it had ivory white walls that gleamed when the sun from the large windows seeped past the balcony that lead from it. the view pouring out onto the slightly more urban side of the town, but renjun liked it that way. to much silence meant that he would sleep longer, and the noises inspired the drawings that decorated the space sweetly.

black and whites, soft pastels, and neon abstracts.

renjun's heart was spilled out onto the pages of his room perfectly.

his pieces hanged along with dried flowers that complimented the succulents that filled the windowsills. his bed covered a classic white sheet but with renjun's style exploding onto the matrix.

tiny handmade flowers and plants spattered across the cute comforter that the boy had to sleep in to much.

and must importantly, renjun's all time favorite cartoon laid on the wall facing opposite from his comfy bed.

when mr. xiao told the six year old renjun that he reminded him of the gnarly, donkey like creature, he fell in love.

the piece that he cared so dearly about covered half of the wall, moomin's cute body colored softly with the lightest of blues. the same little flowers that painted renjun's sheets outlined his body in a vast landscape.

to renjun the only art he could compare himself to was the professionals

van gogh, picasso, pollock...

so the boy never knew what was great, or what was considered bad.

all he knew was that his art made him happy, and he felt awake when the beautiful colors smeared across the canvas of his complex mind.

his room the product of his brain throwing up on the walls, that is if vomit was actually beautiful.

the large and lonely apartment was renjun's home, his peace, and his entire life.

his room played as his friend and his safety when he felt as though the world has to be screaming at him that he can't live normally.

but then again,

who wants to be normal anymore?

today was going to decide whether renjun could have a shot at a even more abnormal life than the one he already was living.

a lonesome email awaited his opening, the letter that told him whether he was accepted into the most pristine art school in korea.