Night terrors (Hiatus)

3

"Hey!"

It was like time stopped and we were frozen in that moment, each of us shocked at the circumstances.

A disgruntled grunt echoed from the skull and the figure wrenched his arm from my grasp, causing me to stumble forward. Before I could catch myself on it, the figure, once again, dissolved right before my eyes and I ended up on the floor.

My palms stung from the impact and that little voice cheered in my head about insanity.

But how insane could it be if it was a physical being?

~

I wake up in a coughing fit and drenched in sweat. Horrible nauseous wracks through me and I race to the bathroom, hunching over the toilet in time to spew my stomachs contents.

I can't get the feeling of unseen monsters tugging at my legs, pulling me further underwater, out of my head.

I reduce to a shaking, sobbing mess on the cold floor. Eventually exhaustion takes hold and I am forced back under.

————————————————————————

I gaze down at the body on the tile floor. She is curled in on herself, gasping as though she can't catch her breath. She can't, her heads underwater and they won't let her up.

That's the scariest part of drowning. Knowing there's a surface but you'll never reach it.

I reach my hand down to rest on her shoulder, intent on feeding off her fear. Our skin meets and her body relaxes, her mind going blank and her fear disappearing. My face scrunches in displeasure at the loss of my meal.

"What the hell?"

I remove my hand and watch as the water floods her mind and she's back to suffocating. I reach out once more and am faced with the same thing. Why is this happening? I scoff, annoyed I've wasted more time here. Standing, I freeze as a small voice gasps out a request.

"Save me."

Utterly bewildered I dissipate, because that's not what I'm here to do.

————————————————————————

On the bus, though it's been hours since I woke up, my hands are still shaking. The increased severity of last night has shaken me more than usual. The bus rolls to a stop and I make my way to the pristine building that is the hospital.

A nurse waves to me, though it's appreciated, their kindness can never hid the sadness behind their smiles.

Blood tests, endless waiting in examining rooms, and a few CT scans later I finally find myself in the chair directly across from Dr. Jung. Jung Dawon, the incredibly gorgeous physician that has been my best friend for the past three years. We've known each other from the very beginning of my patient career. Maybe that's what has made us so close, riding downhill together but always hoping for that upward slope.

"Y/N."

"Dr. Jung."

It was quiet, like the calm before the storm.

"How have you been feeling?" Her face doesn't give away anything. She's the queen of poker faces.

"About as good as whatever that scan says..." I try to keep my voice light but it's a lot more somber than I had hoped for. Dawon frowns at me with one of those "oh, come on" looks.

"I'm okay. I'm doing okay." I stare down at my hands fidgeting in my lap. Dawon sighs, leaning forward in her chair, her hands clasped on her desk.

"Are you ready?"

I nod my head quickly. But I'm not ready. Nobody's ever ready.

"Since I saw you three months ago the tumor has grown about 30%. It's beginning to dig deeper into the thalamus, temporal lobe, and frontal lobe. Your hypothalamus is almost completely broken apart."

Ah, she says it so matter-of-factly...

"Y/N."

My chest hurts.

"Y/N."

My eyes are stinging.

"Y/N!"

My head whips up and we make eye contact. I am not the only one with tears in my eyes.

"Y/N... I..." her voice breaks, "I doubt you have more than three months left."

And that's it. The curtain falls, the credits roll, and my life has come to an end.

Dawon stands from her desk and comes to my side, cradling my body in her arms. And we sat there. And we cried. We cried for me, for Dawon, for all the people that knew me, and all those who never would. We cried for everything I had and everything I didn't. We cried because what else were we supposed to do?

I could have been angry. Could have cursed the world, or the heavens, or my genes for doing me dirty and sentencing me to death. But it wouldn't change anything. There's no amount of tears or anger or sadness or bargaining that can change the course of death. But we sure did try anyways.

~

The sun is glaring as I exit the hospital. After finally pulling myself together enough to be in public, I left. I wasn't okay by any means, but I couldn't sit in Dawon's office for three months feeling sorry for myself.

Abruptly I was haunted by a silver haired boy who resembled a puppy. He gave off a sunny atmosphere that could have warmed me up on any other day. His hands held my shoulders tightly and the look on his face was that of boredom. A glint in his eye gave away his hidden excitement.

"Well? How did it go? Good news or bad? Your puffy face screams bad news. Are you dy-" he's cut off by the ringing of his phone and he's answering before I can even process what he's said.

The other end of the phone seems to be attached to a very angry person from the yelling I can hear. Though I'm still caught up on what, or how, this boy knows about me. Is this just some weird, and kind of cruel, pass time the kid enjoys?

"Fine." He huffs and hangs up, turning back to me, "Sorry, dad's pretty upset, I have to go back. It was nice to meet you before you die!"

And just as soon as he appeared he was gone. Leaving me on the sidewalk completely stunned.

Fuck, maybe I am going insane.

Ahhhhhhh what's going on? I wrote this at work again so I could avoid reading a manual that was about as thick as a dictionary. Now my cat is glaring at me for typing it up instead of petting him 😳😬 Please enjoy! Maybe more Jaehyun coming up? I'll never tell,
Xoxo author