Atlas

9

I met with Jeongguk again in a room with water falling down the walls. He wasn't crying this time, he was just looking at the walls.

"How did it go?" he asked, not looking away from the water. He had to almost yell in order for me to hear him.

"With who?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "You know who."

"She made me fall through the floor."

He sighed. "Well, that's unfortunate. I would like to get out of here eventually."

"I got that impression. You know, from when you were crying."

He looked at me with confusion in his eyes. "When did you see me crying?"

I half-laughed, thinking he was joking. "Before. When we were in that closet room."

He blinked with blank eyes. "Oh."

A shiver went down my spine. "Why am I here?" I asked.

This time he was surprised. "You don't know?"

There was a strange sound from outside the room. Something that made me panic. Rhythmic. Terrifying. The water trickled to nothingness, and an unsteady silence engulfed the room. The pattering roar became closer and more pronounced, and I looked at Jeongguk in concern. He was still staring at me, this time with a neutral expression on his face.

Gunfire.

"Get down!" I yelled, dropping to the floor. Jeongguk just continued staring at me, and the gunfire became a deafening roar, coming from all directions. Just when I thought the noise couldn't get any louder, the walls around us crumbled to dust. Suddenly we were in a warzone. Soldiers in uniforms ran around screaming at one another. Bombs blasted, blowing apart buildings and shattering glass. Guns firing in every direction created pinpricks of terrible yellow lightning. Civilians began screaming and calling to one another in their language, their voices breaking like the glass. I covered my ears, yelling for it all to stop.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the noise vanished. The walls reappeared.

Jeongguk walked to me, his eyes never leaving my direction.

"You really don't remember," he said with disbelief. "You have to remember."