1:09pm
It's the first time I've ever been in the living quarters of the building. And it sure doesn't look homey and comfy.
Mice run across the murky brown tiled floors. Dirty laundry fills the hallways, the stench of feces crowds my nose.
Disgusting.
"This is how they live?" I ask the supervisor escorting me.
"Yes. The city doesn't help financially. This is all we can do with donations." She explains.
No wonder these kids were so grateful for nice gifts.
"This is DJ's room." She opens a door near the end of the hallway.
I thank her and she walks away.
Walking into the dim lit room, a whiff of an unknown stench infiltrates my nose. I have to pinch my nose closed.
I walk until I reach a bed. A boy with long brown hair and sad, brown eyes stares at the wall beside the bed he's laying in.
"Dong Joon?"
He turns to me. His eyes are hopeless and blank.
He looks like me.
"It stinks right?" He speaks first.
I instantly remove my hand from my nose.
"No."
"Don't lie. I know I stink." He turns his body to the wall. "Punishment for running outside without permission. No showers and outside chores."
The cruelty, I relate to it.
I understand his pain. I understand why he looks so helpless. He can't do anything. He has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, nowhere to be loved.
Like me. Like how I used to be.
"Dong Joon!" A small, adorable voice rings throughout the hallway.
My feet take me to the doorway before I even realize it.
Sana runs into the room and jumps into Dong Joon's arms. She starts crying as she grips his dirty shirt tightly.
"He's here! He's here!" She screams in terror.
"Who's here?" I ask Dong Joon who frowns deeply.
"Her father." He responds wearily.
Father? But...
"Where is she!" A loud, gruff voice echoes in the hallway.
"Mister! Please le-ah!" The sound of a smack rings in my ears.
The door to Dong Joon's room is slammed open. The two children hug each other tightly as they cry violently.
"There you are." The man points his finger at Sana. She hides her face in Dong Joon's chest.
"Don't hurt her!" Dong Joon squeezes the petite shoulders in his arms protectively.
The man storms over to the bed.
I only see Dong Joon's face jerking to the right, harshly. Sana screams in pain when she's lifted off the bed by her long, flowing black hair.
This is what Mark meant.
These kids are just like me.
Beaten, abused, hated...like me. Just like me.
My fist connects with the man's cheek. He falls onto the ground, releasing his tight grip on Sana's hair.
"Who are y-" I punch him again. And again. And again.
Until his nose is broken.
I kick him out of the room. He stumbles onto the floor.
I wrap my arm around his neck and I put him in a tight chokehold. He slaps his hands against my arm as he struggles to breath.
"Don't you ever, ever, touch these children again. Don't come back here. Do you understand me?" I growl into his ear.
He nods his head frantically.
I release him from the chokehold, he coughs and sputters as he runs out of the building.
Loud cries enter my ears as I walk back into the room. Sana cries in Dong Joon's arms. He rocks her back and forth.
The floor creaks as I sit across from the crying children.
"It's okay." I whisper gently. Their eyes slowly open.
"I'm here. It's okay." I spread my arms. It's a gesture for them to hug me. They don't have to if they don't want to, I'll understand.
But the two, they jump into my arms quickly. They hug me tightly and scream their lungs out. Their cries remind me of myself.
The cries of myself at Mark's funeral.
The cries of myself during Mark's death.
They are me, Mark. They're just like me. I hug their small bodies tightly ignoring the impregnable stench of their body odors.
This smell, this building, this lifestyle... this isn't right for them.
I lift both of them in my arms.
I carry both of them to the main lobby desk. Ms. Jee greets me with a thankful smile.
"Thank you, Jackson. That man was aw-"
I interrupt her.
"I want to adopt Sana and Dong Joon."
