Boy Next Door ✔

Chapter 9

Soo Yun was in terror because he felt as if he would die from the pain in his brain, he was desperately trying to wake up, screaming for help, yet nobody came. He left his bedroom on hands and knees, clawing his way to the stairs. Soon, he had a feeling that someone was in his house, that they had given him some sort of drug and everything he saw wasn't real. 

He asked himself if his house looked right, were there any clues to say that he was not standing in his living room with a strange man on the couch. And there in the corner of the room was a Christmas tree, bare of any ornaments. Christmas was sometime ago and there was no tree in his house. 

So this is a nightmare.

Soon the scene changed. He was in a pitch black basement basement, as blind as if his eyes had been gouged. His body washed cold. He brought his fingers to his eye sockets; they were still there. He turned back to the stairs and tried to run up, but his foot fell through each one like it were a mere projection. 

He leaned forwards to touch the stair and felt a touch on his arm, soft and velvety. He grabbed it and pulled the owner towards him. It was him, broken face and all, dressed like some picture book hero. Soo Beom.

He swallowed. "Little brother mustn't die," Soo Beom will protect you." isn't that what he'd said back then? Without sight of any knife or wound, Soo Beom began to bleed from the neck. Soo Yun raised his hand instinctively and covered his brother's neck, trying to stop the bleeding. He felt the sticky warm fluid about that slender throat. 

"No, stay with me Soo Beom, stay with me brother."

Soo Beom crumbled to the floor like a paper marionette, lifeless.

Soo Yun screamed; Soo Beom laughed. In a blink he was in a black suit, facing a grave. "Live well little brother, live well, age well and die well."

Then he awoke in his bed, his brain feeling shot through. His cheeks were wet and his body was bathed in a cold sweat. The sheets were twisted around his limbs, probably because he was thrashing in his sleep. 

His heart pounded against his chest. He trembled. The room was entirely dark. No light anywhere. He must have slept all day and into the night. The remnants of his nightmare still clung to his mind, haunting him. Every time he closed his eyes it was the same.

How do I call it a nightmare if it doesn't leave my presence when I wake?

He stumbled out of his bed and walked into the laundry room. If he wasn't going to sleep he might as well finish his piled up chores. He piled a load of laundry into the washing machine, scooped a plastic cup of laundry detergent from the box, and poured it into the receptacle in the washing machine. He left that running and went back into his room. 

His toiletries were scattered all over his dresser and different patient charts were scattered on his bedside table, He set about to putting things in their right place and wiping down the surface, by the time he was done the washing machine was pinging. He went back into the laundry room, pulled out the clothes and stuffed them into the drier then went downstairs to the kitchen.

His fridge was a mess, empty as it was. There was dirty dishes everywhere. I can't have a mess out there, in my mind and in here too. He decided to clean at least what he could. He pulled out everything from the fridge and tossed it in the sink. He wiped the fridge down and then went to the sink.

For almost an hour he was elbow deep in there, scrubbing and cleaning. The pots, the plates and cups, his coffee mugs, He scrubbed the sink and the counters, when he was done he took out the mop and cleaned the floor, digging into every nook and cranny.

He cleared out his shoe's cabinet and cleaned all his shoes and his surgery clogs. He went back upstairs and picked out the laundry for folding. He chuckled as he brought them to his bed. He even had time to fold laundry as soon as it came out of the drier.

He sat on his bed, the balcony door wide open, folding the laundry as he watched the sky slowly changing color. The dawn came with a musical silence, the soul hearing the melody that the ears could not. A new day had come, new possibilities, a fresh page yet to be written. The outlines of the tall apartment buildings were becoming clearer and the streets were filled with car engines and hooting, dawn was here for sure.

His phone rang and he reached out on the bedside table to check who it was.

Dr. Park Soo Min.

He received the call, "Hi mom."

His mother's voice was soft and gentle on the phone. "Son, I heard the director gave you a day off, come with me for shopping." 

Before he could respond she said she was on her way to pick him up and hung up. He smiled at the phone, his mother was the softest sweetest woman he knew, married into a family of doctors, to a cold hard cardiovascular surgeon. She could have turned hard and cold too, and her appearance sometimes leaned that way but her heart was pure her voice gentle.

She was a pediatrician, a wife, a mother of two sons, and her life revolved around this things.

She always told her sons the story of how how she met their father while he was serving as an army doctor. It was mandatory for the eldest sons of that family, serve in the military for two years before they took over the family hospital that had been handed down for five generations. She was volunteering to help the children of war.

He was cold and aloof, she was easy and outgoing. One night she ran into a minefield to go after a child and he ran in after her, the child knew his way and crossed the field, disappearing into the night and the two were left stuck there together for a night until the next patrol.

After that night the two were inseparable, they went everywhere together and they were married two years after. She joined the hospital and worked her way to head of the pediatric department. 

They had two sons, Soo Beom and Soo Yun who was five years younger than is brother. 

Soo Yun placed the last of his laundry into his closet and went to shower. He dressed in black jeans, a t-shirt and a long knitted sweater his mother had given him for his birthday. He picked up his phone and wallet from the bedside table and walked downstairs, his doorbell rang as he was getting his shoes from the cabinet.

He opened the door to his mom's smiling face.

"Hurry dear, we need to catch the vendors while their produce is still fresh."