My Way || Hongjoong (A Treasure Tale)

The Morning on the Beach

To open his eyes was to face reality. So Hongjoong kept them closed.

Gradually he had become aware of the sand beneath him, the waves lapping at his legs, and the way his head pounded. He knew where he was.

He had practically been raised on this beach. And he knew he hadn't washed up here on accident.

Last night was the storm, and the boat splitting, and his parents—

No.

Hongjoong squeezed his eyes shut harder. To open them was to accept what he already knew.

They were gone. There was no way they had survived.

Part of Hongjoong was unsure he had even survived, but unless this really was the afterlife with the sun beating down on him and the spray of sea water on his face, that meant he was the sole survivor.

That meant he was alone.

Hongjoong kept his eyes screwed tightly shut and refused to allow tears to build in them.

This was all just a bad dream, and he'd wake up soon wondering how he had dreamed so vividly. His mother would laugh at him and push some food in his direction. His father would chuckle from where he prepared the nets for another day on the water.

Another normal day. Clear skies and calm waters.

The pounding in Hongjoong's head was becoming a throbbing hammer crashing down on his senses. He could barely move, and he already didn't want to.

Fear gripped him as he caught sight of blood in his peripherals. It had dripped down his face, and his head wound must be worse than he thought.

Suddenly he was fighting the pull of sleep. If he fell unconscious, he might not wake up again. Part of him resigned to his fate and the other part pushed him to crack an eye open.

A sliver of daylight appeared, and in the distance a pair of boots.

Hongjoong wasn't sure if he imagined them, but in his waning consciousness they grew closer until there were arms around him, dragging him out of the shallows and up the beach.

There was no telling where he would end up, but Hongjoong couldn't fight it anymore. He hoped that if he died, he'd at least be able to see his parents. And the rest of him was numb and lifeless.

The dark shadows closed in and he let himself be swept away by sleep.

...

"...washed up, half dead, so you can imagine our surprise..."

"...so glad you arrived when you did, otherwise we'd have had to break the news to him..."

"...horrible, really. Poor lad."

Sounds filtered in before the light reached him. It was an unfamiliar voice, but it sounded quite close, maybe even in the room with him.

Hongjoong squirmed in place and hesitantly opened his eyes. He lay in bed in an unfamiliar room, and a deathly cold panic began to cover him.

Birds chirped incessantly into the morning air somewhere just outside the window, and as Hongjoong's eyes darted around he spotted a door on the far end of the room and a person next to it.

A woman he didn't recognise. She held a bandage roll and her apron was stained with blood, which immediately made Hongjoong wary of her, but her face was soft and kind, and she turned to face him with such relief in her eyes that he didn't think to flee when she ran over to his bedside.

He also didn't think he could flee if he wanted to.

She grasped his hand in hers and turned to call back at the door to whoever had just arrived that she was talking to, "He's awake!"