The Reflection We Fear || Taekook

Chapter 18: The Monster Under Our Bed

He was a boy. Just a small boy. All boys are the same when they are small. They are helpless. They are dumb. They are selfish and they don't know the rules of the world. All boys and girls are like this when they are small. But this boy was not dumb. No, in fact he was too smart for his own good and on most occasions, he put it into good use. Playing, tricking and pissing people off, the grownups off was always a fun time. This boy was also not helpless. He could dress, he could bath, he could read and write. He could even count. He was good at counting. He was good with numbers and he was barely more than eight. He was good with a lot of things, but he was still just a boy and he was treated like one. His mother thought he was a freak. A freak of nature and so she despised him. Why? Because he also understood the rules of the world. He knew there was life. He knew there was death and he knew that the weak died and the strong lived. So, he chose to be strong. He chose life and he was labelled as a monster for that. Not that he minded particularly. It made him laugh mostly. The people around him. The people in general. His mother, his father and grandfather...and the shadow. The shadow whose name was often spoken of in this house but never really seen. For what reason, Jungkook didn't know. He was a smart boy but even he couldn't know everything.

He often spent times alone. Wondering about in the house, trying his best to avoid people so he could listen to the conversations the grownups were discussing and whispering on about in the house. He wasn't allowed near them typically, but the rules never stopped the little boy. He wasn't allowed outside; he wasn't allowed contact with other children. He was only allowed to learn and study and to count. His teachers also often tried to persuade him to not think too much about the world. About life and death. That was also something he wasn't allowed to do. To think too much.

The young maid came in with a loud knock to the door, expecting the boy to be in his bed sleeping tight and cosy with his blankets bundled up around him, his head laying on the soft pillow as he stared up at the ceiling where he had little stars, like constellations. He often was in that position when the maid came in, but the young woman did not see that now. Instead she found a shape on the windowsill with a book in hand, staring outside into the garden. The young woman smiled and stepped closer to the boy.

"When did you wake up, little Jeon?" The woman asked with a honey glazed voice. She had the radiation of the Sun and it was sickening to the child. She was always sweet. Even her appearance. With her round glasses and her bowl cut hair and her outfit that his mother had put on her. She just had this kindness and sweetness around her the little boy could not stomach. He never liked shiny things.

"I never fell asleep."

"Well, that's not good. A growing body needs sleep, young master. Especially as a child..."

"Do I really have a brother?" The boy asked abruptly, snapping his head towards the woman who had a shocked expression planted on her face. She didn't say a thing for moments on and that's when the boy smiled and turned back to watch the garden, and the Sun and the birds. "I'll take that as enough answer."

The woman didn't speak for minutes on. He was a boy, she reminded herself. She was a fucking boy and yet, how did he know? How did he find out that the young man, his parents often talked about, was his brother? How did he even leave the room without anyone noticing? How did he do that? The woman wondered because every time she was caught off guard like this, she seemed to realise that the young boy was smarter than he often let on.

"How do you know about him?" She found her voice and asked softly, studying the young master, who was still doing nothing more than staring. At the view. At the Sun and at the rain that was dribbling against the window. There was sure to be a rainbow now.

"I heard Mama and Papa talk of him. Something about having to banish him. I imagine he did something very bad which is why I was born." He said and stared down at his book, to open it up and start reading again right where he left off. He ignored the young woman that was standing there looking confused but then again, he often did that. But the young boy was meaning to say something this time. Something that was rather disturbing.