The Demon Next Door

30

Sssssnakes.

Kyungsoo dreamt of snakes.

Slithering, winding, hissing. 

Spitting, strong, biting.

They coiled around him, trapping him with their gleaming scales, squeezing him until he could barely breathe. Any plans to escape immediately vanished from his mind. It would be impossible.

He tried to budge but the constriction presisted, keeping his arms at his sides, his legs in place. He was being crushed slowly. His bones were cracking, groaning under the weight of such a grip.

With no place for his chest to move, he couldn't make a sound. He couldn't even call for help. His life was escaping him rapidly and he began deflating, like a balloon does when scissors are jabbed into it and all of its air rushes out through the puncture.

He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak.

Kyungsoo's vision blurred. Everything was ploddingly degenerating into a state of gloominess and darkness. The scenery around him was becoming nothing more than a jumble of blacks and grays.

He heard the mocking hisses in his ears, tiny tongues licking insults for him to remember. Rattles of tails shook in his face; snake skins grew more vibrant. It seemed that, as his life was ending, theirs was beginning.

And then they were all gone. He was free and running who knows where, the snakes coming after him, their fangs gleaming under failing moonlight. He ran deeper into a cloud of mist, not caring where he was going as long as he got away from the reptiles on his trail.

Kyungsoo could hear them slithering after him, their cold bodies gliding on the sidewalk as they rushed after him. He heard their jeering, not understanding their language but still feeling somewhat hurt.

He turned his head away from the road ahead to take a look back, screaming when he saw the snakes were so close, too close. He slammed into something with his focus away from the road and averted his attention back ahead.

A figure stood in front of him, shadowed by the weather. The only visible aspect of its features were the eyes. Their shape was familiar to Kyungsoo, but the color...

Red. Blood red.

There were arms around him then, strong and well known, flexing as they brought him closer to their owner. His head fell onto a shoulder as he gasped for air, and he breathed in a husky fragrance, one that he'd never get tired of.

"J-Jongin."

"I'm here now, egghead. You're safe."

"B-but your eyes..."

"I said you're safe. Believe me and shut up."

"The s-snakes..."

They went away.

~*~*~

Mr. Do drove Kyungsoo to school the next day.

Their ride consisted of no conversation. Mr. Do looked on ahead and Kyungsoo stared out the window. They avoided eye contact, disgusted by each other's faces, and didn't think the other was worth talking to.

Kyungsoo found it sad, really. Mr. Do had blown his affair with Jongin completely out of proportion, and now their family ties were suffering from his wrath as well. Kyungsoo couldn't remember it ever being so quiet in the car before when they rode together in the past.

When they turned onto the school block, Mr. Do stopped a few driveways from the entrance. Kyungsoo could suddenly smell smoke coming from his father's freshly lit cigarrette, and he glanced his way.