TARGET

마흔 둘

The beam of tinted light cast upon his maroon orbs prompted him to squint against its blinding luminescence. His brows furrowing and grazing the apex of his lashes, fluttering against the mellow currents of the midsummer draft infiltrating through the crevices of the ajar windows,

"Are you paying attention to me, Jeonghan?"

The aforementioned hummed, turning his cheek to the balmy kiss of the sun's rays to face the orator,

Her features suffused with a serene concern, her pale skin reflecting the incandescent shaft, "Jeonghan-ah, you weren't listening, were you,"

"Yes, I was mom," the son rested a gentle palm atop her folded, frail hands, "I'll start paying more attention in school, I promise,"

Her lips drew into a thin frown, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she scrutinized her son,

"Jeonghan, you said the same thing last semester. I don't know what has gotten into you, you used to be such a good student... is it me?" she wavered, "Should I be trying harder?"

Jeonghan's heart pulled as he watched his mother's bottom lip tremble, turning her head away to wipe off a stray tear tumbling down her gaunt cheek,

"Eomma- It's not your fault, it never has been. It's me, I need to be more responsible, now don't cry," he crooned, his tender gaze perused his distressed mother's visage,

His mother mustered an airy chuckle, "Oh don't baby me,"

Their laughter chorused and reverberated in their humble abode, but his mother's drawing out-

drawing out exceedingly long.

it wouldn't stop.

the laughter gained traction and arose to a cacophonous guffaw,

"Eomma, it wasn't that funny-"

He was recompensed with a blood-curdling chuckle:

Jeonghan clambered out of his seat, watching in unmitigated fear as his mother howled, an unhinged jaw, desolate eyes juxtaposing her grotesquely contorted features,

he started yelling in terror.

the dissonance of their shrieks draining the hues of their vibrant home and transcribing into a somber cesspool of  ferment,

and suddenly, it was pitch dark.

He stared into the static onyx void before him, alarm cultivating in his gut:

"HELLO? HELLO? PLEASE HELP ME!" he cried, peculiarly immobilized in a rigid anesthetized state,

"You should listen to your mom more often, Hannie," the void called out,

Jeonghan could recognize the baritone voice, strewn with a faint accent,

"Cheol?"

He emerged from the crepuscule, dressed in tattered night garments, "You never liked school, did you?" he drawled, languidly sauntering around the immobilized boy sprawled on his knees,