Music to my Ears

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TW//: Again, very minor, but I just want you, my readers, to be safe! Minor violence and relived trauma.

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Jin opened his eyes.

He was standing in the entryway of his own apartment, a couple of miles away from campus. It wasn't very spacey, but it was a significant improvement of his living situation had he resigned himself instead to one of the dorms on campus.

It was neat enough. Three healthily green potted plants were starting to wilt in the corner of the living room, settled next to large, glass-paneled windows overlooking the city streets below. He picked up the tin watering can glimmering under the sun's glare and sprinkled water onto the plants, the soil turning a darker brown. A dusty keyboard lay vertically against the wall, untouched by anything other than the passage of time and shoved behind a wooden bookcase that held various paraphernalia and gifts from family, as well as souvenirs he had obtained from spontaneous trips to distant places. A picture frame was located on the middle shelf, depicting a happy family from a happier time. A young couple stood behind two small children, wearing big smiles on their faces as they held them within their warm arms. A white sofa sat behind a flatscreen TV and a small brown coffee table. A specter sat on its surface, patting the area next to him and motioning for Jin to join him on the couch.

Jin could recognize that smug tanned face anywhere.

Jin obliged and took a seat. The specter leaned in slowly, inching ever closer with his lips puckered and ready for the kill. Just as his lips were about to touch Jin's cheek, he disappeared into the air like mist on a foggy night.

Jin was not alarmed. Instead, he turned his head towards the TV, which was now flickering with static and the bright colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow. The apparition reappeared in front of him, blocking the television screen with the breadth of his toned body. He waved his arms in front of Jin's face, his mouth curling into an 'O' shape despite no sound coming out. Jin stared out blankly at the television behind him, his hand now clutching a small, black TV remote. In one smooth motion, the specter smacked the hand that held the remote, the small device soaring through the air and crashing onto the hardwood floor below, the collision causing the back panel to break in half and the batteries to clatter and roll out in two different directions. Jin's eyes followed the device as it bounced across the floor, then darted back towards the TV, which was restored to an empty black. The specter disappeared once again from his sight.

The apparition was now in the kitchen nook, standing in front of a wooden cutting board and crushing garlic cloves with the broad side of a very sharp knife. Pausing this activity to talk aimlessly in Jin's direction, who still was unable to hear him, he wagged the knife around carelessly.

"Please stop. You're going to hurt yourself!" Jin cried out, though he couldn't even hear the sound of his own voice as he felt the sensation of blood rushing to his head.

The specter didn't take this as a warning. Instead, he proceeded to rapidly jab at the air in front of him, as though cruelly killing off an imaginary figure in the air with such vivacity and strength of motion. He plunged and twisted the knife deep within the supposed dead body, and took it out with a grin that spoke of immense satisfaction. He dangled the knife haphazardly off of his fingers, bringing the knife close to his own face in some sort of sick power play. Jin's face contorted to one of pure fear and desperation, putting his hands in front of his mouth in shock. The specter enjoyed this look very much, and brought down the knife onto the marble countertop with a clang. He placed one hand against his chest and the other on the counter as he leaned back with a laughter that was still incapable of being heard by Jin. With one final guffaw, he evaporated.