Nightmare | San

8

"Hey," a deep man's voice greets. I feel my palms grow sweaty and my mind starts to spin.

"Hi!" Seonghwa returns. My eyes widen in shock. Not him too! Seonghwa should never go through that.

My hand flies up and grabs Seonghwa's hand. He peeks down and smiles. "Byeol, this is Hyuk, my co-worker," Seonghwa softly introduces. My eyes travel up slowly and I relax when I see a complete stranger. "Hello," I also greet, feeling stupid now for thinking it was San.

We exit the lift and apartment building and begin to walk down the street.

"Byeol! What happened to you?" I hear Mingi's deep voice call out to me. He's hanging a sign outside the convenience store we work at and looks deeply shocked. "Mingi! I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but early this morning I ended up burning my leg in... a kitchen accident. I'll be back as soon as I recover, tell Yunho too, but don't tell anyone else. I don't want anyone to worry or anything," I tell him. "What? I hope you get better soon," he worriedly speaks. "Thanks!" I brightly exclaim despite feeling like I'm deep under the ocean, a heavy pressure sitting on my chest.

We walk past him and leave him to work by himself. I feel a bit regretful to not be able to earn more money. I ended up being an even bigger burden to Seonghwa.

We stroll through the peaceful park in silence. My boyfriend understands that sometimes staying quiet can be a comfort in itself. I feel myself calming as I watch the trees gently sway in the wind or the cute little birds hopping around, picking up a few small crumbs as they go. I wonder if plants and animals have demons to haunt them too.

There are no screaming kids to disrupt the peace since it's still school time. I feel grateful for that. Who knows what effect it'd have on me to hear so many voices out loud when my thoughts torment me enough.

After the hour has passed, we eventually return to our place. The elevator ride goes more smoothly this time with no interruptions. We stand patiently outside the door, trying to make sure we don't interrupt the priest.

After a few minutes he emerges from the door. "I did a deep purification of your house. The presence should be gone by now. I can't feel it anymore either so you're finally free!" he announces.

Seonghwa's face lights up and a smile erupts onto my face too. "Thank you so much!" Seonghwa cheerfully jumps. "No problem! Now, about the payment..."

The two men move to the side to discuss payments. I decide to go into the apartment myself first, feeling relieved that I can finally be free. Now that I'm finally away from San, I can relax.

I roll in further before I hear Seonghwa shout, "I'm going downstairs with the priest, I'll be back in a second!" I shout back, "Alright!"

Only a few seconds later, the doorbell rings. Seonghwa seems to be back fast. I hurry to the door and open it quickly, only to be shocked by the two men standing there.

Yeosang and Wooyoung hold a bouquet of flowers in their hands and a small smile each. "Hello! We heard about your injury and everyone at work decided to wish you to get well soon," Yeosang sweetly says.

I gesture to them to come in and smile warmly. "That's so nice of you! Did Yunho say anything to you?" I ask while locking the door. I had specifically told Mingi not to tell anyone else but maybe Yunho told them.

"No? Don't worry, no one else at work knows about what happened to you," Wooyoung utters. I freeze. I definitely told Mingi though. Did he pretend not to know? That doesn't make sense, he's been working with me for so long and we're good friends now.

It's odd that the two new boys who only started working yesterday came to visit me while my close friends didn't.

I turn around from the door to question their intentions but my heart comes to an abrupt stop. Instead of two men standing there, there's only one man.

That one man being the one and only San.

"Surprised to see me?" he asks with a smug expression. He plays with his lip ring while staring down at me.

How is he still here? My head feels like it's about to burst now and my heart is beating fast enough to give me a heart attack at any moment. I roll back on my wheelchair until my back is stuck to the door.

"It kind of hurt my feelings that you tried to get rid of me. You didn't even warn me?" he spits, face full of disgust. He starts to approach me again, taking slow and steady steps. He leans down until his face is extremely close to mine. With nowhere left to run, I pray frantically in my mind.

The demon lifts his finger and cups my face. He rubs a thumb over my cheek gently even though his face is full of judgement and malice. "Don't worry, I can't exactly hurt you right now. I'll see you again tonight though," he sighs while pulling back.

"I have you for myself, and I never plan on leaving," he whispers one last time with an eerie grin on his face. After one blink, he's gone. Not only is he gone, but my co-workers have also disappeared. How did he still manage to come into our house? Just how strong is he?

"Yeosang? Wooyoung?" I call out hesitantly. When I get no replies back, things start to make less sense.

I scream out of frustration. Tonight is going to be a living hell.

I quickly roll to the bouquet of flowers on the coffee table and feel anger bubbling up inside me. I slam my fists into the beautiful bunch of vibrant pink, purple and white flowers. I lift them up and tear them to shreds, the petals flying all over the place. I can't stop punching them. I imagine San's face on them and punch them even harder until my knuckles grow red, but that doesn't stop me. I detest them with all my being. I don't want flowers from a demon.

After there's nothing left to hit, I can't hold back the sobs from escaping.