Work Text:
Warm night
Bright red
Attracted me to you
Up until the end
Colors
Red.
How beautiful it looks.
Comforting like Papa's eyes.
Orange and yellow mixing in.
So warm.
So welcoming.
Smells like marshmallows roasting.
I reach my hand out to the colors.
Aak!
I wake up.
It was just a dream.
Cough cough.
I grasp at my throat.
It's so hot.
My lungs are burning.
That smell.
Marshmallows roasting.
Fire.
Papa should still be at work.
I just need to get out and I'll be fine.
I put on a hoodie, covering my face and body.
I open the door.
Flames rush towards me.
The exit is right there.
I rush out of my room.
My legs start to burn a little
I should have worn jeans.
I'm now halfway to my escape.
Just a couple of steps.
Only about 15 strides.
Fifteen.
Fourteen.
Thirteen.
Flames eat away at my legs.
Twelve.
Eleven.
Ten.
My feet they are burning. The skin is sizzling, bubbling perhaps.
Nine.
Eight.
Each step is more agonizing than the one before.
Seven.
Six.
Cough cough.
Five.
Four.
Three.
I collapse.
My hands blistering.
I can't get back up.
I begin to drag myself with my arms.
"Ahh!"
The doorknob.
I just need to reach the doorknob.
Someone will have to see me outside.
I reach out.
It burns hotter than the flames.
"Ssk!"
My hand aches, covering itself with burns.
Come on.
I try again.
I open the door.
I lay in the hallway.
No one.
Not one person.
Everyone left.
I'm alone, accompanied by fire.
"Help, please," I try to scream, but I barely get out a whisper.
Cough cough.
I grab my phone, opening my contacts. I click on one randomly.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Someone pick up.
"Hey, what's up."
Yeong-Gi.
"H-help. I can't." I gasp for air. "Get out."
"Tell me what's wrong, I'll be right there!"
"Fire. I'm on the seventh--"
Cough.
"-floor," I pause. "tell them to come for my remains."
Tears drip from eyes landing on the floor underneath me, evaporating in seconds.
"Ahh!" I grunt.
"Stay with me Shin-Ae! I will be right there!"
I can't tell what's more suffocating, the deadly silence or the smoke.
I'll be gone any minute now.
"Good... Bye... Stalker."
"Wait Shi--"
I hang up the phone.
I don't want my final moments heard by him. It'll break him almost as bad as it is to me, surely.
Silence.
This is the end.
Papa. I'm so sorry. Don't drink because of me. Forget me, honestly. Don't let me hold you back any longer. Be happy, for me, for both of us.
Shakily, I reach my hand to my bleeding abdomen, covering my hand in blood.
I scribble a message to the floor.
I will see you next time, Papa.
I relax my body on the ground, breathing out.
Might as well make myself as comfortable as possible.
Red.
Orange.
Yellow.
My vision fills with those three colors.
My eyes close.
Red.
Orange.
Yellow.
Now I'll continue my dream.