Chapter Text
The way the light catches on the glass is mesmerizing, like the way sunlight reflects on waves inside a grotto or moonlight illuminates the tops of trees to make them seem like they’re coated in snow. It makes everyone look, but never close enough, too distracted by the surface level beauty of it to really pay attention to how or why the light does what it does.
Too entranced to stop and wonder whether the trick of the light is all there is to it.
Yeonjun had seen it all. People stopping in front of him, looking right through him, that veil of glassiness falling over their gazes as soon as they turn his way. No one ever looked through, didn’t know that there was something more to look at anyway. No one saw him. They didn’t try.
He was stuck. He knew, he knew it was futile, but he was just too stubborn to give up. If there was even one person… just one that would see him…
His skin was dry, flaking, torn and bruised, coated in dried and wet patches of blood alike. His muscles had a permanent tremble to them and even if he relaxed them in his short breaks to swallow and try to salvage his dry throat and dying voice, his arms shook, his fingers cramped and unable to open fully anymore.
It’s been weeks, but he’s not giving up. The day he does, he knows he’s done for.
Words lost on him since the fourth week, his adam’s apple bobs with the whining sounds that scrape out of his throat. He pounds, as hard as he can, putting all of his energy in the motion of rattling the glass. His bones rattle with it, too fragile to properly adjust to the constant impact that assaults them. He keeps going though. He has to.
Please! He can only scream in his mind, a sad whine all he can muster in the reality of his situation. Please! Anyone! I am here!
A chill breezes over the back of his neck, his hairs standing upright instantly.
Scream. Shout. No one’s around to save you.
He ignores the voice, has learned long ago that it’s best when he does, and continues to hit the glass. Anyone! Look here! Can’t you see me? I’m here!
A woman with a carrier turns to look, her eyes kind and small, the baby’s bright eyes following hers to see what caught its mother’s attention. As soon as they find the glass, he can see the light’s reflection hide him away, can see how their expressions dull and their eyes lose their focus. The woman shakes her head, looks away. She continues forward, none the wiser that she’s just another victim to a spell no one can escape.
He won’t give up though. He has to escape. He prays he can escape.
Dream on, precious. It’s more fun when you do.
He looks up to the gray ceiling, the spots of mold now as familiar as his own reflection once was to him. Please, he begs to the skies he can’t see, hasn’t seen in so long, knowing they can’t see him either. No one ever does. Please. Someone… I am close to reaching my limit.
He knows it’s only a matter of weeks, maybe even days, before his mind will finally crumble and give in to the darkness. His thoughts already melt away sometimes, shadows encasing him and caressing his broken skin, trying to lull him away. The voice keeps whispering. It permeates his being, sometimes, fills everything he knows, everything he is, and tries to take him over.
He won’t let it. He keeps knocking, knowing that someone somewhere will be able to break the spell. He knows he’ll get saved. The only question is if it’s when he’s still alive.
Ice cold fingers stroke his neck, a featherlight touch he knows is not real, but still, his body arches away on instinct. A numbness spreads to his limbs, as it always does when the demon gets too close, and before he knows it, his knees are buckling and he hits the stone floor with no way to soften the blow. His vision’s swimming and he can feel his thoughts slow down again. He fights to hold on, tugs at his mind to keep awake, his eyelids fluttering.
As a last resort, he repeats the old nursery rhyme he always seems to come back to, hoping his mind will focus on the distraction enough to battle the demon’s sweet seduction. Fly, fly high, he thinks, forcing his eyes open again after they’d almost fallen closed.
Little fairy in the sky. His hand twitches, distracts him and he almost loses his concentration.
Never whine and never cry. Be good, be fair, be nice.
A shaky breath in, he can feel the demon bend over him, ignores him. The key to ever life, he goes on, Little fairy in the sky.
It seems to be working. He feels the fog of sleepiness surround him, whispering its tempting lullaby, but he ignores it.
He successfully keeps ignoring it, but then, the demon uses that voice.
“Why do you keep fighting me, Junie? That’s no fun, is it? Why do you still try? Give up, okay? Doesn’t it feel so good when you stop worrying? It feels so nice to let your thoughts go, doesn’t it? Close your eyes. Just let go.”
Yeonjun tries, he really does, but he can’t help it. It’s always like this. His body’s not his own anymore, his eyes close of their own accord. He tries to use his mantra, but feels the words become fuzzy, as if they’re melting into pools of honey that slip through his desperate grasp.
Fly, fly high…
The demon is now only a breath away from his ear. He can feel the warm air tickle his skin, feels the shivers that rack through his aching body because of it.
“Dream on, Junie.”
Little fairy in the sky… The next sentence seems to be just out of his reach. He knows it, knows he should know it, but he can’t remember. His face relaxes, his mind finally empty. At last, he can feel himself slip away.
“Good night~”