Work Text:
When you were a child, you cried after you lifted your shoe and found a beetle underneath, dead on the pavement.
Your mother held you against her bosom. Called you a good boy. The sun beat down on you both.
You did not cry as Ali called after you, though your heart was heavy like the stones you planted.
You did not cry as the life left Sae-byeok’s eyes. It was for the best. She wouldn’t have lived.
Gi-hun stands, horrified, above you.
As you lie bleeding, rain pelting onto your body, you think of your mother, and you cry.