Don't talk, you

Story Five

'That paramedic... a cat?'

김종대

"uh?"

When I picked up the cat and turned around, my eyes met his.

김종대

"The lights in the hospital are almost out, but you're still out there. Are you feeling suffocated?"

I nodded blankly at his question.

김종대

"Oh, I'm going to look for a cat..."

"... ah."

I was looking at his face without thinking, and then I suddenly came to my senses when I saw his outstretched arms.

김종대

"Thank you. He doesn't usually follow strangers, so this is a bit unusual."

He continued speaking while holding the cat in his arms and brushing away dust and leaves from its fur.

김종대

"This kitten's mother was a domestic cat. It seemed like she was abandoned while pregnant."

As he gently scratched the cat's forehead, the child made a pleasant purring sound.

김종대

"The first time I saw that cat family was... yeah, about two days before the accident."

He raised his head and looked into my eyes with an unreadable gaze.

김종대

"Late one evening, a mother cat was crossing the road with her blind kittens in her mouth when a large vehicle hit them without noticing them."

"..."

김종대

"The mother cat threw her kittens forward and was hit by a car and killed. One of the kittens hit its head badly and died, and the other was hit by the car with its mother."

김종대

".. And the remaining cat is this one."

He looked at me with eyes that were so full of emotions that I couldn't read them all, and then he quickly withdrew.

김종대

"I saw it all while I was passing by on an errand."

He looked back at me with an awkward expression.

I nodded to him, who was smiling awkwardly, and hurried inside.

Why did you do that? Why did you do that?

I don't know why I let him go so easily.

No, maybe you know.

The way his eyes looked at me was so sad.

There must have been compassion in those eyes. I don't know who that compassion was directed at, but it wasn't directed at me. I knew this much for sure.

Even the sound of thumping footsteps beneath my feet was sad.

03:14 AM

I had another dream. A dream a little different from usual.

When I opened my eyes, I was somewhere in a long tunnel with no end in sight.

The rustling of insects. The sound of water drops falling and forming puddles. And the sound of my own breathing.

In the quiet silence, someone's footsteps were heard.

Step, step, step. Getting closer to me.

It's clear, you came looking for me.

Who is it? Is it 'the paramedic', or is it 'that' who always comes to kill me?

I figured it out. It was 'him' who came to me.

My legs started shaking again as fear came over me again.

I couldn't just sit there. He was going to come to me any minute.

As if he knew I had noticed, the sound of his footsteps got faster and faster.

I've never really confronted him directly. He's never done me any harm.

But I know he's going to strangle me. He's going to kill me.

Holding my trembling hands tightly, I started running.

The blinking lights were looking down at me, as if telling me to run away.

The footsteps of both people were quicker than expected.

I ran as fast as I could, barely breathing, and before I knew it, a fork in the road appeared.

I was so exhausted I couldn't even hear his footsteps. But I kept running.

Maybe it wasn't that I didn't hear it, but that I didn't hear it.

Before I knew it, I had reached the end and was able to find a place where light was coming in.

No matter how much I ran or how much I stretched out my hand to grab it, it was a light I couldn't catch.

Then, suddenly, I thought to myself, "Oh, I'll never see this light again."

But then suddenly someone comes out of that light.

"That paramedic?" My feet started to slow down.

No, that's not a 'paramedic'.

My body started to visibly shake.

The moment I turned around, holding my trembling shoulders

I ended up running into it.

His eerie eyes were glaring straight at me.

The moment he took out a knife he had brought from somewhere and stabbed me

04:04 AM

I woke up from a dream.

The place he stabbed was the center of the knee. It was clearly intentional.

When I got up to go to the bathroom,

I felt pain in the area where I was stabbed in my dream.

Something sharp pierced my knee.

When I went to the bathroom and checked my knee,

A long, clear bruise remained there.