Donghae

                I couldn’t find him anywhere. That was always a bad sign. He gets lost easily. I didn’t know what might happen to him.

                I ran and ran and ran and ran as fast as I could, but it was never fast enough. It was almost too late by the time I caught a glimpse of his back. Maybe it was too late when I reached him.

                The first thing I saw was the blood. There wasn’t much but it stood out like a sore thumb in the forest. Normally maybe it wouldn’t, but it was winter and there was so much snow here. The blood was seeping into the white snow, staining it for as long as it was frozen there.

It gave me a serene feeling though. It was weird, but it was there. Maybe it was because of the colours, or lack thereof. There was no colour in the woods. Only black and white. Only black and white and red.

                I can’t believe I could have thought something like this, especially in this situation, but the mind thinks what it thinks. I couldn’t help it. I thought that it was kind of ironic, in a twisted way. The dead body fits right in in the forest. It’s winter, so everything’s already dead. At least for now it is, but in the spring all of the snow will melt away and the bright sun and glistening rain will revive the forest into what it was. The spring would return the life.

                I wondered if the body was still there, it would come back to life too. We would have been the people to start the zombie apocalypse, without actually knowing it. But you know, that’s how everything starts anyway. You go looking for one thing, but you find another in the process. Just like me.

                I went looking for him, but I found a dead body instead. I wanted to ask what happened, but I was afraid too. If he had killed this person, what would I do? What would we do? I don’t think it really matters, the answer should be obvious, I guess.

                It was weird though, how he was just standing there, with this aimless look on his face. It was like he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know if he should freak out or start running for the hills. I didn’t know what to do either. If he had done this, or if he had stumbled upon it, like me. There’s two different situations with different outcomes.

                I turned to him. I walked to him. I stood in front of him and held his shoulder firmly. I looked into his eyes, and I saw them void of thought.

                He was completely stunned. He barely even recognized that I was standing in front of him.

                I bit my lip, unsure. I looked at the corpse, anxious. I watched him, concerned. I spoke, and I tried to make it sound like I knew what I was talking about.

                “Come on Lee Hyukjae, pay attention.”