Donghae

                I couldn’t think of anything else to do while I waited, so I watched the body. I knew it wasn’t going to get up and move or anything freaky like that. I just didn’t know what else to do. He wasn’t here to keep me company, and I was standing in the middle of a forest in the worst winter we’ve ever had. It wasn’t like I could stare at the snow until he got back.

                Today was kind of strange day though. It wasn’t just the dead stranger in front of me, or the whole ‘my-boyfriend-just-killed-a-person’ scenario that was strange. The whole day had been a string of strange events. First off, the milk for my cereal had gone bad when I clearly remember that I only bought the bag three days ago – it’s not like anyone can drink a whole bag of milk each day, so it didn’t make any sense. Secondly, when I was on my way to his house I got stopped at a police road stop. They said it was just a routine DUI sort of check because of the holidays, but the holidays didn’t start until next week; everyone was still in school or work. There was a lot of other things that happened that were out of place. It was like a bad omen. And now this.

                I felt bad for him. I really did, but at the same time I was torn between letting my anger and confusion out of the bottle. More than anything, I wanted to know what happened. I wanted to know what led to my precious and innocent angel of a man to kill somebody. I wanted to know all of the – literally – bloody details, so I could figure things out myself. I guess, that’s why I decided to stare at the dead person in front of me instead of the snow or trees.

                On closer inspection, you could tell how they died. Or should I say ‘he’? It was a he, after all I did check his wallet. It was just so weird saying it like that, like it was still a person, still living. It made it harder to look at. Anyway, you could see where the blood was coming from by the stains it left on the snow. There were two different wounds, I guess – one from the head and the other around the stomach or abdomen area. I couldn’t quite tell and I wasn’t interested in getting closer than I already was.

                I started to come up with how this guy died. The hiker was walking through the woods when he saw someone else who was probably lost. He went over to see if they person needed help because he knew these woods like the back of his hand. Something happened between them and the hiker got out a knife to defend himself, but the person who was lost knocked it out of his hands and tried to get him to back off with it. The hiker leaped on him to startle him and make him drop the knife, but the person held onto it tight in his shock. The knife cut through the tough winter coat and through the layers of clothes until it reached flesh and slid through the hiker’s abdomen like it was going through butter instead of muscle. The hiker coughed up blood and it got onto the other person’s jacket. The person pushed the hiker off of him after realizing what had happened, and the hiker stumbled backwards and fell to the soft snow, but there was a rock protruding from the white, and soon the hiker was lying there, dyed red.

                “Donghae? I brought the car…” He was looking at me with that lost expression of his.

                “Oh, right. Good job, let’s do this then.” I scratched my head and tried to forget about what I was just thinking. It wasn’t a terrible scenario, it meant that it was self-defense, if that’s what happened. But I guess I won’t know until I ask the only witness, if he ever recovers enough to say it. I don’t even know if I want to know, really. There are so many different things that could have happened here, all I can do is imagine.