Kim Youngwoon remembers holding her in his arms. He remembers her soft breaths on his neck as she leaned her head on his broad shoulder and he remembers wanting nothing more than to stay in that moment forever.

He remembers how they met. She was a pretty girl who kept coming into the coffee shop he worked at. He flashed her flirtatious smiles and she batted her eyelashes back. He gave her free coffee. She gave him free kisses on the cheeks. He asked her out, she said yes.

He remembers their first kiss. How soft her lips were under his. How he traced the outline of her smooth curves under his hands. How she gasped when he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. He remembers her rosy cheeks, her nervous giggles and her contagious smile.

He remembers the day they fought. He remember her face, contorted in an ugly way, as she screamed at him. The stupid little things he said--things he never should have let out of his mouth. He remembers her crying--sobbing. He remembers hugging her, whispering promises and pleading forgiveness. She grabbed his back, latched on to it, like she would die if she ever let go. He hoped she never did.  She loved him. He loves her.

He remembers that day. The day when everything stopped. The day when his world (and the world) ended. There was a loud wind that broke all the windows in their shared apartment. She screamed and he ran to her, feet carrying him as fast as they could. Two stairs at a time;running, sprinting, screaming her name. He held her close--tight. She was crying. He would protect her. He wishes that reality would have ended there. But that wind brought something sinister. Something he never wanted.

She stilled in his arms. He hugged her tighter. Impossibly close.

Crack.






Youngwoon remembers a lot about her. He remembers the look in her eyes. They screamed at him to help her. Please, Save Me. But he just hugged her closer, tears overflowing from his eyes, though he did not cry.


------


Park Jungsu had been in church when the world ended. Odd as it sounded, the good Lord did not protect his followers from the great force of wind and debris that shattered the windows, raining piercing shards of glass upon them all. The priest preached as crystal death fell from the heavens, declaring the day of reckoning had come--until an unfortunate shard sliced his throat, rendering speech (and life) useless.

It all happened so fast. He saw his mother and father die right before his eyes, shredded by the onslaught of glass.  He saw his sister, his only hope, sprint from his side to save herself, leaving behind her little brother, her only brother. She screamed bloody murder as shards pierced her retreating back before she fell, lifeless. He was left alone to die--no one would, could, survive this.

How he wished reality could have just rewound from there.

He felt a stabbing pain spread from his back. Piercing, stabbing, bloody. Thick and red, it dripped down his back and he knew, knew, that this was going to be the end of him. The pain slowly flowed into his shoulders and he felt his whole body shutter. His bones screamed and so did his voice. He emptied the contents of his stomach, retched under the pews as he crawled away from the bodies of his friends, his family. The pain was blurred his vision -- god,

God.

Please.

He sobbed and screamed for someone, anyone to save him from this pain--this torture. His blood seemed to seep from every opening in his body. His nose, his ears, even his eyes. It made it hard for him to crawl. He gave up then.  Trying to escape was too hard. He would just die the moment he stepped outside. The moment he went anywhere actually. If the blood from his back was any indication, he wasn't going to make it to the last pew, even.
Suddenly, there was a sickening, squelching rip and Jungsu let loose a scream so desperate, so bloodcurdling and repulsive and strong that even after he out, he continued to screech in agony.