My hands held him in place, raising him by the collar until he’d tiptoe. Ugh! He stinks like the sewage canal and garbage, well he looks the part anyway. He’s trembling, I could hear his heart beating widely, he’s afraid, very afraid, I should take him out of his misery before he dies of heart attack.

“Wake up! No! , why won’t you wake up! No this isn’t me!” I wanted to scream out but the words won’t even come out.

“Please…” he begged, his voice trembling. “Have mercy on me,” he was about to cry.

I was almost tempted to laugh but settled for a chuckle instead. I lowered him so we’d face each other eye-to-eye.

“Have mercy?” I asked, sarcastically. “When you beat those women after robbing them of the smallest amount they have, did you took mercy on them? When you them despite how they pleaded did you stop and took mercy? Huh?” he shook his head desperately. Oh, his trembling dark soul, it wouldn’t taste so good but this will do.

“Sungmin,” Sunny asked worriedly. When did she come in? “Are you alright?” she asked as she wiped the sweat off my forehead. I nodded, she stared at me and I know she was still worried. Who wouldn’t be worried when you see someone waking up as if he has just gotten out of a pool that he was drowned in? I tried to even out my breathing before looking at her again with a smile. I took her hand in mine.

“I’m alright,” I said more convincingly this time, “By the way, when did you get here?”

“I went to the infirmary after fifth class but Donghae said you left already but you didn’t come back to class,” she said but with the mention of Donghae’s name I felt as if someone brought me back to those nightmarish dreams. The dead people, souls living their bodies, and I… killed them like a monster could.

“Sungmin!” she called out and snapped me out of my daydream.

“Sorry,” I said apologetically. She sighed, I knew she was going to nag at me but I’m glad that she didn’t.

“I made chicken stew and I brought ice cream cake, let’s go eat them okay?”

I chuckled as I lead the way out of my room. “Well that’s what I call sweet not tequila.”

Sunny pouted, “Food isn’t the only sweets you know.”

I smiled as I pulled her in an embrace. “I know, how could I not?” I relaxed when I felt her arms around me, reciprocating my hug. I wanted us to stay this way for a few more minutes. Her warmth every time I feel it I’m reassured that I’m not dreaming – no unknown sounds, no foreign places, no strangers of unfamiliar languages and most especially, no one dying, not me or anyone else. “Sunny, I –”

A soul in love is the most scrumptious of all… that unknown yet familiar voice echoed in my head, my voice.

“Sungmin?” Sunny said, as she pushed away from me slightly to look at me, her head tilting slightly, “You what?”

“I… I’m hungry, let’s go eat,” I suggested instead. She smiled and let go of me.

*~*~*

“Do you,” I started cautiously as I glanced at Sunny washing the utensils from the sofa, “think there’s such a thing as a blue string of destiny?” I saw Sunny paused for just a second before she looked behind at me, her eyebrow raised in a sarcastic arch. “You know, since there’s a red string, maybe there’s a blue string.”

She laughed loudly this time while she went back to washing dishes. “Might as well have a rainbow colored string.” And she laughed once again. Embarrassed, I flicked the television on.

A few minutes later, I heard her coming over and with the cold pack touching my face I knew she brought with her that ice cream cake she said. We watched television silently until she finished her dessert then she cuddled close to me. “Sungmin,” she said softly, both our eyes not taking off the screen. “Are your nightmares as bad as what you had a moment ago? I tried waking you up but you wouldn’t, you keep shifting in your sleep I didn’t know what to do.”

I ate the last piece of the cold treat before tugging her close to me. “If you’ll sleep with me, I’d only have pleasant dreams,” I said. She pulled away from me, at least a few inches as she scowled. “We’ll just sleep really,” I reassured holding both hands up in defense.

“Sungmin I’m not joking.”

“Neither am I. I feel at ease when you’re close to me. I won’t do anything, promise.”

She eyes me speculatively before she roused from the couch and head for the counter near the kitchen. “Let me just call home.” Before my smile could widen any further, she twirled fast and I had to conceal it. “But I’m warning you, any sneak attacks and you’ll –”

“Don’t worry I won’t.” I said, cutting her off.

“Your dreams, they’re really that bad?” she asked again, persistent Sunny. To be honest, I don’t want to think about it and remember but Sunny will never stop unless her question is answered. I have to be tactful.

“No, not really, but lately, they’ve become worse and strange.” I said with a shrug and headed inside the bathroom, hopefully she’ll understand that I don’t want to talk about it. The details are still freshly engraved in my mind – the crimson red eyes, the deaths, the blue string, and myself.

Donghae crushed out the fourth day off of the second week in the calendar, with the last day – Saturday – had been drawn in a circle, a smug smile as he hummed a merry tune.

“You’re enjoying this too much, aren’t you?” Siwon asked as he twirled the bloody red liquid nimbly inside the wine flute. Donghae gave him a toothy grin and flopped on the chair across him, crossing one leg over the other.

“Well, it’s almost Sunny’s birthday you know,” he sneered.

Siwon cocked up a knowing eyebrow up as he ignored the ridicule in Donghae’s words. He drinks his wine in one shot as they both let the silence embraced them and the conversation that need not be spoken in words. It was about time, that much they’ve both agreed on though with different sentiments.

*~*~*

That night, Sungmin had one of the peaceful dreams he had since these strange dreams began. It was that girl again, set in Korea during the World War era. Although she wasn’t lively as she had been in his previous dream, no, she’s frail and pale, forced to stay in the hospital.

“It’s time for you to wake up,” she said weakly but with a smile. Sungmin looked surprised.

“But I never really get to know your name,” he said although he actually wanted to know why the girl knew it was just a dream but if he really was about to wake up, at least he’d know her name. She smiled.

“Don’t worry we’ll see each other again,”she said and as she reached out to his hand she added gently, “And my name is Sunkyu,” before she and the surrounding hospital fades into the morning light.

When Sungmin squints his eyes open there was only but a note at his desk, no Sunny at all.