Telling the Family

When Mr. & Mrs. Jo came home from their meeting, they saw came to see Youngmin sleeping on the couch in a sitting position with his phone in his hands. The parents smiling at each other before his mother walked over and shook the boy’s shoulder gently, “Youngmin, wake up.” The boy woke up to his parents and then instantly got up and looked at the time, eight o’clock. He looked to the front door to the shoe rack, Kwangmin’s shoes weren’t there. ‘He’s still not home?’ He thought. He, then, went to his phone looking at his call log he found that he had no new messages or missed calls. He dialed Kwangmin’s number again and the voice mail answered again. He hid his face in his hands ‘Kwangmin, where are you?’

At the scene of the crash a detective was looking at the area where they found the body and shrugged, “I don’t see anything unusual here, nothing to start a case on.” The police officer was appalled, “But, sir, he was found tied up, doesn’t that make a difference?” The detective shrugged, “I’m sorry but this is tough even for someone like me.” The officer nodded, “very well, I issue a shut down on the station and this route. After that, I’ll go and tell the family.” Poor kid, something must’ve happened.

When the officer arrived to his location, he rang the door bell. A young boy opened the door, looking very worried he spoke, “Hello officer is there something going on?” The officer sighed, “Is this the resident of Jo Kwangmin and his family?” The boy nodded slowly the worry escalating. He slowly moved aside allowing the middle aged officer inside the house. Mr. and Mrs. Jo walked into the walkway from the kitchen worry etched into their features, “Is there a problem officer?” Mr. Jo wondered. The officer smiled sadly, “its nothing like that. It’s just; there was an accident today on the railway. During our search, we found a body. We identified the body as Jo Kwangmin. To make a long story short, your son has died in the accident, I am very sorry.” The reactions hit instantly, Mrs. Jo collapsed to the ground sobbing. Her husband holding her tightly as silent tears ran down his cheeks. Youngmin held his hand over his mouth and released a grieved sob. The officer lowered his head, he hated this part of his job, “The hospital told me to inform you that they haven’t moved the body to the morgue yet, they thought you would like to see him.” Mr. Jo nodded, “W-we’ll be there.”  The officer said his condolences once more before leaving the house.

Youngmin was pacing in his room. He dialed Donghyun’s number barely able to keep his composure.

“Hello?” He heard the older answer. Sniffing Youngmin spoke, “H-hyung, its m-me…”

The older seemed worried from the others tone. “Youngmin? What’s the matter?” Youngmin’s tears were running down his cheeks, “Kwangmin…my brother…he-he…” The older boy cut in “Youngmin, calm down, what happened?” Youngmin couldn’t take it anymore, “He’s dead, Kwangmin is dead!” He sobbed into the receiver. Donghyun suddenly went silent. He heard a sharp in take of breath and then Donghyun’s reply “W-When?” he asked. “T-today, we’re going to the hospital to see him.” Donghyun sniffed and asked, “D-did you tell the others?” Youngmin took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before answering, “N-no, we just found out as well.” “We’ll meet you there, I’ll spread the word.” After hanging up, Youngmin went with his parents to the hospital.

When they arrived to the hospital, they were escorted to Kwangmin’s room where the doctor was just about to close the door smiling sadly he looked at the parents, “We did everything we could, but he arrived at the hospital to late. I am so sorry.” He allowed Youngmin inside the room while his parents went to sign some forms. Youngmin looked at the limp body in the hospital bed. Sniffing, he walked over and embraced his brothers body, “K-Kwangminnie, wake up little brother.” He pulled back to see if maybe his brother would wake up. He was ghostly pale; his skin was cold to the touch. Youngmin released a choked sob, “Kwangmin, please wake up. If this is your idea of a joke you have a sick sense of humor.” Youngmin knew Kwangmin wasn’t going to wake, he knew this wasn’t a joke. Something inside him ignited then, he squeezed his brothers hand tightly, “I’m sorry, Kwangmin, if I got to the station in time, we could’ve walked home and this could’ve been avoided. I promise you I’ll find who did this. I promise brother I’ll make them pay.” He said his final good-bye to his brother before leaving the room to let his parents inside, only to see that Donghyun, Minwoo, Hyeonsung, and Jeongmin were waiting for him to come out, their eyes were red and moist from crying. Youngmin’s tears flew freely down his cheeks as he collapsed into Donghyun’s embrace.