Closer to Humans

Closer to Humans

 

 

day 15

KyuHyun looked at the thing RyeoWook passed him yesterday, it was the letter his friend treasured so much. He never knew what was written inside it, until last night. It was only after the owner of the letter died, was he allowed to look at it. There was a whole chunk of words written inside the letter, and behind it, was a messily drawn map, probably the art of his very best friend. 

Upon following the route drawn on the tiny piece of paper, KyuHyun arrived at the top of the hill, where there's an area with no trees. Three tiny rocks were lined up carefully, side by side. He imagined how the little RyeoWook must have spent so much effort to move those rocks there. Recalling how tiny RyeoWook was when they first met, KyuHyun smiled. 19 years ago, they had a really dramatic encounter.

I opened my eyes. The bright sunlight hurts my eyes, how long have my eyelids been down? Everything is blury, I cannot focuse on anything. My head trob in pain and half my body is numb, what happened? Where am I? Something moving at the side of my eyes caught my attention, I turned to look at it, at him. It's a little boy, around my age I think, but he looks so tiny and small sized. What is he doing here? Who is he? I didn't know, and I didn't get any answers until much later.

Realising that I have woken up, he stood up from his squating position and walked into the trees. I thought he was leaving, abandoning me, letting me die, but I was wrong. He paused and turned around to look at me. I stared back, I tried to speak, but my throat is so dry that no words escaped my mouth. After a few moments, he came back to me, and squat back down to where he was earlier on. I close my gaping mouth as he slowly tried to help me up.

We struggled our way between the trees, my wound hurt and my whole body aches, my stomach growl in hunger and my eyes sting, but all of those pain cannot be compared to how my heart break into peices as we slowly make our way away from my dead parents. Every single step is heavy, I want my parents back, I want their explaination of the mysterious escape during the middle of the night, I want to cry in their embrace, but I didn't want to stay there. I don't want to see their dead lifeless body, I want to erase the sound of my crying sister from my head.

It was a long and tiring journey, but we managed to reach our destination. He settled me down inside a dark cave. I can barely see anything, but he moves around like there's more than enough light in that empty dark cave. It was only then did I realised that the bullet is no longer in my arm,  the boy probably had it taken out, which explain the dried blood stains on his clothes. Soon, he re-emerged from the darkness, pulling with him a dead deer.

I frown in disgust as he placed the stinky animal infront of me. Bits and pieces of the deer is missing, it didn't cross my mind back then that it was the boy whom had eaten them, but now that I think about it, of course he had eaten it. He stared at me, and I stared back.

1 second. 2 second. 3 second. The more I stared into his eyes, the more a sad feeling overwhelm me. 8 second. 9 second. 10 second. I can feel tears swelling up in my eyes. 15 second. 16 second. 17 second. The image of my dead father replayed inside my head. The scene of my sister being dragged away surfaced again. The loud gun shot, her painful cry for help, the shiny dark eyes of that animal. All of them prompt me to let out my tears. 22 second. 23 second. 24 second. A single tear rolled down my cheeks, I thought that was it, but it's just the starting.

I started to wail and whine, I cried so loud that I think he was shocked at my sudden outburst. Never in my whole entire life have I felt so terrible, so useless and alone. Why didn't the gun shot kill me? Why must that animal appear? I was blaming every single thing and everyone. I hate them, I hate everything. The 7 year old me couldn't do anything, he can think of no solution to this epic mess that he have gotten into in just one night.

I just cried and cried and cried, my throat is so painful and sore but I couldn't stop even when it is burning in pain. Just as I thought I'm going to die because of excessive crying, the boy gave me a comforting hug. The warmest thing I've ever experienced ever since I was dragged out of bed from my father. For a moment, I felt so much better, perhaps I'm not alone, at least I'm still alive. Staying like that, I cried a river of tears until my eyes are so puffy and tired that I fell asleep.

When I woke up, my arm is feeling so much better, so is my head, but my stomach is hungrier than ever. I gulped as I stared at the dead deer infront of me. My nose is blocked from all the crying so I cannot smell the stinky blood anymore. The boy saw me staring, he probably realised that I'm struggling to decide if I should eat it, because he showed me how to do it by pulling a piece of meat from the ribcage of the deer and placing it into his mouth. I stared in disgust as he sallowed the raw flesh without flinching.

KyuHyun laughed at himself, the food that he had classified as disgusting had fed him for the past 19 years. Although he refused to eat raw meat at first, he soon gave in as he was so hungry that he can't even stand up himself. The boy and him became such good friends that they did everything together, KyuHyun adapted to the boy's lifestyle, and learnt how to stay alive in the forest. His physical wound healed quickly, he was soon climbing trees and swimming in the rivers together with his new found friend, his new found family.

He walked forward to the largest stone and kneeled down beside it, knowing his friend, below this stone must be his father, and the smaller stones represents his mother and sister respectively. RyeoWook had helped him to bury his dead parents and sister, at this beautiful place where you can see the whole city. KyuHyun wants to thank him, but he can't now, since RyeoWook is already sleeping peacefully beside his sister. The newly added fourth rock was the least he can do for his friend.

" What is your name? What are you doing here? Do you live here alone? How old are you? " KyuHyun bombarded a long string of questions to the boy infront of him after they reduced the poor deer to just bones. He received no reply, just stares and more stares. Being the clever boy he is, KyuHyun asked, " You ca't talk? " Although they had been together for more than a week now, KyuHyun had never heard him open his mouth before.

Not understanding the alien language, the boy just stared. KyuHyun thought for a while before saying, " If you can't talk, writing them down is fine too! " He looked around and found a tiny branch. After passing the stick to the boy, he waited for him to draw out his name on the sandy ground. However, the boy just continued staring, making no sign of wanting to do what KyuHyun wanted him to. KyuHyun frowned, " Do you have no name? "

Looking into the boy's eyes, he somehow think that he got it right, he does have no name. " Okay then, I'll give you a name! From now on, you'll be called... RyeoWook! " 7 year old KyuHyun exclaimed excitedly, " It's such a nice name! "

Giving his friend a name, was the only thing he had done for RyeoWook when he was alive, now that he's no longer around, shouldn't he repay what RyeoWook had done for him in the past? Although RyeoWook attacked his sister, it was because he couldn't control it. Now that KyuHyun think about it, in the past 19 years, RyeoWook had done countless things for him, things like giving him a place to live and sharing his caught dinner when KyuHun came home empty handed.

He gave a kiss to the tombstone belonging to his father and mother respectively, he then kneeled down infront of the tombstone of CheonYi, his beloved sister. Smiling, KyuHyun took off the necklace and placed it neatly by the side. " Be happy. I'll be too. " He then moved on to the last tombstone, " Don't blame yourself, you too, be happy. " Slipping the letter RyeoWook gave him yesterday under the necklace, KyuHyun turned to leave.

The tiny birds flew all around, singing beautiful melodies to the sleeping family members of KyuHyun. The birds that have a lot of conection between KyuHyun and RyeoWook, it was the only way they could apologise to each other. The birds were also CheonYi's favourite animal, she have always wanted them as pets. The birds were also the only ones that provide him with music in the forest, reminding him of the piano he used to hate.

Grabbing tightly the clip he got from the girl on that tree, he left his families at the highest peak of the hill. KyuHyun will now live a happy life for them, help them finish the things they couldn't finish, experience the things they couldn't experience. He'll be a good friend to JinHye, a good son to her adoptive mother, and a good father to his future son. He will not become a irresponsible father like RyeoWook's.

He had finally gotten an answer about why RyeoWook was a werewolf from the letter he left behind. Turns out it was a handwritten letter by RyeoWook's father.

 

Dear son,

I'm sorry for leaving you behind. I told your mother you're dead, I cannot bring you home. I'm a werewolf, and my first child will grow up into one too. Your mother doesn't know that I'm not human, and I cannot risk letting her find out about it. I'm a pure blood werewolf, so I can control when to stay human, when to not, but you cannot. You're a mix blood werewolf, you cannot control yourself. I cannot take the risk of the life of the rest of my family because of you, this is the best solution I can come up with. If you ever live to see this letter, please understand that I did this because I had no other choice. If you couldn't, rest in peace. I'm really sorry.

Father.

 

KyuHyun's father, KyuHyun's mother, CheonYi and RyeoWook all had a very hard life, and now they will enjoy their afterlife at the prettiest place, where they can see almost everything and everyone in the city. KyuHyun too, will enjoy the rest of his life with the girl in the city, where he belongs. He'll be closer to humans.

 


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PCDWFFCDWP #1
Gods, I remember reading this for the first time back in 2014. Such nostalgia! I totally forgot about this story....
melryn05 #2
Chapter 17: It really great!!!!
elfFISHhae #3
Chapter 17: Awww. ...this is really a fantastic story. ..it really got me into it. It made me felt sad about certain parts but I'm happy that in the end, Kyuhyun's having a good life again. Thanks for writing this nice story :)
melryn05 #4
i'm new here and I like your story, my bias is ryeo wook~ ^.^
lulu88 #5
Chapter 17: Leaving without family is the worst thing in the world , it's good that he got back his old friend and got a new friend to accompany his normal humanity life
Thank you for telling me about this story , So glad that I had the chance to read such great story ^_^