Torment

Music suggestion

I thoughtlessly opened my eyes and happened to lean backwards. I had lost it. Don't question me why as I couldn't find the answer on top of my head either. Could I possibly blame it additionally? Because I couldn`t be sure if I was under the right circumstances to express my feelings towards him. How are you suppose to express them? Do you indisputably have to kiss to show that you love?

I could assume that I had possibly missed one of the great fortunes in my life and yet I did believe there would be another chance, if we're meant to be. If this was a dream then I probably would have done it, but this wasn`t and I couldn`t find my urge to do it.  

He cleared his throat, leaving an awkward atmosphere. Just when I was about to speak, he cut in first.

"I think..I'm going now, see you later." He spoke quietly whilst getting to his feet.

I was muted, my head still loaded with thoughts. I felt bad for him as I still couldn't figure out how to talk and explain how I felt. I started to bite the bottom of my lip. Things had become a hundred times more complicated. Everything came to me in blink of an eye - it wouldn't be a wise idea if I made things even more arduous by building a relationship. I was quite tired of life recently, you see. Things were very tough in the channel, and the role that I was in was not a good one either. If only I was just one side of either of them, I wouldn't need suffer as much. 

I planned to visit Luna in the Sanatorium after dinner. I pressed the button and waited for the lift. I arrived there within a couple of minutes. I walked into one of the rooms in the corridor. "023 room" Minjung told me right away after I had told her the name of the patient. I reached her room and I was surprised to see that there was only Luna resting on the bed, no sight of either Amber or Sulli. Luna noticed me and I saw her struggling to get up from the bed. I quickly assisted her.

"Are you feeling better?" I asked.

"Much better." She let out a weakm lingering smile.

"Where are the others?" I sat next to her on the bed.

"They left earlier."

"Did..you not..see" I hesitated as I was trying to think of another way to ask her, so she wouldn't get upset again.

"No, sadly." She gave me an all-knowing expression which made me confused. Did she understand what I was going to ask her?

"You know fate can't be changed easily, even though you saw it before hand, it actually doesn't mean anything." She continued. "You can change your fate with the mistake you've made today or the right decision you've taken." 

I sighed due to my pessimistic thoughts. "Does that mean I made the wrong decision in the first place of coming here?" I mumbled to myself.

Luna took my right hand which was resting on her shoulder.

"Krystal, Look into my eyes." She spoke boldly.

I did as I was told. She brought both of her hands to the sides of my head and she leaned her forehead against mine. I could see her pupils moving slightly from left to right, her eyes didn't blink even once. All of her attention was on me, as if there were words written on my eyes. Her eyes slowly widened, I presumed that she figured something substantial. At the same time, I thought I was going to die of curiosity.

She suddenly let go of my dome borishly. I was taken back by her sudden reaction but at the same time I had an odd feeling about the whole situation. I wasn't sure if my intuition was on the positive side or not. Luna's eyes suddenly turned white and she started to speak.

"Your journey is long, covered with red blood, sacrifice is crucial; the path is arduous and complex, yet it comes to legendary. Always be ambitious as it will lead you to success. Bare in mind that you're recherché and DON'T let the darkness overcome you." 

Her voice sounded different. It was very deep and low, a voice that I couldn't identify purely with words. Besides, her words sent shivers down my spine. I didn't understand her interpretation or maybe I understood it but I was trying to deny it. I observed her precisely, after a couple of blinks, she came back to her normal self. I could immediately tell this as she started speaking like the Luna I spoke to this afternoon. We chattered normally afterwards, though she didn`t seem to be willing to share what she actually saw in those milliseconds. I have given up on asking her further questions as they were starting to give me a headache.

I roughly glimpsed though the glass windows of the rooms that I passed by on the way back. I stopped by a room which looked like a laboratory as I had seen Joowon. Doubtlessly, I opened the door.

"Joowon, do you know.."

I paused in the middle of my sentence as I noticed the person that I was looking at was definitely not Joowon. I must have made a mistake because I just assumed the tall figure was Joowon. Kai was standing next to the sink, drinking water aggressively, covered with perspiration. He gulped the clear fluid whilst squinting his eyes, as if he wanted to get rid off the bad taste in his mouth. He acknowledged my presence but I suppose he was not bothered to greet me as he just gave me a lazy glance. I was ready to leave the room at any moment, until my eyes saw the mess over on the table right next to the sink. There were pills scattered all around, a newspaper that was lying on the floor as well. I walked across to the other side of the room and bent down to pick them all up then chucked the pills into the bin. I held the newspaper by slipping it under my arm. I tidied up the table and put the lid of the glass bottle back. I tried to take a glimpse of his reaction with the corner of my eye.

However, he was dead silent, he stood there like a tree thus made me a little worried. His eyes were bloodshot, the veins on his forehead pulsed. Kai took another cup of water from the tap and drank it in the same abrupted manner. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his navy jumper. He slammed the cup on the table and started panting. I stood still, yet I wanted to ask him if he was alright. I didn't say anything as I knew he wouldn't say something pleasant in return.

I took out the newspaper and put it back on a separate desk. The newspaper was torn, creased and burnt, but only in the middle. I wondered why, so I started to scrutinize lightly. 

The Premier Gullion is wishing good luck to all the new Championship participants!

The black loop was obviously focused on the Premier, but why? I pressed the play button on the newspaper and it started to play the video of him making a speech.

"Stop it." Kai spat.

I was shocked by his sudden dialect. His tone was heavy and full of anger. He snatched the newspaper from my grip and burnt it in front of my eyes. The clock ticking noise was replaced by the tap water dripping, and it seemed like one droplet was loud enough for every corner of the room to hear.

"You.. you okay?" My voice quivered slightly as I wanted to break the dead air. A few drops later, he finally replied.

"What are you doing here?" Kai spoke heartlessly, his sight still glued on the cup that he was holding tightly .

"I was here because of Joowon, obviously." I scoffed slightly.

"Well, he's obviously not here." He answered back.

"I know, I just wanted to see if you were alright.."

No, I shouldn't have said that.

 "I mean .. because you looked ... more awful than usual..." I continued the sentence so it wouldn't sound like I was being nosey again.

"Get lost." He shook his head whilst waving his hands at me, starting to walk towards the door. I scoffed again as soon as he shouldered me as he walked by. Kai suddenly stopped when he was about to exit the room. 

"I'm fine." He spoke in a low voice.

The next morning, we gathered again to do the remaining levels. I passed the fourth test smoothly, yet some of us struggled. For example Sulli, she failed because she ran out of time. We were given an instruction sheet with a gun, but it was divided into basic widgets. We had to use the time and the instructions to fix the gun, and at the end shoot the robot that was marching towards us. I was lucky, because back in Channel Two, I was specializing in weaponry. Surprisingly, the gun was designed by my senior, a laser gun UB302. It was by far the most noiseless laser gun but very quick to make up for it. I examined the widgets and it took me around ten seconds to put them back. I spun away from the table as soon as I had finished and pulled the trigger. The blue lazer horizontally traveled across the room and hit the robtot's head, causing a minor explosion. I was quite impressed with myself, as I never knew I was going to have a chance to use my mechanical skills on these tests.

"Krystal, pass." Yuri glared at me in a weird manner and started typing on her tablet with her red painted nails. The rest made it through accordingly but Amber just about made it though and the robot nearly stabbed her right leg. Fortunately, she shot it at the very last moment and her leg just had a slight cut.

"The fifth level is an ideological test." Yuri announced as she lead all of us into a long corridor. We walked past a door which was labled 'Mind examination chamber'.

"Oh , this is getting scary." Amber spoke quietly.

"How come?" I crooked one of my eyebrows at her.

"It's hard to explain but I'm sure you'll do fine." I heard a voice from behind me. I turned around to see D.O who was standing right beside me, my nose nearly touched his chin and I just about had time to pull away.

"Where were you last night?" He asked, his eyes reflecting disappointment.

"I went to see Luna.." I stopped in the middle of the corridor and I signaled at Amber to go first. She gave me a nod and walked away with the rest of the crowd.

"Oh. That`s fine, I just thought we were going to meet up in the library again."

I gasped a little in shock. I had totally forgotten about it.

"Sorry, I forgot.." I spoke whilst scratching my hair. I didn't mention Kai as I didn't want to make the problem worse.

D.O's eyes were still gazing into mine. I didn't know whether it was my self-consciousness which made me extremely uncomfortable or the way he looked at me. It had been different the past few days.