February 3^rd

I collected thirteen brass doorknobs today. One for each day of suffering I’ve endured. You know how people say if you’re around a strong stench for a long time, you don’t even notice it after a while? Obviously, those people have never been down in the Dumps. It is literally a giant pile of metal and everything still reeks of sewage. It’s probably a side effect the rats everywhere, both rodent and human.

I told the head Rat it was my birthday today; he gave me a weird look and told me to get back to work.

February 5^th

I’m running low on scrap paper, but luckily there’s plenty of cardboard in the nearby dump. This kid, Donghae, has been helping me find more. He’s good at scraping, but he’s a bit slow. Yesterday, I was journaling and he tried to mimic me with his own charred stick. Of course, he didn’t know how to make words so he only made scribbles. I guess he thought the stick was the important part because when I started writing with a new stick, he asked for it as well and became very distressed when words wouldn’t come out of that one either. This went on until we ran out of cardboard and sticks. Like I said, he’s slow. Good company though.

February 8^th

Today is trash day. We’ve gathered all our metal into bins for the garbage men to take back into the city. All my doorknobs barely fill one lone bin. Donghae says I did well, but considering even he has five bins worth of TV wires, I think he’s just being nice. Still, there aren’t as many door around here as there are televisions so maybe that has something to do with it. God, I hope so. If I don’t get good marks today, I could be stuck here for a long time.

*   *   *   *   *

            Ryeowook capped his water bottle, now sloshing with river water. The metal surface tingled from the electric reactions inside, clearing the waste inside. Normally, it would have been easier to snitch a drink from the dining hall but after last night, he didn’t want to risk getting caught. Besides, the water was cleaner uphill from the mines. It almost looked clear.

Ryeowook dunked his hand into the icy river and scooped out a handful of smooth, hard rocks. Dripping with water, they tumbled around in his hands. He weighted each one carefully in his hand, careful to choose the heaviest and roundest ones for shooting. Most were light, only good for mice or sparrows, but some were heavy enough for a rabbit. He made sure to pocket those.

All was routine until a pebble so round and so light hit his palm, he almost didn’t realize it was there. Ryeowook squinted at the rock, if you could call it that. It was the size of his thumbnail, light as air. The surface shined like the glass marbles Leeteuk had given him, but it was the inside which entranced him. It was black but not still; the inside moved like a languid snake. He’d never seen anything like this before. Old habits die hard; Ryeowook pocketed the strange marble and hoped it wasn’t urban property.  

            As soon as he did, a rustle broke out in the distance. Ryeowook tensed. His hands grasped his slingshot. All at once, a swarm of crows lifted from the trees and into the air like black smoke from a good fire.

After watching them for a weeks, Kyuhyun had learned a great deal about the crows: how they spent nights upstream and mornings downstream, how they had warning calls for approaching miners, and how they bartered for water with sparkly objects. He found them the most fascinating creatures.

With one swift pull of the slingshot, Ryeowook learned that these fascinating creatures could be taken down with one pebble.

He started a real fire in the burning hole he’d dug close to the trees, and made sure to fan out the smoke. With a sharp slice of metal he dismantled the crow, a little more sloppily than usual, and set the meat cooking. By the time the crows fell silent, the food was done.

Water and breakfast in hand, Ryeowook headed back to the shelter.

In the distance, the outline of the mountains became visible through the morning haze. They were the world’s greatest buildings, bigger than any stadium and taller than any skyscraper. That’s what he’d told Kyuhyun weeks before they left the Dump.

“I didn’t think you knew what a skyscraper was,” he teased.

“I know what things are.” Ryeowook huffed indignantly.

“Oh yeah? What’s a stadium?”

“A big building for running. And a skyscraper is for managing paper. I even know skyscrapers don’t really scrape the sky; they don’t even touch the cloud. Those mountains though, they go straight past it and right into the sky.”

Kyuhyun laughed. “How many times are you going to tell me that?”

“Until you believe me.”

“Well, that’s great,” he said. “I’m going to be hearing that for the rest of my life then.”

Neither of them knew how short that time span would be.

Indecipherable symbols covered the ground around their shelter. Ryeowook danced around them, careful not scuff their meaning away. It bothered him that Kyuhyun could just write whatever he wanted, but it’s not like he could do much about it. A new line of words had appeared this morning, right by shelter door, and Ryeowook had wasted a good fifteen minutes trying to figure out what it said. Annoyingly, the letters wouldn’t stop moving and he gave up at the morning bell.

Skipping over the last block of text, Ryeowook slipped into the glass shelter. Kyuhyun remained fast asleep in a tightly curled ball. The mask covered his mouth leaving only his eyes with dark circles showing.

Ryeowook’s fingers brushed aside Kyuhyun’s hair. The heat from his skin nearly seared his fingertips. The fever was back. If only they could pull that mask off, even for a second, he could pretend everything was better, but that would infuriate Kyu. “Germs,” he’d say like they were the end of all humanity.

Instead he directed his attention to tightening his slingshot and packing their supplies. Although the goal was to reach the mountain’s foot by tonight, it seemed unlikely the longer they waited. Still, he’d let the younger rest for as long as possible. The more ground they could cover, the better, but Kyu’s health was more important.

It was completely light out by the time Kyuhyun awoke. Ryeowook pressed the water bottle to his hand for he knew he’d be thirsty, and then handed him some crow.

“What time is it?” Kyuhyun asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Eight ‘o clock,” Ryeowook said, because that’s what he always said. For some reason, Kyuhyun always took him seriously.

“Oh god!” He sat up so fast he nearly spilled his water. “We have to get moving! We have to get to the mountains. We have to… we have to….” Kyuhyun’s eyes scrunched as the head rush caught up to him.

“It’s alright, Kyu. We don’t ‘have to’ do anything,” Ryeowook said. “We’re going to eat some breakfast right now, and once you feel ready, then we’ll leave.”

Kyuhyun stuffed a piece of crow into his mouth and attempted to stand up. “I’m ready. I feel ready.”

“Liar,” Ryeowook said as Kyuhyun promptly stumbled. He reached out a hand to steady him. “I know you’re tired, Kyu. You were up all night. Just take it easy, okay? We can afford a few days.”

“But we’re already behind.”

“The mountain’s not going anywhere.” Hand still gripping Kyuhyun’s arm, Ryeowook slowly eased him back into sitting position. “This is the last town on our way. From here out it’s nothing but forest and rock. It wouldn’t hurt us to stay near some food and medicine if it’s getting worse.”

Kyuhyun’s eyes welled with shock and desperation.

“We have to, have to get there.”

“I know,” Ryeowook said. “I know.”

He moved his hand to Kyuhyun’s. It was hot and slick from sweat. Although Ryeowook hadn’t intended to suggest they stay put, now that he’d said it, it sounded like the best option. After all, there was no point driving Kyuhyun to exhaustion if the whole point was to keep him alive.

“We’ll get there eventually.” Ryeowook assured him with a soft squeeze of his hand. “Eat your food, okay?”

The mining bell rang in the distance: breakfast was over. It was a perfect time to get medicine for Kyu’s fever. Ryeowook spouted some excuse about getting more food, which the other clearly didn’t buy, and exited the box, leaving a reluctant Kyuhyun behind.

Morning light had crept up and transformed the trees from distorted shadows into gnarled roots and black, spindly branches.

“It’s called the Dead Forest,” Kyuhyun had told Ryeowook the day they arrived in the woods. “It died thanks to the sickness. A century ago, the trees caught a disease that charred them black without fire, but back then, nobody actually looked at trees. They looked at phones and signs and screens. Sure they would see trees and streams and flowers, but no one really saw them. Slowly, all the trees burned from the inside out without anyone ever noticing. Then one day, when all the trees were black, someone looked at the Dead Forest and said, ‘Hey, when did a fire sweep through here?’”

Ryeowook didn’t get the joke.

Some days though, he wondered if Kyuhyun had caught the trees’ disease and that’s why he burned from the inside out. As he thought of this, his legs picked up speed. If that was the case, he wouldn’t pretend he didn’t notice.

Just as he began to dart through the woods, a voice stopped him in his tracks. Namely, because it was a voice.

“…thief…no…this way…”

A deep voice. A man. Maybe a warden. A trill voice replied to him—probably a woman—only to stop abruptly.

They came from no less one hundred feet from him.

When he was barely any distance from the shelter.

Ryeowook turned around so fast he nearly crashed into a tree. Kyuhyun. Oh god, Kyuhyun.

He flew back towards the shelter, their shelter. The voices came closer, and his footsteps pounded the earth, but he didn’t care. Their cover would be blown in the next minute anyways.

Kyuhyun jumped when he burst through the door. One look and he knew what was happening, but Ryeowook spelled it out for him anyways:

“We have to run.”

The week before finals was a terrible time to start a new story, but I hope to make it up this week and next. Thanks for reading! [Back for editing tomorrow]