Color of the Human Heart
Description
“What is…the color of…a…human heart?” she asked me in a tormented voice. Her whole body was trembling uncontrollably, as with considerable effort, she raised her eyes to meet mine.
“I—” I was at a loss for words. Helplessly, I glanced over to my sister, but she merely returned my lost look with her own. But our own anguish couldn’t possibly begin to compare to that of the girl who sat in front of us. The girl I once used to call my good friend.
“What—” she repeated, “is the color—of…a…human—heart?”
“Red,” I blurted out, not knowing what else to say. “It’s red…”
Slowly, she took that in. Closing her eyes to stop the flow of tears, she quietly whispered, “Why?”
She was continuing the conversation. That was progress, I thought desperately, as I struggled to respond. “Because—of the blood vessels, and the hemoglobin—?” I looked over to my sister again for confirmation. It had been years since I last had to contemplate science. She nodded, but still didn’t know what else to say.
“Then—what is the color…of…a—a—dead—human’s heart?” my friend now asked shakily.
"Wh-what? Why are you asking such a thing—”
“What is—the color—of…an albino’s eyes?” she implored me, her gaze penetrating mine.
“What is the color of a diamond’s center?” I countered her, trying to follow her abstract thought process and simultaneously bring her mind off the dark imagery.
In response, she just kept sobbing.
Foreword
A short story written from Kyuhyun’s POV, but based off one of my real life experiences.
There are two reasons why I chose to narrate this from his POV, both to raise awareness:
1. Let’s be practical. This is AFF, a site dedicated to Asian star fan-fiction. It would be pointless to post a story featuring absolutely no one famous here. Which leads to 2.
2. As every ELF (and probably a lot of non-ELF as well, I’d imagine) knows, Kyuhyun has a gazillion nicknames. Some are more endearing than others.
Among the I-ELF, but not the K-ELF, a very prominent nickname is “evilkyu,” or “the evil magnae.” Countless times when I’m browsing through Youtube or other sites, comments like “evil magnae has struck again!” or “kekeke Kyuhyun you evil magnae” pop out, often backed with a lot of approving “likes” from the general community. And my thought is, is he really “evil”? Even if it’s supposed to be an affectionate term to describe everyone’s favorite magnae, it has always bothered me.
Evil is a strong word, and Kyuhyun’s not evil.
Cheeky, witty, smart-alecky, yes. Impudent? Maybe even a little, sometimes. But never evil. He really has a pure heart, and honestly, if we had to choose between the extremes, I’d rather people be calling him angelickyu than evilkyu. I'm hoping that by telling a story from his (not evil at all) 1st person perspective, people will think twice before pegging the star with an all-encompassing negative adjective like "evil." Guys, he's more three-dimensional than that.
Those are my two reasons, anyway. I’m writing the rest of the first explanation at the end of the story, so if you read it and are more aware, or even if just in the slightest bit moved, then my goal will have been accomplished.
Thanks for your interest.
*Note: Normally, I would wait until after the story is written before posting everything, but I really just wanted to say this now, so… I’m sorry to all the readers who stumble across this mini-rant of mine before I’ve written much yet…
I’ll post soon, I promise.
**Edit [about 11 hours later]: I honestly can’t believe I wrote this all in one day. This document is 5,255 words long on MS Word. Personal record for me, because I'm a mad slow writer and an obsessive editor…just had to note…
[Edit on 1/12/12: My friend, who actually watched open heart surgery the other day, updated me that in fact, "the human heart isn't red, it's brownish with a thick layer of shiny yellow fat on top of it. yeah, i know. :P."]
So there you go XD
[Edit on 6/3/12: Just saw her for the first time in half a year. She’s looking a lot better now! So happy for her—]
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