chapter nine

the way Death writes

Rei felt as if she was afloat.

The cold seeped into her bones like a welcomed drug into the pores of her pale skin. The water kept her awake, and at the same time, like a soothing slumber she could forever shut her eyes in. In this pool of water spilling up to the brim, she felt emptiness devour her wholeheartedly.

And the best part was the silence.

How the noise of the water kept this undisturbed peace for her, dying out all the noise that circulated in the room like a reflective barrier. How Rei wished she could truly breathe underwater and sleep in its embrace.

She heard the muffled noise of people whenever she raised her head to breathe, then rose to the surface, where she saw a group of boys, around ten to fifteen of them, in swimming trunks walking towards another pool on the side of the indoor area. As always, they walked strong and confidently; like a herd of moose with large antlers with their heads high and bright teeth-baring smiles. Their shoulders are firm and large, their legs toned and strong.

In the waters, they rule.

Or maybe the swimming coach does, Rei watches as an older man in a plain t-shirt and shorts blow a whistle, directing some of the boys to take their lanes.

Noise, she swam away, pushing her arms through the water and pulling herself forward. She felt free, almost as if she was gliding through the water. Is this what being a fish feels like? She wondered, wanting to laugh underwater. Rei swam several laps, ignoring everything else around her. It felt good to be in the water again.

Or rather-

It felt no longer bad for a while.

Just a while.

Maybe that was why she forced herself to be oblivious to everything.

Even if she was only allowed 20 laps.

Rei swam to the other end of the lap when she saw two figures standing by the side of the pool she was in. Though, at first she was about to ignore them, thinking that they were from the group of swimmers who were wanting to practice in the same pool, she saw that the both of them were not wearing swimming attires. She lifted her head above the water, and looked up to see a familiar face looking down at her, red and panting.

‘It’s Sakurai,’ was all he said with his tired breaths.

Rei pushed herself out of the pool, and Sehunander pulled her so that she could stand up. She pulled off her swimming cap and let her drenched hair loose. Kyungsoo was standing behind Sehun, not as out of breath as her classmate. Sehun saw the untainted expression on her face.

‘You knew?’ he asked, his own expression changing.

Rei did not respond.

She sighed, then walked away from the pair. ‘Rei,’ Sehun called, not lifting his gaze off her.

‘Just wait in your room. I’ll come,’ she said, then headed towards the changing room. Kyungsoo watched as some of the swimmers who were waiting at the side of the pool stare at Rei with flirtatious smiles and threatening eyes, but Rei walked all the more uncaring, as if they were not there at all, even when one of them whistled at her, at the expense of getting called out by his intolerant coach.

Sehun was unsure with leaving her, but there were other girls around and the coach. He did not know why he had doubtful thoughts but he kept them to himself.

Kyungsoo and Sehun did as Rei bid, and waited in the latter’s dormitory room. They shared no words. They had nothing to say. There was only one thing on their minds. Sehun excused himself to shower as well, since when Kyungsoo went to find him, he was busy running on the tracks. Kyungsoo wondered how anyone could run in such a cold weather, but it was the least of his concerns. No, he had a more serious matter to think about.

It was Chanyeol who told Kyungsoo.

‘ the cops!’ he had threw a punch into the wall in their dorm room. He had just gotten off the phone with their warden, who called to inform that Jongin was on his way to the police station. He was kind enough to pass on Jongin’s message. Don’t worry about me, Jongin had said.

Chanyeol, of course, became confused, and sought after the warden.

He explained what was going on. Kyla’s post mortem results came out and it had been a week. When asked whether or not Jongin wanted to have her death investigated, he refused through Ms Poulin’s power as Kyla’s legal guardian. She had not wanted to do anything rash, but had predicted Jongin’s desire to move on quickly from his sister’s death.  So the coroner agreed to have Kyla’s body kept for post-mortem, have it reported then Kyla’s body would be allowed to be buried or incinerated, whichever Ms Poulin would have been done.

‘Cremated,’ Jongin had answered in such a quiet tone, it was one of the fewest times Ms Poulin had ever heard such sadness come out through his lips, and it overflowed within his dark eyes, like a pair of sunken hearts. The life of him…within that moment of one word, there was nowhere in the world anyone could find it.

‘She wanted that,’ he added.

The very next day, as soon as class ended, he travelled alone to watch her body be burned to ashes, inviting no one but Kyla’s guardian. He stood there, holding his school blazer, standing until the very last moment. This time, he was no longer sad. But he was indeed, lonely.

Ms Poulin let him walk away after that without bidding her goodbye.

Now it has been almost two days.

The police had come to the school with a summon for Jongin, and Jongin had obligingly followed them. Ms Poulin was already there, done interrogated. She stayed there to accompany Jongin. After all, Jongin was still a minor.

Rei appeared at the door of Sehun’s room almost twenty minutes later, now in a zipped hooded jacket, shorts, and drier hair. It was then she looked as if she too had the issue playing in her head. Although compared to Kyungsoo and Sehun, she looked the most serene, Kyungsoo knew she was slightly worried.

They sat on a small dark blue carpet next to Sehun’s bed.

‘Who told you?’

‘Soojung,’ she answered before exhaling deeply. ‘Jongin didn’t read his sister’s autopsy report,’

‘Why would he even want to?’ Sehun said in a rhetorical manner, fiddling with his fingers as he did. ‘What did it say anyway?’

‘I’m only saying what she remembers Jongin’s guardian saying.’ She started, then glanced at both the boys, as if taking a moment so that they could prepare for what she was about to say. ‘She was strangled,’ Rei revealed. ‘Not hanged,’

Kyungsoo and Sehun both did not expect such a thing to come out of . ‘But they found her hanging,’ Sehun said. ‘In her school right?’

Rei nodded. ‘One of her teacher found her. He said she was struggling as if she was trying to get down; trying to pull off the knot from her neck. So he tried to get her down and called the ambulance straight away.’

‘But that still could mean she changed her mind halfway, can’t it?’ Kyungsoo asked.

‘Not if they found other marks not aligned to the rope, or-‘ Sehun glanced Rei.

‘Cabled wires,’ Rei answered for him.

‘What did autopsy report say?’ Kyungsoo grew more curious.

‘There was a bruise on the back of her neck, and another on the side of her head.’ She pointed.

‘So…there is a possibility that whoever did it would try to knock her out first, then hang her?’ Kyungsoo assumed. Rei nodded.

‘The coroner was right to conduct a post-mortem on her,’ she said after a short pause.

‘But Jongin is going to suffer for it,’

‘If they can find fault in him.’ She said. ‘We don’t know what motive is the police focused on, and how they would try to make Jongin confess for it.’

‘Where is Soojung, by the way?’ Kyungsoo asked.

‘With Baekhyun. They’re trying to calm Chanyeol down.’

For a moment, the trio sat in uneasy silence. Everything seemed amiss. And neither of them had the power to do anything at all.

‘I think I’m going back to my room.’ Kyungsoo stood up, and Rei nodded at him. She then looked at Sehun, who had his knees bent and was clutching onto his body. He had an empty gaze about him, and an innocent look of worry in his eyes.

‘What’s going to happen to him?’ Sehun asked, raising his gaze to Rei. Maybe he was hoping he would find reassurance in her eyes; as always the eyes of one who knows. But the arcadian stillness in her hazel eyes showed none this time.

‘It’s all looking a bit bad for him.’ She said, her voice quiet. ‘But at the same time they don’t have that much evidence. It’s just-‘ she paused. ‘-the circumstances just looks like it,’ she explained. Sehun looked out the window, though not exactly looking for anything. ‘Still, Jongin shouldn’t have to go through this at all.’

Sehun’s phone rang a cheerful ringtone and he picked it up. Though he was tired, Rei could see him try to sound okay. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. I had practice today. I’m going to sleep soon. Yeah, I will. Don’t worry. Okay. Bye, mum.’ He was relieved she did not detect anything wrong with him.

‘She knows?’ Rei asked. Sehun nodded.

‘She called the night it happened,’ he put his phone back on the bed. ‘What about yours?’

‘They asked as well,’ she nodded.

‘Guys!’ Kyungsoo’s voice and a sudden opening of the door startled them both, and they looked towards the door. ‘He’s back,’ he announced. Sehun and Rei exchanged looks, hesitating slightly whether or not they wanted to see Jongin, or whether it would be disturbing him, but they stood and followed Kyungsoo anyway.

Jongin’s room, much like most of the seniors, was on the first floor, so they had to run down a staircase to get there. They quickened their pace as they neared Jongin’s room, when Rei tugged on both Kyungsoo and Sehun’s arms to stop them. They looked at Rei, who gave no signal but merely pulled them back before they could open the door. They chose to trust her, as always, and stood by the door waiting, held back by Rei’s hesitance.

Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Soojung were on their toes as they watched Jongin settle back in his room. None of them exchanged a word among them; merely waited as Jongin loosened his tie and take off his socks. He had been out after his questioning. The hours he spent walking aimlessly pass the streets and the people…barely altered the extent of the effect the interrogation had on him. Yet, Jongin looked oddly emotionless.

‘So?’ Baekhyun slowly took steps towards Jongin, much to Chanyeol’s fear.

‘So what?’ Jongin asked.

‘What happened?’ Baekhyun was too curious to hold it back.

Jongin shrugged, ing his school shirt. Soojung expected such an answer. ‘What did they ask?’ Chanyeol questioned.

‘Normal cops ask,’ Jongin finally spoke as he pulled off his white shirt then threw it accurately into his laundry basket besides his bed.

‘Sakurai-‘ there was restrained impatience in Chanyeol’s voice, and everyone could hear it.

‘Chanyeol-‘ Soojung could sense an eruption coming, but to no avail.

‘Spit it out,’ Chanyeol walked up at him. Jongin turned to face the blonde.

‘Hey,’ Baekhyun tried to lay a hand on Chanyeol, but the latter avoided him before he could.

‘No!’ Chanyeol snapped before facing Jongin again. ‘The cops are out there trying to ing pin your for something you didn’t do and you want to act like nothing’s going on?’ he raised his voice.

‘Nothing is going on,’ Jongin answered. ‘Besides, what the am I supposed to do?’ he threw his arms apart. ‘My sister ing killed herself!’ he bellowed, then followed it with a laugh, shaking his head. ‘Now they think I did it.’ He bared his teeth through a sinister grin that made Chanyeol stiff to the bones. ‘I guess I should be glad I’m not dead,’ he shrugged. ‘But she’s not the one who’s going through all this ing bull!’ he pressed his voice, and it echoed like a growl within the spaces of his room. Then he sighed really deeply, and inhaled a long breath. ‘Kids like her don’t ing learn until they get killed for it,’ he said, the tone of his voice receding. ‘This is just ing bull,’ he turned to grab his towel from his bed and headed towards the bathroom. There was a slight silent pause.

Soojung sighed, then got up from Jongin’s bed. ‘I’ll talk to him,’ she said. ‘You two should get some sleep. You need to rest too,’ she smiled weakly, rubbing Baekhyun’s shoulders. They nodded at her, then Baekhyun pulled Chanyeol away, leading him out of the room.

‘Soojung,’ Chanyeol called before he walked out of the door. ‘Tell Jongin I’m sorry.’ He said.

Soojung only nodded.

We all are, she thought.