“Stop moving ”

A woman in her mid-20’s was struggling to get free from the grip of two big men. She was being dragged to the red room, handcuffed and almost out of breath. Five years have passed since the first time she was admitted in the mental hospital of Seoul and this night, she is scaping.

“Don’t push me , I can walk by myself” She said jerking her shoulders, freeing herself from the men’s death grip and starting to walk slowly through the mildly illuminated corridor. Screams can be heard; the cold atmosphere is suffocating on its peculiar way and the smell of blood fills the air.

The red room was designed to punish those who misbehave, to leave them trembling in absolute fear and to make them remember who owns them. All that it takes is just a small room filled with red lightbulbs and a torture chair, nothing less, nothing more.

“I don’t even know why you are taking me to the red room anyways” The young lady said blowing a hair that was blocking her sight. The guards chuckled and sighed in disbelief, how can she be so demanding? She knows what she did, doesn’t she?

“May I remind you that you stabbed Sulli with a fork… a ing fork Soojung” The taller guard said looking at Soojung straight in the eye and grabbing her by her arm, making her walk faster.

“Uh Duuh, she was being a … I don’t know why you aren’t bringing her here instead of me” She said and they stopped, finally arriving to their destination.

The shorter guard rumbled the keys looking for the right one to fit the doorknob and as he found it he sighed and proceeded to open the door. The room was pitch black, only the smell of leather and blood could be perceived, as they entered to the room, the guards the lights.

“Are we ready Minho?” The shorter guard asked him while he was looking into the drawers of a small file cabinet next to a metal table.

“I don’t know, are you ready Soojung?” Minho asked Soojung who was paralyzed, standing in front of the electric chair, eyes glued on the straps that hanged down the sides.

Only three times she was tortured and she promised herself that she was going to behave and never step a foot in this damned room, but the truth is that once she is angry there is no turning back.

Soojung is the youngest of two sisters, her parents lived peacefully in California while her older sister, Jessica and her were living in Seoul, South Korea. She attended school like a normal girl and had friends to hang out with, but everything changed since the robbery.

🍂

Her sister Jessica was making dinner, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to be exact. Soojung was doing her homework on the dinning table when they heard something coming from the living room, uncertain of what to do her sister told her to stay quiet and walked towards the entrance of the living room with a knife in her right hand. Before Soojung could disagree with her sister, Jessica was already gone. Five minutes passed and there was an unsettling quiet in the house until Soojung heard a glass breaking, she freaked out and ran to the living room to see her sister laying dead on the floor, blood coming out of her head and a man standing right in front of her, a burglar.

Soojung took her sister’s knife that was laying on her right side and with no hesitation started stabbing the hell out of the burglar, ten, fifteen, even twenty times she pushed and pulled the knife until the man stopped screaming. She let the body hit the floor and sat beside her sister sobbing uncontrollably. She just killed a man… A man that killed Jessica. But that wasn’t the problem, she was shocked because although she was currently crying, she wasn’t able to feel a thing, there was no regret, no pain, no sadness, just her and the fact that she was alone.

And that she is a murderer.

🍂

When her parents arrived to South Korea they had no other option but to admit her in a mental hospital and Soojung didn’t even protest, she was sure that something was off, something was missing, she wasn’t able to express nor to feel any emotions, she was sick. The twenty-year-old girl didn’t say a word and accepted the help. And now here she is, in front of the electric chair, waiting for her body to feel even the slightest sign of pain, waiting for the electricity to run down her spine making her quiver, making her feel alive.

“Yeah sure, whatever the ” She said turning her back to Minho in order to him to free her from the tight handcuffs.

“Jonghyun prepare the injection” Minho said, freeing Soojung and in a blink of an eye she pushed him to the wall with her hands roaming all over the guard’s chest, going down to his crotch.

“I know you can help me baby” She whispered on Minho’s ear sending shivers down his spine.

“Soojung get off of me!” He said pushing her and she fell straight on the chair.

Jonghyun who was almost done preparing the injection turned to see what was going on when he heard Minho yell at Soojung, he eyed Soojung and then turned to Minho, handing him the shot.

“You are so boring Choi Minho” Soojung said crossing her legs while she tied herself to the chair.

“Who told you my last name?” He asked genuinely confused.

“Sulli, she said you like her and that you give her special treatment… but what about me Minhs?” She said pouting.

“You are a disgusting , that’s why you are here tonight” Minho said making sure Soojung was completely tied before injecting her, then he proceeded to walk to a small cabinet, taking out a small machine with two joystick-like sticks. Jonghyun moved the metallic table to the right side of Soojung and they positioned the things before starting with the torture.

“Hold on tight, this is going to hurt like a ing ” Jonghyun said, a little bit of compassion can be seen in his eyes, while Minho was cold and emotionless, Jonghyun on the other hand was a calm and kind intern. Minho is surprisingly younger than Jonghyun and they didn’t study together nor know each other from the past, Jonghyun ended up being one of this guards/nurses when he started med school and realized he didn’t want to be a doctor, instead he wanted full contact with the patients and make them feel safe and secured while he helps them recover. But how could he help Soojung? The girl is mental and clearly enjoys her time in the electric chair.

“Don’t worry Jjongs, I like it rough”

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“Amber honey” A woman in her 50’s called her daughter who just arrived from Los Angeles.

“Yes mom?” Amber replied going upstairs with her luggage to accommodate herself in what it used to be her bedroom.

“Why don’t you go visit your cousin in the hospital while you’re here?” The woman asked the girl who was still struggling to climb the stairs.

Amber is a Liu, the Liu’s are well known in Korea for being farmers and because they knew how to expand their market overseas. Mrs. Liu is a fancy lady, she likes her Fiji water and expensive jewelry, wakes up in the morning to different skin treatments and goes to sleep covered in silk. Amber is completely the opposite, she wears normal clothes and spends most of her time working on a small office, she likes Mexican food and the company of good friends. Her dad died some years ago and left her as the heiress of his big farmer company but she thinks is way too much for her to handle so instead her sister Jacky is keeping with the tradition.

She lived in Los Angeles for about fifteen years until she decided to go back home and start a new chapter of her life, finding a good love interest and trying to settle down once and for all. Five months ago her mother told her about Sulli, her cousin who was experiencing some trouble with social interactions, latter on they found out she had schizophrenia and that she wasn’t and introvert at all.

“Sure mom, I’ll stop by” She said finally making it to her room, dropping her luggage on the wooden floor. Her room was small and nothing special, just a bed, a smart TV, a desk with her computer and electronics and her closet, all the walls painted navy blue and the windows open, letting the light of the sun inside the room.

“Don’t forget to give her the choko pies I bought yesterday, I think they are her favorite” The woman said applying some weird orange cream all over her face.

“Wait, you mean I’m going right now?” Amber said walking into her mom’s bedroom, watching her disgusted as she kept rubbing the orange substance.

“Yes Amber, visit hours end at six” She said applying the finishing touch and closing the lid of the cream.

“It’s five I’m not gonna make it… there’s traffic y’know” Amber said looking at her wrist watch.

“Look Amber, you know Sulli has no one… just go and say hi, she doesn’t bite” Mrs. Liu said walking away from the mirror and adjusting herself on the bed.

“Are you sure?” Amber joked to which her mom rolled her eyes to.

“Okay you got it” She said going downstairs again. She didn’t even bother to empty her luggage, she came out of the house wearing some jeans, a black t-shirt and a white cap, good thing her mom didn’t tell her to change or something because she was already annoyed by the fact that she had to visit Sulli and give her the beloved choko pies.

Amber climbed into her black Camaro, turning the keys to hear the roar of the engine, she then adjusted the mirrors one more time and stepped on the gas to leave the mansion behind.

“Ah , the choko pies” She said when she realized she didn’t bring them or even searched for them in the house, she was halfway to the hospital and decided it was better to stop on a nearby 24 hours convenience store one block away from the hospital.

She parked her Camaro and entered the creepy convenience store, looking for her target. She was roaming freely through the corridors and looking closely for a sign of the choko pies when she heard the door of the store being pulled violently. She tried to peek but saw no one coming through the door so she assumed it was just a kid or someone that was in a rush, she kept walking until she found the gosh darned choko pies when she felt someone ran into her.

“Oh God I’m so sorry” She said trying to stand up from the floor. She opened her eyes and saw a girl in her mid-twenties, breathing heavily.

“You need to help me” The girl said pulling Amber from the floor and taking her outside the store.

“Wait! Where are you taking me? Are you crazy??” Amber cried to the girl who gave her absolutely no response and kept on walking until they reached a park right in front of the mental hospital.

“Shhh, God you’re so loud” The girl said putting her index finger on Amber’s lips to shush her and the latter couldn’t do anything but to stare down at her finger and then back at the girl.

“Why did you drag me out? I need to see my cousin miss” Amber said losing her hand from the grip of the other girl who was frenetically looking everywhere as if she was looking for someone.

“I’m Krystal” She said still not making eye contact with Amber.

“Well that’s nice, I’m Amber and I gotta go” Amber said starting to walk away when the girl started sobbing uncontrollably. Amber panicked and started calming the girl, two cops where standing right in front of the hospital’s entrance and Amber didn’t want to alarm them.

“No no… don’t cry miss… I uh, how can I help you?” Amber asked Krystal and now hugging her she tried to make eye contact with her.

“They are trying to take me, please…. I need a place to stay just for tonight” Krystal said looking at Amber with her glassy eyes.

After the treatment on the electric chair Soojung was taken to her room, panting and sweating she lied on her bed looking to the ceiling. She had to get out of here, she got to escape, after all she hasn’t killed anybody and she doesn’t know if she’s capable of killing anyone else besides the burglar, she needed a motive to kill, she needed to be in danger to even think of beating someone up, but still, she wasn’t sure. She is not going to stay here to find out, she is not staying just for them to put her in the red room for no apparent reason, she needed a normal life, out of meds, no doctors, no guards, no one telling her what to do, no more cold showers, just her and a nice coffee.

She opened her twitching hand to reveal a key. When she tried to ‘lure’ Minho into letting her go, she actually grabbed her room’s key and kept it in her hand the whole time. Once her heartbeat was back to normal she decided to make a move but not until lunch time which was at 4:30, she managed to get away from the guards and in a matter of minutes she was out and free, the whole facility went into red code and guards started roaming the perimeter so she hid on the park until she saw a Camaro parking on the 24 convenience store, her eyes followed the silhouette of the person going inside the store and she came up with her plan, lure the person into helping her escape.

“Miss… I’m sorry but.. I can’t, I live with my mom. She’s going to find out if I let a stranger in our house” Amber said letting go of Krystal.

“It’s okay you can just take me to a hotel” Krystal said wiping her tears and regaining her composure.

“I- God okay, I will take you to a hotel… come with me” Amber said walking towards her car, taking out her keys and opening the door for Krystal while looking around and seeing some guards walking around the park.

“Do you happen to be a patient from the mental hospital….?” Amber asked while getting into the driver’s seat and putting her keys inside the opening.

“Does that matter?” Krystal asked her looking at the mirrors.

“Well it kinda does… I-“ Amber said before Krystal cut her off.

“Just drive!” Krystal commanded and Amber obeyed, she doesn’t even know why this girl she just met has the power to be bossing her around but at the same time she couldn’t care less, all that she could think about was that she didn’t make it to visit Sulli, that she didn’t give her the choko pies and that her mom is going to be so pissed about it.

After 30 mins they arrived to a small hotel, 4 stars and almost empty. Amber parked her Camaro and made her way to the receptionist with Krystal quietly walking behind her, after she obtained a room she escorted Krystal to room 22 on the second floor.

“Well here you have it” Amber said letting Krystal inside the room and putting the key on a small counter that was in the kitchen.

“Thank you Am, you saved my life” Krystal said and hugged Amber who was completely stiff.

“Don’t call me Am, c’mon we just met” She said pulling away from Krystal’s hug and starting to walk to the exit.

“Wait” Krystal said and as a reflex Amber stopped walking and turned to face a really vulnerable Krystal, with her arms crossed and glassy eyes.

“Can you stay for five minutes?”