tw: Panic Attack (it's not super descriptive)

Seungwan awoke to the sound of glass being shattered. She turned her head to the alarm clock on the floor. It was only twelve-fifteen. Then she heard a scream and sprung up from her mattress that laid on the floor without a frame.

She had slept with her windows open to air out the smell of paint. She was used to the sound of teenagers laughing and animals screeching, but this was not that.

The sound seemed to have come from Joohyun’s house.

Seungwan’s mind swarmed with thoughts of fear. What if someone was trying to break into her house? Joohyun was a small woman living alone. She would need help.

Still in a sleepy haze and without thinking rationally, Seungwan decided she would save Joohyun. She shoved her phone into her sleep shorts pocket and grabbed the baseball bat she kept in between the mattress and the wall.

She ran out of her house barefoot and to Joohyun’s front door. The door seemed to not have been tampered with. She put her hand on the handle and the door opened with a turn. Joohyun was the kind of person who had her doors locked at all times of the day. It scared Seungwan that her door was unlocked. 

Once she entered the house she heard loud breathing and whimpers coming from the kitchen. Seungwan put the bat behind her back, ready to strike, and walked towards the sounds.

What she saw in the kitchen was not at all what she had expected.

The light was on and the first thing Seungwan saw was the entire granite counter covered in glass tupperware that held food. A few of the tupperwares were in the sink and one was on the

ground. Some food was old and smelt rancid. The window that looked towards Seungwan’s house had been smashed, like someone had thrown a ball through. 

Seungwan found Joohyun under the kitchen table in the fetal position. The sight made Seungwan drop her bat. The sound of the metal against the tile started Joohyun, causing her to jump up, hitting her head on the table.

Joohyun laid on the ground. “Oh, my god I’m so sorry Joohyun!” Seungwan bent down to Joohyun’s level. She was about to put her hand on Joohyun’s knee to comfort her but pulled away, not knowing if Joohyun wanted to be touched.

Joohyun sat up. “Wh-what are you doing here?” She stuttered out.

“I thought someone had broken into your house.” Seungwan didn’t know if she should have come. She didn’t Joohyun to be more uncomfortable than she already was.

“Oh.” Joohyun moved her head to look at the floor.

“Um.” Seungwan scratched the back of her neck, “Do you need any help.”

It took Joohyun a while to respond. She seemed distracted, watching her toes move up and down.  “No.”

“Are you sure?” Wendy knew that she needed help, but she also did not want to pester her.

“I mean. If it’s not, if it’s not a bother, would you mind grabbing a piece of plywood from the garage so I can board up the window?” She asked after she had calmed down a bit. “I don’t want to look at the hole in the glass.”

Seungwan left Joohyun alone on the kitchen floor while she went to the garage in the back to get the wood.

When she came back Joohyun was still in the same position. She boarded up the window herself. She had thought of herself as kind of a construction expert after spending a few weeks on her house.

When the wood covered the window Seungwan returned to Joohyun.

“Hey do you want to talk about it?”

“No, it’s stupid.” She wiped away a tear with her wrist.

They sat in silence for a while. Joohyun looked so small and frail under the table. She always seemed so put together. It scared Seungwan.

In the silence, Seungwan noticed how many clocks Irene had. They all had distinct sounds but ticked at the same time. She wondered how long it took for Joohyun to set them up.  

Seungwan didn’t want to leave. She didn’t want Joohyun to be alone. So she sat on the floor with her back to the counter and waited.

She didn’t know the protocol for finding your neighbor you barely know in this situation, so she occupied herself by picking her nail polish, not wanting to look at Joohyun.

After some time Joohyun climbed out from under the table, “I’m going to go shower.” Seungwan’s eyes followed her until she walked around the corner. 

++

Joohyun looked shocked when she entered the kitchen and Seungwan was still there.

She w