Chapter 12
Scar
Kan Mi ran forward and sideways and backward and all the ways, just with the thought to get away from Mir. She didn't know if she really was, but she tried to trump that thought whenever it came up. Her stomach pained her and sent signals to her brain that she needed to sit down, that she didn't have the nutrients for the running that she was exhibiting. Her bare feet hit against the cracked pavement, thorns and cuts digging into the skin, sending a message through her that she needed to stop. Her lungs, her legs, her arms, her neck – her entire body was telling her that she needed to lay down and rest.
But she kept running.
Kan Mi ran into another wall, sending pain through her chest. She ran along the length of it, slowly moving into the middle of the hall. This was a maze, she was sure of it. That was the only hope she came up with to put distance between her and Mir. She dared not think that she was going in circles – going towards him.
“You always wanted to be princess, didn't you, Kan Mi? Well here you go – here's your little Snow White chase.” Mir's voice echoed against the walls. Kan Mi looked behind her – nobody was there. But that didn't mean that he wasn't. She ran faster.
Another turn and right away, she ran into another wall. She turned right and there was a wall. She turned left and there was a wall there too. She had hit a dead-end.
Oh no.
Mir's steps, in time with her heavy breaths, resounded. Her heaved higher and higher the louder the steps sounded. He was getting closer and closer and here she was, stuck in a dead-end. Her dead-end.
Mir entered through the walls, playing with the knife through his fingers. His face showed no emotion, with his eyes trained on her.
“Mir...how could you do this to me? How could you...”
Mir towered over her, eyes digging into her inner form. “You...have hurt Joon for the last time, Ahn Kan Mi.”
Looking into those eyes, Kan Mi feared for her soul.
It was a sudden motion, the slice Mir took across Kan Mi's stomach. She hunched over, feeling the blood seep through her arms. Mir took another swipe, across her chest. As she reached up to clot that wound, Mir sliced through one arm and then another and then another swipe from her shoulder to her elbow. Kan Mi screamed with every stab of the knife, feeling as her blood poured out of her body. Her knees buckled and her body fell to the ground. The blood stained her dress. Her vision, just as she woke up, swam and unfocused.
Mir let her fall, watching lethargically as the amount of blood multiplied. He waited, and waited, and then grabbed her hair and yanked it back harshly. Blood was gathering at her lips, staining them, and with the pull it gargled out. But that fear, that fear was still there.
He looked down and for once, Kan Mi could see sorrow in those eyes.
“Goodbye, Ahn Kan Mi.”
Mir turned his head away and closed his eyes. He pressed the knife to the far side of her neck and he heard her scream. A swift slice and her body went limp. He killed her. She was dead.
Like a piece of laundry, he gave her a light toss and she crumpled to the floor. The knife fell out his grasp and faintly, he heard the metal hit the stone. The world hit him and he clattered against the wall. He slid down to the ground with a sigh. The tears gathered in his eyes and he could feel the tremors all over his body, but he wouldn't break. Not just yet.
Not until he looked at the blood.
He kept his eyes shut and tried to get his breathing under control. Breath in, hold for five seconds, breath out. It took a few attempts before the exhale wasn't so shaky. Maybe it still was, he didn't know. He wasn't really caring to listen to his mind. There would only be so much time left until he had to face what he had done.
He opened his eyes. And he looked down.
The splatter of blood, all across his fingers and across his shirt. Some dripped down his skin, some just stained and stayed put. All except for the space where he held the handle. He could feel the contents of his stomach stirring and he had to close his eyes again before he threw up. He couldn't go back now, the deed was done. There was nothing he could do.
Mir repeated the calming down routine again and waited until the tears dried and his stomach settled. He didn't realize his body had gone onto auto-pilot until he opened his eyes again. His hands had already retracted the gun from his jacket pocket. He breathed in and breathed out. This...this was the final step.
Kan Mi was right. Joon didn't deserve somebody who would kill for him. He deserved somebody who would protect him. And though his mind told him he had done just that, it didn't surpass the fact that this plan, what he had done, made him no different than Ahn Kan Mi.
He pointed the barrell at his heart and closed his eyes. His head leaned against the wall and breathed.
“I love you, Joon.”
He pulled the trigger.
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