captain's log / 131225; christmas day. 

Jinhwan paused at the doorway, peering at the boy’s hunched frame as he crouched over a book in the corner of the room. With careful steps, he made his way towards him and stopped in front of the bed. He glanced over at the wrapped notebook on the boy’s lap as the patient peeled at the plastic wrapping eagerly.

“Its Christmas, was that your present?” He spoke cautiously, his words flowing through the space between the two of them as he rubbed his hands together. Jinhwan recalled the apprehension in his family’s eyes when they rushed into the hospital that day, sweat drops forming against their similarly pale skin. The boy had been lying limp against the father’s shoulder as the elder male appeared to be slightly flustered. They had helped him to rest on one of the chairs along the corridors as they explained that their son had been having the same nightmare repeatedly for a month and had begun to see things. These dreams were often somewhat lucid and mostly left him mentally and physically drained. Jinhwan’s first reaction was to frown, and these creases only served to deepen at the revelation that he could see lines on the ground, causing him some issues when he found them connecting him to different people. It was entirely different from the concept of the red string of fate that Jinhwan had heard of, because it changed from time to time. It wasn’t just a fixed string connecting him to somebody else, but as he developed different feelings towards the person the colours would change – and that would’ve been his only indication for he stopped understanding the concept of feelings over the period of emotional turmoil. After that meeting, he made it a point to pen the colour codes down on his clipboard, taking note that purple denoted respect, blue - friendship, yellow - detest, and black – unpleasant things.

“Yes, somewhat.” The boy nodded gleefully as he folded the wrapper into a small square piece and placed it on the table beside the bed before running his calloused fingers over the cover of the book with a wide grin. He flipped it open and smiled to himself, admiring the slightly yellowed finish of the pages. He paused however, turning towards the stranger before him as his smile dampened into a blank expression. Jinhwan was slightly taken aback by his change and blinked back awkwardly.

“I’m Jinhwan, and I’ll be your doctor for the period of time where you stay here. We’re about the same age so I guess, you can call me Jinhwan.” The said doctor shrugged a little as he spoke and flashed a slight smile at the boy who remained stiff and looked back at him blankly. Shortly after, he nodded curtly and turned back to his book and reached towards the table to retrieve a pencil. Jinhwan bit his lower lip a little too hard as he tasted the metallic finish of blood, wincing a little.

“Um, I need to ask you a few questions if that’s alright with you?”

“Go ahead, I’m listening.” The patient kept his gaze on the book as his head hung low, his shoulders hunched as he began to write in the book with excitement which clearly didn’t spread to his creased forehead.

“Your name? Or rather what would you like me to call you?”

“Hanbin.”

“What makes you annoyed easily, and what makes you happy-“

“People probing too much into my affairs without me allowing them to, and music makes me happy. Writing makes me happy.”

“Food preferences-“

“No.”

“Well then, what about the nightmare you’ve been having.” Jinhwan flinched a little as he watched the boy stiffen, his hand stopping momentarily, the tip of the pencil hovering over the surface of the cluttered page of the open notebook. His hand then curled into a ball for a few seconds before relaxing.

“Its always in the same garden, its bright. It’s practically the perfect kind of day for writing outdoors, out on a bench or something along the river. There’s always a bench in front of me, and a boy sitting on it. A peach line connects us both. I’d walk towards him and I’d notice a butterfly on his shoulder. Eventually as I stand behind him, he disintegrates into black butterflies circling around me and I’d fall into a pit where I’d keep running from something. I never see that, something. But I can feel its presence.” As he spoke, he stopped frowning and nodded slowly, glancing out of the window as though trying his best to recall every detail.

“Peach line- Wait I only have a few colours here, what does peach mean?” Jinhwan squinted at his clipboard and continued to pen the details down.

“I don’t know either.”

“Oh. That’s alright, rest then. I’ll come back tomorrow.” Jinhwan flashed a smile and bowed slightly before walking towards the door, turning back to glance at the boy’s back once again.

“Doctor,” His voice rang out from behind as Jinhwan turned around hastily, “Am I extremely abnormal?”

“No, you’re not. You’re alright,” Jinhwan glanced over at the clipboard in his hand and blinked at the date written at the top right hand corner with a soft grin, “Merry Christmas by the way.” 

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