chapter five. [unedited]

"oh, you brought the kid?" the man asked, sounding kind of annoyed. "he can play with mine or something." he ushered jeongguk into a side room, his hair soaking and dripping onto the wooden floor. jeongguk eyed around the room, it looked like a dining room, a long wooden table in the center of a room with gray painted walls. the kid was sitting on the floor, a dirty plush toy in his hand. he stood up, a limp in his step, and walked over to jeongguk.

"hello!" only now, jeongguk noticed the bruises trailing up his arms, his legs. he gulped, wondering why this boy had been abused, or maybe because he went for a walk in the back yard and got bruises from climbing on a dirt pile, something he wished was the reason, which was most likely not, of course. jeongguk heard his father laughing with the other man. they were in another room, talking about something jeongguk couldn't understand.

"hi." he said back to the other kid, a shy wave. the boy giggled, his plush tucked under his arm loosely. he looked dirtied, nothing jeongguk could comment on at the moment, though. he had soaked hair, and it was starting to grow uncomfortable, with it's length going past his eyes.

"wanna play with my toys? i only have a few." he told jeongguk shyly, brushing back a bit of his knotted hair from his face, it too was grown too long for a kid as little he was to have. "im sure you have tons more, and don't w-wanna play, but that's okay."

jeongguk sighed, but nodded. "yeah, okay. it looks like there's nothing else to do here anyway. it's such an empty house. what do you do for fun?" he plopped onto the cool hardwood floor, which had chipped pieces of wood scattered in corners, along with dust cobwebs and spiders lurking nearby.

"i like to ride my bike. the streets are pretty bumpy so one time i lost control and ran into a bush. i scraped up my arms and legs really badly." he told, sitting down criss-cross next to the boy. he placed his toys in a line, a stuffed monkey, a plastic bath fish, and a pink doll.

jeongguk sighed in almost, relief. he was glad the bruises and cuts on his skin was just from a thorn bush. the boy's father seemed nice enough, maybe nice enough to not abuse his own child, jeongguk hoped. the little boy seemed quite innocent and unaware to the world around him, like he was just hanging around to be there, like his purpose was yet to be defined. jeongguk found that perfect.

the boy chuckled when the pink doll, 'goo' as he once called the thing, fell over. jeongguk sniggered at the boy himself, how the simplest things made him have the biggest, most contagious smile he'd ever seen. he'd chuckle along with the boy as he picked 'goo' right back up and steadied her on her legs.

"i'm glad you are here. i get lonely by myself all the time." he ranted as he moved the plastic fish along the hardwood, as it was swimming. jeongguk watched in pure amazement, at how big this kid's imagination was at such a young age. "i usually go outside, my dad tells me i should get to know the kids in the neighborhood, but they all make fun of me because i still carry my toys around."

jeongguk sighed, watching as the kid stopped his movements on his toys, looking up with the smallest bit of hope. he held up his little plush monkey. "you don't mind, right?"

"i think you should keep them." jeongguk told the boy, whose smile seemed to sprout. "don't listen to those meanies, they don't know anything about you, so why do you need their say on how you should feel?" jeongguk dusted off his pants as he stood, his hair still quite wet, running a hand through it, struggling at the tangles.

"jeongguk, come on, it's time to go now." jeongguk's father called out in a harsh tone. he yanked the boy to the door, turning back at the other grown man, "don't forget about what i told you." he said lowly, in almost a dangerous candid voice.

"are we going home, dad?" jeongguk asked gently, tugging on his father's sleeve, since his grip around jeonnguk's wrist had been too tight for his liking. his father always held his wrist quite tight. sometimes it left unwanted marks. his father did not reply, opening the front door and keeping his eye on the other man.

"dad? are we going home after this?"

no reply.

"dad?"

no reply.

"da-"

"shut it, don't you think i heard you? you whining brat! you should know damn well we aren't going home, you might as well stay here because i don't even want you anymore." he snapped, a hand going to jeongguk's neck, squeezing around his neck. jeongguk winced out, his hands trying to grab ahold of his father's bigger ones, trying to pry them from blocking his airways.

his father only squeezed harder, the other adult merely watching, like it had happened before. jeongguk gasped out, his body starting to sink, his poor little boy couldn't handle being restrained from oxygen for this long amount of time. "i should just kill you, make it easier for the both of us, yeah?" his father spoke out easily, his grip never once failing to halt it's cruel actions to the poor boy's airways.

jeongguk's vision started to darken, his eyes started to fog up, but all of it stopped once a flying plastic bath fish flew through the air, hitting jeongguk's father in the head. this caused jeongguk's father to drop him against the wall, a harsh, red mark on the boy's neck as he gasped for much needed air. he slumped against the wall as his father charged at the other kid. jeongguk passed out not too long after, but not soon enough to miss the screaming of the other boy he met that night.

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