Death Wish

Act II - Deep Wounds

The ceiling is leaking, the noise of the television that was raised in maxed volume, the sound of crackling and crunching of chips. The father of the family was sitting on the couch with its big fat round belly, laying all day long, intoxicated with alcohol.

The sound of flowing water from the faucet, the clashing of plates and spoons, splashes of water are making the thin clothes wet. The mother of the family was washing dirty dishes with no soul, she was staring blankly in despondency.

The place was dim and dirty, it is a home of a group consisting of people called a family. A family where the connection of love is already cut and tainted with misery, a family where sorrow has overcome them. A home with a broken family.

“Hyun Jin! I'm out of alcohol! Buy me a bunch in the store!”, a shout from a drunk husband. “Wait, I am just going to finish the dishes”, the wife replied in a very low tone. “I don’t care! Buy me right now or I will break every single thing in this house again!”, the husband demands.

The wife immediately turns off the faucet and shakes her hands to dry her wet hands. He wiped her hands with a towel and immediately went into the living room to commemorate her husband. “What!?”, the red face of her husband curl up. ”The money”, she said as she looks down, scared to look at her husband. “Do you think, I have money?”, he got up and open his mouth hanging. “Go get your own money”, he grabbed a bottle of alcohol and smashes it on the floor, the broken glass flew everywhere and scrapes the wife’s face. She backed out in fear, shaking with teary eyes. “But, I don’t have any money left on me”, she said trembling, “The only money I have is the milk for Gil Suk and it isn’t even enough”, she reasoned out with all the courage she got.

Her husband stood up and squish her face tight, “Then use that money, I don’t care”, she cornered her on the wall.” That breast isn’t just for display, isn’t that used for feeding the baby,”, he looked at her with his big scary eyes. She pushed her in the wall and throw her on the ground, leaving the wife with her head down the floor.

She moved with her knees and immediately and ask for forgiveness, “I am sorry, I will buy it now”, she stood up with her head down covering her face entire face with hair. “Just look at that scary woman, is she an actor from a horror movie”, he said and laid again on the dirty couch then grabbed a bottle of alcohol.

She went into her room and grab her wallet. She checked on her sleeping baby and tears were falling down in her eyes. She caresses her baby’s cheek, “Umma is sorry, I will find a way to feed you, I promise”, she said and cover her baby with a warm blanket. She stood up and clench her fist. She wiped her tears and took a deep breath and plucked herself up.

She took her coat jacket and wore her worn-out shoes. “Buy me a snack too!”, her husband shouts. She went out and the light of the sun blinded her eyes for a moment as if she was not used to going outside. She went down to the nearest convenience store to buy the alcohol.

She arrived and before she enter the store, she opened her wallet and count the money she has. She only has twenty dollars on her, she was hesitant because she worried about what to feed her baby if she spend the money. Afraid of getting beaten up by her husband, she didn’t have a choice.

She entered the convenience store and immediately went to get some dried squid, she saw a boy stacking some items on the empty shelves unbothered and went to the aisle where she can get alcohol. She opened the displayed fridge and took a dozen of alcohol. Her eyes caught something on the side of the display fridge, she saw various kinds of milk displayed. She was hesitating again but was unable to decide the other way because of fear.

She bought her item on the counter to check it out, the worker was calling someone so she put her items on the counter one by one and waited for him to finish. The worker puts down immediately and checked the items out, “That will be “18 dollars, miss”, the worker said with a bright smile.

She hands out twenty dollars to him. The worker noticed her bruise on the wrist and immediately hid it after getting the money from her. The boy was smiling brightly, deep inside, she envy him, being able to smile as if he had no problems in life. She thought to herself when is she going to smile again, a smile so pure.

If she had the chance to redo her life, she would like to take that chance no matter what it takes. But, an immediate thought comes from her mind, she already has a child to take care of, she loves him. If she redoes her life, her child will not exist. She crumpled her hands, hating herself. She can’t believe that she was having thoughts about changing her life and not remembering her child.

“Here’s the change”, she snapped out and got back her senses. She took the change from him and grab her item. She hurriedly went out and returned home.

She hangs back in front of the door for a moment, she knows she will be back in a home where a rotten entity is present. She was holding unto the doorknob, hesitating to twist it. She gulps and opened the door with her courage, she needs to hold on for her child. “I am home”, she reminded her wasted husband. “What took you so long? I am out of alcohol for a long time!”, said her husband laying like a pig on the couch. “There were a lot of customers in the store so I took a bit longer”, she lied to excuse herself.

She kneels to show respect. She notices a huge black case beside the sofa as if it was hidden. She has never seen that case before, she know that the suitcase was not theirs. Afraid to question her husband about the case, she ignored it. She places the bottles of alcohol puts the pack of dry squid where her husband can reach it. “Open me a bottle”, her husband asked as he watched the television. She started opening the bottles with a spoon, she learned this when she was working on a place where she need to open a lot of alcohol. “Get out of the way, woman! Your face is the way!”, he upbraided her. She move to the side a little bit and continued opening the bottles.

The wife can sense a feeling that is disturbing her, something that she felt anxious about. She looks at the room where her baby was and looks at the case. Her curiosity is killing her, “Honey, who’s the case is that?”, her thought that she was trying to hide had slipped in her mouth. Her husband glared at her, “Why do you care?”, he said. “Nothing, I am just curious since I didn’t see that case before”, she replied immediately and force herself to smile, trying not to upset her husband.

She got up and went to her room, it was quiet so she thought that the baby is sleeping peacefully despite the loud noise that the television made. She went to the kitchen to finish the dishes. “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT NOISE!”, her husband yelled about the clanking of the kitchen wares. “I’m sorry, I’ll be quiet as much as possible”, she apologize and continued washing dishes carefully.

The feeling of disturbance came back again. She was feeling restless, she feel that something is wrong. She was bothered, there something’s wrong. She drop the spatula on the floor without thinking and went to the room with her wet hands. She immediately went to the cradle where her baby was sleeping. She removes the blanket and saw nothing.

She became skeptical, thinking various thoughts about where her baby was gone. Her eyes widen and her breathing became abnormal. Her head was spinning, her head hurts. She tries to find the baby in the room despite knowing that a one-year-old baby cannot get out of the cradle on its own. “Gil Suk-ah!”, she repeated several times as if she waited for the baby to respond. She looked everywhere, tearing the thing from place to place, she didn’t find him.

She sat on the bed as she stare blankly at random. Every emotion was coming down to her that she can’t control herself anymore. The husband she feared off is gone instantly as she feels thousands of different emotions together inside her, she’s becoming crazy to the point that she grabbed her own hair and pulls it.

She stood up and went straight to her husband blocking the view of the television, “What are you doing? GET OUT OF THE WAY!”, he tries to move her but she refuses. “Do you know where Gil Suk is?”, she said looking down on her husband with an eerie look. Her husband looked at her but he was undaunted and replied, “Don’t know, isn’t the baby in your room?”, he tries to hide it but she know he was lying, “He’s not there, tell me where he is!”, she yelled.

The husband stood up and slap her hard that she fell on the floor, “Are you rebelling against me now!?”, he yelled. He hit hard but she doesn’t feel any pain. Her attention was changed when she saw the case, she immediately crawled to get it. She grabbed the suitcase and tried to open it but her husband immediately prevented her, “What are you doing!? This is not yours!”, her husband said who was struggling to stop her wife. She screams out of frustration and pushed back her husband. The case opens fortuitously and a large amount of money fell on the floor.

Her eyes widen as she couldn’t believe where he got this large amount of money, “Where did you get this?”, she asked standing still in a dazed. “Why do you care?”, her husband bumped her and took the case from her hand then collect the money that fell on the floor so he can return it inside the case. Various thoughts and conceptualizations are running through her mind and there is only one scenario that she can fit on what was happening. The baby is gone and her husband got a large amount of money out of nowhere. It all happened when she was out of her home.

Her mouth was itching to ask him but wasn’t too confident as she doesn’t want to take a truth that will break her forever, but in the end, “Did you sell our baby?”, she said it. Tears falls on her eyes as she was trembling, hoping to get a different answer than what she believed. Her husband stood up carrying the closed case. He glared at her and looks deep into her eyes. He was like a wolf who is about to eat a helpless rabbit. “Yes”, the answer she refused to believe had entered through her ears. “I sold him, what you gonna do about it”, he looked at her with a grimace.

After hearing what he said, her knees are weakened, and can’t help but fall on the floor. She was shocked and couldn’t get back to her sense. She was stupefied by her husband’s words. Her mind is completely blank, unable to think of anything. She became a puppet, her action was being controlled by someone inside her, it was hatred, anger, and wrath. She stood up with a dejected face and went to the kitchen, her husband just look at her as if nothing had happened. She hides the case under the sofa and laid on the couch to watch television again.

Suddenly, he can feel something stuck in his neck. He touch his neck and a red sticky fluid had stained his hands dirty. He can’t speak or move and his vision was getting blurry. He feels like sleeping, asleep where he can never wake up again. Her wife have stabbed him in the neck and gushes of blood were spraying everywhere. The wife stood there as if she didn’t feel anything after stabbing her husband.

She regained her perception and went back to reality. She feels a wet thick fluid on her hands. She slowly raised her hands and her eyes widened. She dropped the knife and looks at her bloody hands. She can’t stop shaking, she looks at her husband and she became was horrified. She was unable to breathe after learning that she killed her husband with her own hands. She leaned on the wall and slowly slide her back as her butt touches the floor. She was befuddled that she doesn’t know that the tear of regret was falling on her red puffy eyes.

Being unable to breathe, she passed out.

She heard ringing bells and the swishing of water. She woke up at a vast blank white space with no end.

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[End of Act II - Deep Wounds]

[Next - Cold Eyes]