Deviated

Grave of Roses.

( TW : Acid . It's not the case of acid victims and neither does my story have such a huge reach. But still just in case, I don't want to trigger anyone who hold any kind of related traumas. If you're skipping through the chapter, scroll right down to the end - and I will add a little synopsis of this just so you can stay connected. 💖 )

Present :

Won-Ah was lying down, the sky hazy infront of his half closed eyes. The stench from rotting dead bodies kept beside him, hitting his nostrils. He has been resting for the past month, unlike the life he had been living since his father's death. Past one month, he had been lying down in the bed of a laboratory, injections pushed into him daily. He had signed for it but now he couldn't move his body - he had no energy left in him, not even a little just to get away from the rotting dead bodies. He was not dead, but close enough to be one of them.

The last memory of him rushing back into his head : he was searching through the garbage bin of the restuarant where he worked, for some leftover food. That was his daily food, while he worked in the restaurant as cleaner who's wage could only put a one time meal on the plate of his mother and sister, buy medicines for his mother and pay the school fees for his sister. He had to leave  University, after his father died in an accident last year, taking over the steer wheel of the family. His sister was just twelve years old while his mother, due to the grief of losing her loving husband - her health was slowly deteriorating everyday.

Won-Ah looked at sky, his throat dry - remembering the last day when a man in black suit had come up to him, offering him to be a research subject of a new drug. They would pay him, take care of his mother bills and sister's school fees. It felt like there was finally a blessing from the heaven. He was only twenty one, growing up in the village - far away from the intricacies of the urban life so such an offer really felt like a miracle. But it was a trap. He smiled mockingly at himself.

He looked at his right side and found a man in black suit this time again, digging into the ground - right where a garden of beautiful red roses ended. There was a shovel and three big jars of some liquid, kept some feet away from him. The man stopped digging and kept the second shovel down, walking towards the dead bodies.  He bended infront of the first body and picked it up - an old lady, probably in her late sixties. He walked back to where he had digged the ground and threw the body in it. He came back for the second time, repeating the same process for the next dead body - A child.

He walked towards the jars , pulling out the brown gloves from the back pocket of his pant. He wore it above the white gloves. Picking up one of the jar, he walked back to where he had dumped the two bodies together.

He kept down the jar and covered his nostrils, mouth with an extra covering of cloth over his mask. Then he opened the jar and splashed the liquid in, all over the dead body. The liquid reacted with the body immediately, giving rise to fumes. The man stepped back, letting the fumes rise and disappear in air.

A chill ran down Won-Ah's spine as he watched this horror unfold infront of him. His science lab classes from school days, without a doubt telling him what the liquid was.

Concentrated sulphuric acid.

He has to move. He has to run. For his sister. For his mother. And for his own self.

Won-Ah heard the man's phone ring while he was closing the jar of the acid. There were two choice for him : Bang the man's head with the shovel or burn him with the acid too. 

Won-Ah moved his right leg, a strong pain rising from the stiff muscle of his calf. He gritted his teeth and pushed up his body to stand on his feet. Taking a deep breath to work himself through the pain he was going through. He has to survive , at any cost. He couldn't escape for the past month. He was locked in a lab. But now he will.

He stumbled but continued walking towards the jar kept just some feet away. He tried to walk faster, tripping over a rock. Time clicking away against his life. He can't lose now. He picked himself up once again, his toe bleeding. He ran towards the jar and clutched on it's handle.

The sound of running over dried leaves had the man look back and he found Won-Ah standing infront of him, holding the jar of acid.

' What's happening ? ' the person from other side of call asked and before he could answer, Won-Ah spilled the acid on the man and ran, without wasting a second.

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Synopsis : Won-Ah, a research subject of Retsen found himself lying beside dead bodies - assumed to be dead. Just when he was about to be thrown in the grave, he escaped from there.