she pulls the trigger and the tall figure wavers back like a leaf. thereās a small hole through his forehead, thick lines of crimson painting rough concrete. if she had enough strength, if she had enough ammunition. seoul police is all the same. stupid bunch of cowards who get paid for sitting around on their ugly asses and reaping the benefits for a job done by someone of a lower rank. a ghost of a smirk lingers on the corner of her bloodied mouth. a shame, it would have been a pretty scene.
warmth drapes over her sore shoulders. the comforting sensation triggers a sigh. then silence. not a word of gratitude for the kind heart who picked her up from the pavements with no further qualms (heās police, itās his job, but still). she follows him after convincing herself itās the only way to go. not taking off or causing a commotion for escape. not this time.
āØāØāi want to go home,ā is all she says, voice cracking from the cold. not a case to file or another set of damn questions to answer. sheās exhausted after escaping a supposedly gruesome deathā they were going to break her, leave no traces behind. not even a single epitaph to prove she once existed. as if an answer to her barely lingering thoughts, the searing pain against her left rib makes her gasp. this is proof she is still alive.
a split second thoughtā she wishes she was not; but it would be unfair to leave her poor little brother in this cruel world. alone. no one to care for and no one to look after. the boy had been through so much already. she will not give him that. she canāt give him that.
hazel irises were glassy as she stared ahead. the man held authority. she heard him voice out orders, saw the way others wearing the same uniform follow him around like dogs. āsentimental reasons the police surely wonāt understand.ā choa looks down at her dirty fingers, entangling themselves with the ripped pieces of clothing lying on her lap. āit was my motherās and her mother before her.ā a lie. yet she appears broken; a blanket of deception hiding the woman in snakeskin.
the vehicle stops, her mind tells her to run, but the body betrays the owner. āi just want to go home.āĀ
How to find the serpent tongues: the best way to make fictive of a liarās mind is to be one. She reminds him of Red Riding Hood thrown into their dooming metropolis. She refuses the utterance of her name and he doesnāt force it, the probability of her drowning in trauma plausible to be taken into factor. He watches her from the mirrors as the car fades into the highway: his coat is dark, hiding her in ample comparable Armani, and as the street lights flicker gold onto her woeful expression, Luhan sees through it all. His coat is dark -- monochromatic in the darkness the space in the car glooms, sucking all the colors from her and only leaving her identity as Red in tragic splatters on her flesh.Ā
She blinks and she looks helpless: like Red, splayed on tall blades of woodās grass after the wolfās had his share of her misery, for his excessive pleasantry and budding hunger.
She blinks again and she begins to speak. Soft whispers singing her pleas for the comfort of home. She begins to look like faltering innocence and Luhan scrutinizes her pretty, pretty face even closer through the deflected glass.
She blinks again and she makes a mistake. The car is covered by a shadow and in the absence of lights, Luhan smirks. Ā
How to find serpent tongues: the best way to find a liar is to look at what their mouths couldnāt validate for. Ā
āThe police are hardly sentimental, right? Thatās what we want you to think.ā He scoffs, the vehicle entering the hospitalās zone. To his signal, the intern stops driving after he parks the car and the doors get locked by the system, one by one. Luhan breathes in.Ā
āWeāll get you home as soon as we get you patched up. Before that-āĀ
He turns to look at her. Handsome smile. Soft eyes.Ā
āTell me how the necklace looks like. Whatās it made of, its color, design. I promise you. That itāll end up in my hand, and Iāll return it to you.āĀ
How to find serpent tongues: have one yourself.Ā
