isle of the dead : hana & hongwi
( @scorchedichor )
3:50 AM.
The wind outside whistles quietly. The landscape the line of cars rushes by is an indestinguishable darkness, and where the sky meets the horizon, it has all blended together. His eyes follow the nothingness seeping through the window. The car’s radio is tuned to a classical broadcast. Rachmaninov, he recognises the soft hum filling the defeaning silence hanging like a thick cloud in the air around them.
To his left sits his companion, U.N. ambassidor Kang Hana, who seems to have her face demonstratively turned away from him. It makes him wonder for a short moment what grave sin he has committed for her to dismiss him so easily. Hongwi isn’t blind, and Hana isn’t shy at dropping her “subtle” cues at him. Don’t take it personally, he reminds himself, and finds it even harder to listen to his own advice. She doesn’t like him, and she doesn’t make a secret out of it.
The sound of violins drones on and mixes with the quiet roaring of the car engine. Hongwi listens and wonders for a moment too long if he can remember the name of the symphony. The tune comes and leaves an eery aura behind, and the impression that such an ungodly hour brings out all of the earth’s secrets and vulnerabilities. He wants to talk to her, but finds it to be too personal of a time to do so.
Isle of the dead, he remembers suddenly, that is the name of the symphony. And then --
It all happens in a matter of seconds.
The screeching of metal resounds defeaningly in his ears. Next he hears the sound of men and gunshots. “We need to get out of here”, he screams and is dragged outside by Hana who has reacted faster than he could. In a brief moment of failed judgement, Hongwi returns to the car, rips open the door and finds the driver soaked in his own blood. Did Hana- Hongwi can’t finish his thought when he feels her grip tightly around his arm. A ghostly figure appears behind them, and as if on auto-pilot, Hongwi swipes the gun from the driver’s belt and shoots twice, first into the assailant’s hand, then into his chest.
And after the thump of the body against the concrete ground, it’s quiet again.
