Beomgyu
Click. Click. Click.
The small lighter in the palm of Beomgyu's hand flipped on and off.
Flick. Flick. Flick.
Time went by as slowly as the tears rolled down his cheeks.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
He rubbed his bruises. Echos of angry yelling and arguing rang in Beomgyu's ears.
Meow.
The silence split. An orange tabby cat was perched on his open window. It meowed and dropped down into his room. Beomgyu blinked and sniffed, getting up and walking over cautiously.
Just then, a hand shot up and smacked down on the window seal. Beomgyu jumped back out of freight. A boy, a bit older than Beomgyu was, climbed up into the bedroom, falling flat onto his back and grunting upon impact.
He stood up, coming face to face with a curious Beomgyu, his big 10 year old eyes blinked at the stranger standing in his bedroom.
"What are you doing here?" he questioned in a whisper.
The unidentified boy shrugged, "Sorry, my cat ran out the door, your window was open and-" he looked closer, squinting at Beomgyu, "Are you okay?"
Beomgyu stared back. He bit his lip and slowly shook his head.
"No."
"Well, what's wrong?"
Beomgyu shifted, "I just... got in trouble."
"What did you do? Did you do something wrong?"
"I don't know... I don't know."
Tears formed slowly, poking at Beomgyu's eyes. The boy looked at him still, "Did your parents yell?"
Beomgyu nodded.
"Did they... hurt you?"
Beomgyu nodded.
"You should go. If my parents find out someone is in here, they'll-"
"I'm not just gonna leave you. Not in this awful place you're in."
He looked at Beomgyu's eyes and sighed.
"My name is Choi Yeonjun. What's yours?"
"Beomgyu," he started slowly, "Choi Beomgyu."
Yeonjun chuckled, "Look at that, we have the same last name."
Beomgyu smiled, "Yeah..."
It was silent when Yeonjun pulled Beomgyu gently into a hug. Beomgyu hugged back.
"I'm not going to let you stay here. This is terrible," Yeonjun said in a hushed voice.
"Okay..."
"How about tomorrow," Yeonjun asked, "Tomorrow at the same time we'll run away. Together. You won't have to stay here ever again."
"Tomorrow... together..." Beomgyu repeated quietly, nodding along.
"I'll bring the cat and we can escape through this window, just like how I got in today."
"Okay," Beomgyu nodded, "Does your cat have a name?"
"Well, yes, of course. His name is PingPing."
Upon hearing his name, PingPing crawled out from under the bed, mewing and meowing.
Beomgyu pet PingPing gently, "PingPing... I like him."
"Well, that's exactly why I'll bring him then."
Beomgyu nodded and smiled a bit, "Okay. Tomorrow. At 10:30pm?"
Yeonjun smiled and bobbed his head up and down, "Right. Be ready for me. I'm going to get you out of here."
Beomgyu agreed and then lowered his small voice, "You'll protect me... right?"
"Of course."
"Promise?"
"I promise. I won't let anything happen to you ever again. Not in a million years."
Yeonjun picked up his cat, which meowed in protest but then settled into his arms, "Tomorrow!" he exclaimed, climbing out of the window, looking below him to make sure he knew how far the ground was from his feet.
"Tomorrow," Beomgyu echoed.
"Don't forget!"
"I won't."
"Be ready to leave!"
"Okay, okay!" Beomgyu snickered.
He watched as Yeonjun sprinted off in the direction of his home. His new and only friend climbed through his own bedroom window and disappeared out of sight.
Beomgyu slithered into bed, hearing the posts and the wall clink together.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
He thought about how Yeonjun promised to get him out.
Think. Think. Think.
Beomgyu yawned as it grew late and the moon started to set.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
Tomorrow, he would never be hit again.
Thump.
+x+
The next morning, Beomgyu stayed in bed. His Appa came in and yelled at him about how he was missing school and how if he would never be good for anything in life, he should at least know how to multiply fractions.
Beomgyu didn't go to school. He missed the bus and his Eomma refused to give him a ride.
At lunch, he was hit in the back of the head for making himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because of how unhealthy and sugary the jelly was. He ate grapes instead.
During dinner, Beomgyu was yelled at over and over again because he ate so much. He tried to defend himself and explain how he only ate grapes three hours prior for lunch, but his parents agreed it was his fault for not preparing and eating a real meal.
He left the table early and went to his room, the dining area flooding with arguing and shouting. He gathered together some clothes and put them in the backpack he would normally have worn to school, checking for anything he might want or need to take with him. After he double checked, he laid on his bed, flicking his lighter open and then closed. The flame barely had any time to taste the air before it was put out by the lid.
The clock on his bed stand let out it's faint tick, a familiar sound to Beomgyu's ears. The sound licked at him for hours as he waited for Yeonjun to come and finally rescue him from his prison.
After a long while of sitting and flicking, his alarm went off and let out a beautifully calm music box melody. He slapped it off, grabbing his bag and opening his window.
A few slow minutes passed, leaving Beomgyu in fear that his rescuer had merely forgot about him.
As he was about to give up and turn away from the window, closing the access point, he heard a quiet whisper.
"Psst," Yeonjun hissed from below, "I'm here for you now."
"I was afraid of you forgetting about me."
"Never," he began as he helped Beomgyu out the window, "I just got caught up with grabbing some food and water."
"You don't have to do this you know."
"No," Yeonjun exhaled, "but I wasn't going to just take my cat and leave."
Beomgyu stared back, but didn't argue.
As Yeonjun began to walk away, Beomgyu looked at the metal lighter in his sweaty palm. Before he walked alongside Yeonjun, he flicked it open and tossed it to his bed, letting it finally breath, finally able to consume the sheets laid out for it.
Beomgyu ran away with Yeonjun not knowing if he had killed his parents or not. All that he cared about was leaving together with Yeonjun, and that's what he did.
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