Paramnesia
Taemin sat happily in Ha Ae’s living room, waiting for the girl to get back home. He played with the photos on the coffee table, smiling at their happy faces. They had been friends since Taemin could remember, and a year ago the boy had confessed his growing feelings for the girl and she had accepted him with a laugh. I thought you’d never ask.
Just as a laugh escaped Taemin’s lips, there was a knock on the door. Taemin bounded over, and swung the door open. However, instead of seeing Ha Ae, he saw a young man, slightly older than him. Taemin was about to smile and ask why he was there, but suddenly, the man’s face rang an alarm bell in his mind. His breath quickened and he felt sickened to the core. This man, this very man, standing in front of him was the one who tried to rape Ha Ae a few months back. Taemin didn’t know what happened next. His eyes glazed over, and when he finally regained some sense of coherency, the man was lying on the floor, cold and unmoving. Dead.
Ha Ae smiled at Taemin, but the smile wasn’t returned. Ha Ae’s smile dropped. This wasn’t the Taemin she knew. This Taemin was gaunt and his eyes held no emotion. Would you love a murderer? The question was quiet, and Ha Ae wondered if she had heard wrong. But the unwavering gaze from Taemin let her knew that he was waiting for an answer. Ha Ae thought of her parents, taken away forcefully from her when she was just a child. No, she answered after a pause, no. Taemin nodded, and left.
Ha Ae wondered if she had done anything wrong.
Taemin never returned. He vanished without a trace; it was almost as if he had never existed in the first place. As Ha Ae thought of the boy she once loved, the nurse came in with her food. Eat up and take your medicine before you start hallucinating again, she said.
And maybe, (just maybe) Taemin never existed after all.