A Game With the Devil. [1/2]
a game with the devil [1/2]
angst, seriously. character death? maybe, maybe not.
two gang members get thrown into a game of life and death, pg-13.
He was a pretty boy. In fact, he looked too young and fragile to be mixed with all this. But the look in his eyes told different stories. Stories that were too deep and hidden to be dug out. His eyes were old in a way that he has seen too much in his life for his age.
There was also something else about this boy that made Jonghyun disregard his thoughts.
He was Jonghyun's enemy.
They were sitting opposite each other, not knowing what to say since they already know each other’s names. With his eyes averted from the gaze of the other, Jonghyun took in as much as he could about the revolver that was lying in the middle of the table.
A long, dreadful silence followed before Jonghyun spoke clearly, "Colt Diamondback. Interesting choice." The other boy- whose name was Taemin- could figure out the tone of slight sarcasm in the older boys voice. He cleared his throat and was about to speak, but Jonghyun cut him off. "It's pretty late. You wouldn't want to be falling asleep in school tomorrow."
Taemin reddened with anger but still managed to keep his cool by sighing deeply. "I wouldn't be chosen for this if I didn't have any potential." He glanced up to give Jonghyun a quick smirk. "I may look like a fag but having skill in beating up somebody doesn't compare to what I have."
Jonghyun cocked an eyebrow, highly amused that this boy was being so arrogant. "And that is . . ."
"Luck," Taemin said and leaned back in his chair, stretching his gangly arms over his head and trying to keep his eyes guarded. To be truly honest, Taemin was not being haughty beneath his skin. He merely wanted to show Jonghyun that, on the outside for this matter, he wasn't afraid. Taemin's eyes flickered down to the revolver, another fake act of bravery. "Well, let's start," he said with an obviously shaky voice.
"Let's," Jonghyun replied instantly, not questioning the quiver in Taemin's voice because he was feeling exactly the same way deep down. "Who’s to go first?"
"I'll do it." Jonghyun watched with curious eyes as Taemin picked up the gun and inserted one .38 Special cartridge. He slapped the barrel shut and gave it a twirl.
As Taemin continued to delay time by spinning the gun, Jonghyun said, "Tell me why I haven't seen you around here."
"It's not that I'm new or anything. I just haven't been out on errands often," was the grateful reply. Taemin pursed his lips and tilted his head to one side. "Like you, they think I'll die at the sight of a dead rat."
Jonghyun scoffed but not too loudly as to respect the bitterness Taemin's voice had vaguely covered. He sat up straighter. "Then why are you here now? This is a game with the fucking devil himself, not a dead rat."
The gun stopped spinning and Taemin hesitantly raised it to his temples. Without a warning that he was going to shoot, he pulled the trigger. He barely heard the click sound the gun made over the blood that was rushing through his body and the pulse that was pounding furiously in his head. Shaking from the shock, he lowered the gun and slid it towards the other boy who stopped it languidly.
"This is a test. Some of them said that I complained too much, so they threw me into the worst problem they could find."
"I'm not surprised they would actually do such a thing to a fra-"
Taemin slammed his fist onto the table so hard that Jonghyun stumbled with the gun and looked utterly bewildered, not truly believing the strength this boy possessed. Without looking at him, the agitated boy spoke in a hoarse whisper, "I am not fragile. Nor am I weak or puny. My life, since I was born, has been a training ground that none of my 'gang members' would ever be able to go through." There was heavy tension in the air as Taemin regained his composure and shifted his eyes up just in time to see Jonghyun pull the trigger.
Click.
As relief washed through him, Jonghyun lowered the gun and put it in the centre of the table. When Taemin reached for it, his long sleeve raised and Jonghyun caught a glimpse of a welt. Immediately his hand shot out to take a grip around Taemin's wrist and with wide eyes, he scanned the scars and decided to believe that his life hasn't been easy. Everything happened quickly and before both boys knew what was going on, they were breathing heavily and looking everywhere but at each other.
Taemin had struggled to pull his hand away from Jonghyun and the latter absolutely refused to let go because he wasn't done inspecting the marks yet. Finally, with deep displeasure, Jonghyun loosened his grip and let the boy go.
"Don't do-," Taemin started to say but was instantly cut short- again- by the older boy.
"I believe you now," he started, preferring to look down at the table instead of at Taemin. Disturbing thoughts of a parent using multiple tools to hit their child passed through his mind. He imagined sharp garden scissors piercing through the side of a thigh, a hand full of power striking across a cheek... blood, red and dark, oozing out of a gash on a child's body. Jonghyun shuddered suddenly and came back to reality. Just as he looked up, the barrel of the gun stopped.
Taemin looked hesitant suddenly, as if he knew something unpleasant was coming. He met the older boys’ eyes for a moment and sighed, bringing the gun up to his head.
"They beat me with belts and garden tools, and if I screamed or made any noise, they would use more power. I was to be invincible at all times unless spoken to. My eyes couldn't trail anywhere but at the dirty floor of my house." His finger glazed over the guns trigger. "I never got to go outside unless I went to school. If I was a minute late to come home, I was guilty. If I came home too early, I was guilty." Taemin pulled.
As Taemin was speaking, the other boy didn't realise he was holding his breath. Only when the gun made a sound and not a single splatter of blood flew anywhere did he sigh loudly. Taemin sure knew how to draw up suspense and capture someone in bubble of anxiety. Suddenly having all sorts of unwelcomed feelings, Jonghyun looked grim for a while before snatching the gun out of Taemin's hand. Quickly he slapped it a few times and it spun. The moment it stopped, Jonghyun raised it to his head and shot.
"So, you joined the gang because..." he started and sort of threw the gun onto the table. Taemin was looking at him weirdly, as if he was slightly mental in his head.
"To become tough, I suppose. The moment I turned 15, I took a baseball bat and, as hard as I could, beat up my 'parents'. Then I left the house and got myself mixed up with the gang." Taemin smiled, but sadly. "It's like a home, a home I never had. Well... it's my home now, anyway, and I'm happy. Even if I'm not treated like the 'Elders', I'm not shunned for having a pretty face. I just don't get thrown into deep business, that's all."
"But that pretty face has seen a lot," Jonghyun murmured and watched Taemin eye the two other bullets on the table. "This isn't getting anywhere. We're a little lucky tonight, huh? Put another in."
Taemin complied immediately and opened the barrel to insert one more cartridge. He regretted a little as he turned it, knowing that it was now a higher chance that one of them might come to an end.
He smiled at Jonghyun. "Tell me about yourself now. It doesn't have to be as gruesome as mine but... I'd like to know. You seemed very polite while I told my story, so I think I should too no matter how boring or interesting it is."
Jonghyun was about to speak but Taemin raised a hand. "Wait," he said, "let me finish my round first." And then he pulled the trigger and a click sound vibrated through the room. Jonghyun couldn't help but roll his eyes at the odd boy and then reached forward to take the gun from him.
"I didn't have a mother or father to beat me," was his starting. "I was born alone, forgotten and lost. My mother had left me on a doormat of some orphanage a few weeks after my birth. My caretaker said I was a quiet baby that didn't cry or make noise very much."
Taemin mimicked Jonghyun when he furrowed his eyebrows and tried to shoot lasers out of his eyes. "And because of that, I grew up to be a silent child too. People called me weird just because I didn't like to scream and shout and play in the sandbox. When I became a teenager, I grew even more silent, sticking to my dorm room and only emerging during meal times."
Jonghyun turned the barrel slowly with his fingers. He was getting immersed in his past. "What others didn't know was that I was training myself. Everything I know now, is because of what I learnt on my own. My living skills improved, my strength and my knowledge. I was like an evil genius, working and plotting on my own." Jonghyun laughed genuinely. "Just so you know, I'm not evil."
"What kind of skills did you teach yourself, then?" Taemin blurted. Jonghyun stopped playing with the gun and built up the anticipation by keeping silent. "Well?"
"There were things I learned from books. Like logic and science. But living skills? I thought myself. For example, I learned to kill. That helped a lot when I joined the gang." Jonghyun pressed the cool metal against his head and pulled, earning himself another round at this luck and chance game. "Don't worry," he added, "I only killed animals."
"You still killed."
"People kill animals like they kill insects."
"You were only a teen."
"10, actually, when I had my first victim."
Taemin's jaw dropped. "Still!"
Ignoring Taemin's disbelief, he continued listing out what he had thought himself. "I learned arts. How stage plays came about and how it was conducted. I tried acting in front of any glass with reflections or mirrors but I guess that wasn't my thing. I learned science. About… well, I don't know, just science in general. The human body, plants, space, physics, chemistry. What that does and what this does. I know why that happens and why this happens."
Jonghyun catches his breath. "I... know a lot and I'm not sure how much more my brain can take. Sometimes I just blank out. Like... I don't remember a single thing, my power goes off and I just crash. Everything I remember on ordinary days are just gone. People say I'll just stare into space, or look at the sky for a long time, hours even. Then when I focus my attention back to reality, when I come out of my mind... everything just hits me like a hurricane and I can think again."
Taemin took a while to let what Jonghyun told him to start setting in. His life was a complex, so different than his. He was touched, in a way, at how Jonghyun was so determined to learn all that by himself.
"So, you were a solitary man. Working and straining your mind alone and away from everyone. You became so intelligent you could recite a book or fix a broken sink alone or... kill something without any backup. But why? What did you gain from studying alone? Did you learn faster because there wasn't any disturbance? What is the point of learning and having such a broad amount of knowledge and creativity when you don't share?"
"Wha..."
Taemin was feeling weird. It was like something had possessed him and that something was saying all these words. It felt so practiced that Taemin hardly took in air in between words.
"Is it because you're selfish? You don't want to share what you know with others because you're afraid they'll become better than you? Shouldn't you help people instead of being so... so closed up and wrapped in your own world? People need help, Jonghyun, a lot of people do. And I get sick, so sick when a person as intelligent as yourself refuses to offer that help."
And with that, Taemin aimed for his head without even spinning the barrel and pulled.
///
Authors note: Want to know what happens in the end? Click here ;)
angst, seriously. character death? maybe, maybe not.
two gang members get thrown into a game of life and death, pg-13.
He was a pretty boy. In fact, he looked too young and fragile to be mixed with all this. But the look in his eyes told different stories. Stories that were too deep and hidden to be dug out. His eyes were old in a way that he has seen too much in his life for his age.
There was also something else about this boy that made Jonghyun disregard his thoughts.
He was Jonghyun's enemy.
They were sitting opposite each other, not knowing what to say since they already know each other’s names. With his eyes averted from the gaze of the other, Jonghyun took in as much as he could about the revolver that was lying in the middle of the table.
A long, dreadful silence followed before Jonghyun spoke clearly, "Colt Diamondback. Interesting choice." The other boy- whose name was Taemin- could figure out the tone of slight sarcasm in the older boys voice. He cleared his throat and was about to speak, but Jonghyun cut him off. "It's pretty late. You wouldn't want to be falling asleep in school tomorrow."
Taemin reddened with anger but still managed to keep his cool by sighing deeply. "I wouldn't be chosen for this if I didn't have any potential." He glanced up to give Jonghyun a quick smirk. "I may look like a fag but having skill in beating up somebody doesn't compare to what I have."
Jonghyun cocked an eyebrow, highly amused that this boy was being so arrogant. "And that is . . ."
"Luck," Taemin said and leaned back in his chair, stretching his gangly arms over his head and trying to keep his eyes guarded. To be truly honest, Taemin was not being haughty beneath his skin. He merely wanted to show Jonghyun that, on the outside for this matter, he wasn't afraid. Taemin's eyes flickered down to the revolver, another fake act of bravery. "Well, let's start," he said with an obviously shaky voice.
"Let's," Jonghyun replied instantly, not questioning the quiver in Taemin's voice because he was feeling exactly the same way deep down. "Who’s to go first?"
"I'll do it." Jonghyun watched with curious eyes as Taemin picked up the gun and inserted one .38 Special cartridge. He slapped the barrel shut and gave it a twirl.
As Taemin continued to delay time by spinning the gun, Jonghyun said, "Tell me why I haven't seen you around here."
"It's not that I'm new or anything. I just haven't been out on errands often," was the grateful reply. Taemin pursed his lips and tilted his head to one side. "Like you, they think I'll die at the sight of a dead rat."
Jonghyun scoffed but not too loudly as to respect the bitterness Taemin's voice had vaguely covered. He sat up straighter. "Then why are you here now? This is a game with the fucking devil himself, not a dead rat."
The gun stopped spinning and Taemin hesitantly raised it to his temples. Without a warning that he was going to shoot, he pulled the trigger. He barely heard the click sound the gun made over the blood that was rushing through his body and the pulse that was pounding furiously in his head. Shaking from the shock, he lowered the gun and slid it towards the other boy who stopped it languidly.
"This is a test. Some of them said that I complained too much, so they threw me into the worst problem they could find."
"I'm not surprised they would actually do such a thing to a fra-"
Taemin slammed his fist onto the table so hard that Jonghyun stumbled with the gun and looked utterly bewildered, not truly believing the strength this boy possessed. Without looking at him, the agitated boy spoke in a hoarse whisper, "I am not fragile. Nor am I weak or puny. My life, since I was born, has been a training ground that none of my 'gang members' would ever be able to go through." There was heavy tension in the air as Taemin regained his composure and shifted his eyes up just in time to see Jonghyun pull the trigger.
Click.
As relief washed through him, Jonghyun lowered the gun and put it in the centre of the table. When Taemin reached for it, his long sleeve raised and Jonghyun caught a glimpse of a welt. Immediately his hand shot out to take a grip around Taemin's wrist and with wide eyes, he scanned the scars and decided to believe that his life hasn't been easy. Everything happened quickly and before both boys knew what was going on, they were breathing heavily and looking everywhere but at each other.
Taemin had struggled to pull his hand away from Jonghyun and the latter absolutely refused to let go because he wasn't done inspecting the marks yet. Finally, with deep displeasure, Jonghyun loosened his grip and let the boy go.
"Don't do-," Taemin started to say but was instantly cut short- again- by the older boy.
"I believe you now," he started, preferring to look down at the table instead of at Taemin. Disturbing thoughts of a parent using multiple tools to hit their child passed through his mind. He imagined sharp garden scissors piercing through the side of a thigh, a hand full of power striking across a cheek... blood, red and dark, oozing out of a gash on a child's body. Jonghyun shuddered suddenly and came back to reality. Just as he looked up, the barrel of the gun stopped.
Taemin looked hesitant suddenly, as if he knew something unpleasant was coming. He met the older boys’ eyes for a moment and sighed, bringing the gun up to his head.
"They beat me with belts and garden tools, and if I screamed or made any noise, they would use more power. I was to be invincible at all times unless spoken to. My eyes couldn't trail anywhere but at the dirty floor of my house." His finger glazed over the guns trigger. "I never got to go outside unless I went to school. If I was a minute late to come home, I was guilty. If I came home too early, I was guilty." Taemin pulled.
As Taemin was speaking, the other boy didn't realise he was holding his breath. Only when the gun made a sound and not a single splatter of blood flew anywhere did he sigh loudly. Taemin sure knew how to draw up suspense and capture someone in bubble of anxiety. Suddenly having all sorts of unwelcomed feelings, Jonghyun looked grim for a while before snatching the gun out of Taemin's hand. Quickly he slapped it a few times and it spun. The moment it stopped, Jonghyun raised it to his head and shot.
"So, you joined the gang because..." he started and sort of threw the gun onto the table. Taemin was looking at him weirdly, as if he was slightly mental in his head.
"To become tough, I suppose. The moment I turned 15, I took a baseball bat and, as hard as I could, beat up my 'parents'. Then I left the house and got myself mixed up with the gang." Taemin smiled, but sadly. "It's like a home, a home I never had. Well... it's my home now, anyway, and I'm happy. Even if I'm not treated like the 'Elders', I'm not shunned for having a pretty face. I just don't get thrown into deep business, that's all."
"But that pretty face has seen a lot," Jonghyun murmured and watched Taemin eye the two other bullets on the table. "This isn't getting anywhere. We're a little lucky tonight, huh? Put another in."
Taemin complied immediately and opened the barrel to insert one more cartridge. He regretted a little as he turned it, knowing that it was now a higher chance that one of them might come to an end.
He smiled at Jonghyun. "Tell me about yourself now. It doesn't have to be as gruesome as mine but... I'd like to know. You seemed very polite while I told my story, so I think I should too no matter how boring or interesting it is."
Jonghyun was about to speak but Taemin raised a hand. "Wait," he said, "let me finish my round first." And then he pulled the trigger and a click sound vibrated through the room. Jonghyun couldn't help but roll his eyes at the odd boy and then reached forward to take the gun from him.
"I didn't have a mother or father to beat me," was his starting. "I was born alone, forgotten and lost. My mother had left me on a doormat of some orphanage a few weeks after my birth. My caretaker said I was a quiet baby that didn't cry or make noise very much."
Taemin mimicked Jonghyun when he furrowed his eyebrows and tried to shoot lasers out of his eyes. "And because of that, I grew up to be a silent child too. People called me weird just because I didn't like to scream and shout and play in the sandbox. When I became a teenager, I grew even more silent, sticking to my dorm room and only emerging during meal times."
Jonghyun turned the barrel slowly with his fingers. He was getting immersed in his past. "What others didn't know was that I was training myself. Everything I know now, is because of what I learnt on my own. My living skills improved, my strength and my knowledge. I was like an evil genius, working and plotting on my own." Jonghyun laughed genuinely. "Just so you know, I'm not evil."
"What kind of skills did you teach yourself, then?" Taemin blurted. Jonghyun stopped playing with the gun and built up the anticipation by keeping silent. "Well?"
"There were things I learned from books. Like logic and science. But living skills? I thought myself. For example, I learned to kill. That helped a lot when I joined the gang." Jonghyun pressed the cool metal against his head and pulled, earning himself another round at this luck and chance game. "Don't worry," he added, "I only killed animals."
"You still killed."
"People kill animals like they kill insects."
"You were only a teen."
"10, actually, when I had my first victim."
Taemin's jaw dropped. "Still!"
Ignoring Taemin's disbelief, he continued listing out what he had thought himself. "I learned arts. How stage plays came about and how it was conducted. I tried acting in front of any glass with reflections or mirrors but I guess that wasn't my thing. I learned science. About… well, I don't know, just science in general. The human body, plants, space, physics, chemistry. What that does and what this does. I know why that happens and why this happens."
Jonghyun catches his breath. "I... know a lot and I'm not sure how much more my brain can take. Sometimes I just blank out. Like... I don't remember a single thing, my power goes off and I just crash. Everything I remember on ordinary days are just gone. People say I'll just stare into space, or look at the sky for a long time, hours even. Then when I focus my attention back to reality, when I come out of my mind... everything just hits me like a hurricane and I can think again."
Taemin took a while to let what Jonghyun told him to start setting in. His life was a complex, so different than his. He was touched, in a way, at how Jonghyun was so determined to learn all that by himself.
"So, you were a solitary man. Working and straining your mind alone and away from everyone. You became so intelligent you could recite a book or fix a broken sink alone or... kill something without any backup. But why? What did you gain from studying alone? Did you learn faster because there wasn't any disturbance? What is the point of learning and having such a broad amount of knowledge and creativity when you don't share?"
"Wha..."
Taemin was feeling weird. It was like something had possessed him and that something was saying all these words. It felt so practiced that Taemin hardly took in air in between words.
"Is it because you're selfish? You don't want to share what you know with others because you're afraid they'll become better than you? Shouldn't you help people instead of being so... so closed up and wrapped in your own world? People need help, Jonghyun, a lot of people do. And I get sick, so sick when a person as intelligent as yourself refuses to offer that help."
And with that, Taemin aimed for his head without even spinning the barrel and pulled.
///
Authors note: Want to know what happens in the end? Click here ;)