The Shower

"Here." The man said, handing me some clean clothes and a towel

Time flew faster than I expected, for the sun was already setting. The man had made me another meal a few hours after I ate the rice meal. My stomach still ached from it, so I kindly refused to eat it. The man let me lay on the couch, in order to rest my foot. I stared at the ceiling, forcing myself to fall asleep, but failing at every attempt. Sleeping wasn't just something anyone easily achieved. It was a gift. A gift that made time speed from night to morning; a gift that made a person power down after a long day; a gift for those with ease in their hearts.

I wasn't one of those people with that gift. I never received any gifts from anyone, not even from God. Every night, at the orphanage, I would lay down on the floor and replay all the events that took place throughout the day. Each event with its own chapter. The prologue beginning the minute I laid down, and the epilogue concluding the moment light appeared into my room again. My eyes were still open, my body still tensed, and my head hurt like hell.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Take." The man said again, pushing the clothes and towel into my chest. I was sitting up straight on the couch now. I took the clothes and towel, confused of what to do with them.

"You can use the shower and spend the night here. There's an extra room you can use."

"Oh...thank you, sir."

"James."

I blinked, "What?"

"My name is James." He said, "What's yours?"

I was hesitant for a moment, but I eventually blurted out,"Kim Hyun-Gi."

He nodded slowly, a small smile on his face, "Nice to know."

The man with the name James led me to the bathroom where he mentioned something called a "sho-wer". He opened the door and gestured me inside. Everything I saw in that bathroom looked so strange to me. I had never seen items like that. Back in the orphanage, there was only a bathtub, a sink with a broken faucet, and some newspapers placed on the floor for peeing and pooping.

"What are you waiting for? Don't be shy." The man said from behind me.

"Oh, um, o-okay."

I walked in further and closed the door behind me. At the edge of the room, there was a large rectangular-shaped container with a thingy-majig attached to the wall and a faucet too.

"This must be the sho-wer." I sighed

I had never used a shower before, but it seemed pretty easy to use. I took my clothes off and turned the faucet on. I was startled by the water that suddenly splashed onto the floor.

"Woah!" I exclaimed, quickly covering my mouth just in case James heard me

I stood under the water, enjoying the feel of the water splashing all over my body. All the dirt washed off my body. It felt as if all my sins were being washed away from my body and down the drain. I temporarily felt like a new me.

As I stood there, the water started to get warmer. I breathed in the hot steam and sighed from the enjoyment of the water. But after a few seconds, it began to get a bit too warm.

The water was getting warmer and warmer by the second, to the point I just couldn't bare it anymore. I tried to turn the faucet off, but that just made the water pour out even more.

The water was scalding hot! My arms were turning red. I was panicking like a chicken running around without a head. I tried turning the faucet again. Instead of it turning, it broke off.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

The door was kicked open and James rushed in.

"What?! What is it?" He panicked, holding a gun in his hand

"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!" I cried, jumping up and down under the water

James came over to the shower, picked up the faucet on the floor, placed it back into its place and turned the water off without much effort.

"This shower tried to kill me!"

The man grabbed the towel and handed it to me while covering his eyes.

"You've never used a shower before, have you?"

"What do you think?" I hissed, covering my private parts with my hands

"Dry yourself off and get dress." Still covering his eyes, he walked out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

"Ow...!" I whined, rubbing my burnt arms. The purple colour of the bruises still remained between the redness of my skin. My body was a masterpiece of disaster and pain, created by God, and abusively painted by the Caretaker himself. I sighed, thinking about how life was at the orphanage. Will my bruises ever heal? Can dry paint easily come off a painting? It always crossed my mind, why a painting was called a painting if it is already painted. Does it continue to paint itself, to finish creating meaning within itself even when the ink on it has already defined it? Was there still hope for this painting?

I cleared the chain of thoughts in my mind, got dressed and walked to the dining room to find James sitting at the table. In front of him was a laptop. That was the very first laptop I've ever seen before. The very first electronic device in fact. His eyes were focused on the screen the whole time, his fingers typing at the buttons at a swift speed.

I cleared my throat to get his attention. He stopped typing and looked up at me.

"Oh, you're done?" He asked

"Mhm." I nodded

"You can head to bed first then. I need to finish my work tonight."

"I'm not tired."

"Oh..." He said. He made it clear that he wanted me to go to bed in order to leave him alone, not because he sympathized for my non-existent tiredness.

I pulled a chair open and sat across from him, staring at him straight in the eye. He closed his laptop and sat it aside, then placed both his hands on the table.

"Do you have work?" I asked, after the long silence

"Yeah. I normally check my emails before heading to bed."

"Oh..." I played with my hands for a while before asking, "Why do you have a gun?"

"Oh, you mean this?" He reached into the back of his pants and took out the gun I was referring to.

"Why do you have it?"

"I'm a hunter. I hunt dangerous creatures in the forest for a living. My current target is the Forest Monster."

"Forest Monster?"

"Yeah. It's hidden deep in the forest. It eats anything that gets in its sight. It is also capable of transforming into anything it wants as a disguise. It normal chooses the form of a human, which is probably why the hunters thought you were it. I do research on it everyday in order to find a way to capture it."

A monster that eats humans and can transform into one? That sounded like a folktale taken straight from a story book. It was clear that James was messing around with me, and it bothered me so.

"Don't give me that look. You don't believe me?" He asked, folding his arms

"I may be weak, but I'm not a fool."

He scoffed, "Fine. I'll show you."

He opened his laptop and started tapping at it. His eyebrows frowned as he tapped at it a few more times as if something was wrong with it.

"Darn! The battery's low."

"Excuses," I coughed

He smiled and shook his head, "You sound just like my ex-wife."

"What's an ex-wife?" I asked

"How do you not know what an ex-wife is?"

"..."

James sighed, putting his elbow on the table and laying his cheek on his hand, "Nevermind."

"An ex-wife is just someone I use to be married to."

I blinked, still confused.

"It's someone I was once in love with. My former soulmate."

"Why did you stop loving her?" I asked

"Things just didn't work out between us. We were just too...different."

"Different..." I repeated, "But, men and women always different, even when things do work out for them?"

"It's complicated."

That conversation ended there, but I was still left confused. Just like a fish can't teach a bird how to fly, a man can't teach a woman how to be a woman. The same goes vice versa. People are always expecting so much from each other, and it causes them to get hurt easily. If you expect too much, disappointment will hit you harder than a wrecking ball. Your heart will shatter into so many pieces, that you wouldn't be able to mend them back again. You will remain broken, scarred, and hateful. Happiness will turn into a luxury, a luxury you are too poor to purchase. Life will merely be a narrow road, all your surroundings in black and white. Your whole life will turn into a dull journey to the grave, time wrinkling you slowly, and age crippling you until you land into your deathbed, grasping for your last breath, hoping for some purpose from it. But once that tiny spark of hope appears, death swipes it from you, along with your soul, your life, and your purpose.

"Were you the reason why your relationship with her didn't work out?"

I asked

James laughed, "What's with the curiosity? You barely know me!"

"Exactly. I want to get to know you. At least while I'm staying here."

"You're strange, really. But..." He dug his hand into his pocket and placed a photo on the table, "...I don't see why not."

I took the photo and observed it every detail. It was a very old photo, so I couldn't make out the faces of the two people in it. What I could see was that the one person was a woman wearing a dress, and the other was a man in a suit. They were holding hands, a bonquet of flowers in the woman's other hand.

"Is this her?" I questioned

"Yes."

"And that's you?"

"No."

I looked up at him to find his frowning, his eyes looking the other direction.

"That's my brother. Before my ex-wife and I got divorced, I found out that she and him were having an affair behind my back. She made it pretty clear that she stopped loving me first. A month after we signed the divorce papers, she got married with my brother."

"Did you do something about it?"

"What was there to be done? She loved him, and he loved her. I can't stop love."

"Do you still speak to him, your brother?"

"He's dead now. He died from an illness." For a second, I thought I saw him smirk, but I put that behind my mind, "There's a saying: "What goes around, comes around." Karma never lets things like that slide. That's why I just sat back, and let karma and God do their job. They always know what's right, and what's wrong. If you do wrong, they will punish."

"They will punish..."

"Exactly."

"Do you still speak with your ex-wife?"

"It's been a while since I've spoken to her. Years in fact. It doesn't matter though. She's a nobody to me. I've moved on with my life."

I nodded in understanding, "Good for you." I wasn't one with words, so that was all I could say to him.

He stretched his arms in the air and yawned, "Anyway, I'm ready for bed. Are you?"

"Sure." I lied.

James walked me to the guest room and turned the lights on. In the room, there were two beds, each bed filled with teddy bears and dolls. The walls were painted pink with flowers all over it. The dressing table was pink, with a oval-shaped mirror above it. It all appeared really beautiful to my eyes, especially for a "guest room"?

"I see you like pink." I said

"This room was meant for someone, but she lives in the city now."

"But there are two beds."

He cleared his throat, running his hands through his hair, "You should sleep now."

"Um, right..."

James walked out the door without saying anything further. I wondered why he ignored my question, but it didn't matter either way. I turned the lights off and lay on the bed. James isn't so bad after all, I thought.