84. What Happened?

"I find it irritating when Yeon is here, then unbearable when I can't see him. I'm jealous that he has everything I have not. A good family, genuine friends. He has you."

"You've done whatever you wanted. You got my imprint...you know...you know me now... What else...?

"How meaningless and inefficient the human mind is. With a simple distortion, one is easily swayed by the things they have hidden in their subconscious. Things of the past that have nothing to do with the present them and their lives. Do you know what happens when you can't control your subconscious?" Mora leaned closer to Mijin, an inch away that she could feel Mijin's breath on her nose. "It wasn't a rhetorical question Mijin. There is a reason I don't have you gagged right now."

Looking at Mora straight in the eye, Mijin replied. "No."

Moving away, she spoke. "We make important decisions with it. The worst part is those decisions are what we call common mistakes- decisions made of fear from a glimpse of the little boxes in our head we have sealed away never to be opened, feelings, intuitions, conclusions, doubts...

If you were to put these all these things together, it becomes our instinct." Walking away from a tied up Mijin, Mora changed her mood and became cheerful all of a sudden. "Whenever I look away from you as such, you begin squirming around, planning your escape. I can't blame you. After all, it is your instinct to avoid danger. The same instinct I'm convinced warned you to stay alert when you came in here following me like a sheep but you simply chose to ignore it, deluding yourself into thinking you had the upper hand."

Turning to face Mijin again, she asked happily. "Would you like to have dinner with me?"

"After what you've just put me through, do you think I have an appetite for anything?"

"If you wish to leave later, you have to somehow find that appetite Mijin" Mora threatened, a coy smile playing across her face.

"I have no intention of inviting more harm to myself just for the sake of you being entertained."

"I think you're mistaking my previous actions towards you. Currently, I'm more concerned for your hunger. You hardly had anything since you came here. You even rejected the water I gave you before my brother devoured you..."

"Fuck you Mora!" Mora took a step back seeming startled at Mijin's yell. "So this is who you really are?" Mijin could feel tears welling in her eyes. Her body was sore with every movement. She hated that she'd been denied any clothing afterwards and Mora's brother sitting passively next to her, skin to skin made her feel cold, repulsed and nauseated.

"Everyone has a bad side. They just need someone to provoke it out of them so don't go looking for more trouble from me. I'm in a very good mood especially after having a taste of your imprint. Besides, I think quite highly of myself. I'm not this friendly with everyone as I am with you. I can be quite mean if I want to or have to..."

"Let me go...please" Mijin squirmed from the ropes that tightly bind her down. They were still in the same room Mora had brought her earlier into. She felt helpless and the fact that she couldn't understand Mora's mood swings, or read her mind made her feel more frightened.

"After keeping me waiting this long? Do you find my company irritating?" Tilting her head to the side, she asked. "Does it cause you discomfort?"

"Please...let me go..."

"I think it's better to be a source of discomfort than nothing at all otherwise how would I get your attention?" Moving closer to Mijin, Mora spoke while taking one step after another. "Why did you avoid me all this while? Making excuses constantly." When Mijin kept on braving her sobs defiantly, she continued. "You get so flippant whenever I mention Yeon yet I promised never to cause him harm."

"Keep his name out of your mouth..!"

"Spot on!" Mora exclaimed, turning her back on Mijin once more while her hands remain folded across her chest. "I'm bored. What can one do in a world full of unprecedented peril except cause disorder for entertainment? Some people believe all this will pass eventually like my brother whenever he is off his medications, deluding himself with the hope of creating a family with you- What nonsense!"

Twisting her face, Mora continued as if in deep thought. "There is no honor in fostering hope. What becomes of hope anyway if not disappointments whenever we get dissatisfied from our expectations of reality?"

"I do not know whatever your plotting Mora but if you continue to act so impertinently, and people find me missing, they'll take legal action considering how much unwanted attention you've brought your family and mine..."

"Then I will heed your caution to the latter. Surely, I must cover my tracks if you are to continue entertaining me this way. I'm smarter than you, more cunning than you and full of intellect. Do you think I do not already know what's in your mind after opening up to me intimately through your imprint? You're high tempered, impatient, act on a whim and lack discipline. You think you can beat me at my own game?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mijin felt her brain spiraling around from trying to keep up with the constant change of moods from Mora as well as the inconsistency in her speech. It was almost as if Mora was purposely trying to confuse her.

"Remember, I am my father's daughter. I did not learn all this being loved or shown affection. It was forcefully passed down to my brother and I...but seeing how my brother has turned out, he can only keep calluses on his hands from constant punishment as proof of our training. Then again, we all can't have the same thinking capacity or intelligence. The future of this wretched family is dependent on me. I must live a memorable record of hope for the oncoming generations."

"Do you plan on killing me?"

"Your questions are always too complicated." Mora scratched her head looking confused. "How could you die from being bitten out of affection? Please Mijin, do not offend my brother by rejecting his undying liking towards you. He's suffered long enough as it is trying to achieve what he just did moments ago. If there is any killing happening today it's only because of love."

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"I thought I already told you. I want to get your attention. If I really did what to end your life, I'd maximized the last moments with you fully."

"Mora stop this...let me go I beg of you. Think about your life...your future... You're graduating next year!"

"My inefficient brother has waited years for you. I told you to respect his feelings." Mora's facial expressions changed once more to become plain. "If there is one thing my father taught us, it's that no one genuinely places other's needs before theirs and after living by those words, I've grown to not expect anything. Rather than rotting my expectations on principles and false hopes, we had to survive. Entertaining the idea of hope was a waste of time."

Mijin smiled at her comment despite being unable to comprehend what Mora was talking about this time. "You say that, yet you claim Yeon to be your weakness, your retribution..."

With a sinister look, Mora warned. "Mijin, I advise you to not tempt me with a smile otherwise I'd think you're interested in another gruesome experience from my dear brother."

"What's your problem? Why are you getting agitated? All I can deduce from talking to you is both you and your brother need help."

Mora became cheerful once more. "Don't tell me you're suddenly scared of us now. Come on! We've been friends for years! Have faith in our attachment for you instead of doubting our state of mind."

"How can I not be scared after what you and your brother have done to me?" Mijin spoke as she shook from her restrains. Conversing with Mora was making her more and more uncomfortable, a constant ominous feeling warning her something was not right. It's like Mora kept on wanting to talk and talk...keeping the conversation going as long as possible yet somehow it still felt like despite their conversation going on and on, Mora wasn't truly communicating with her.

"Is she buying time? What is she up to?" Mijin asked herself, a cold chill running down her spine.

"When things escalate and one is unable to grasp the situation they are in, whether happy or sad, it can be damaging to anything that comes in contact with them. Te subject is after all the one that sustains both emotions among others. If there is a lot of back and forth shifting, they may end up loosing their original form, state of mind....or personality." Pointing at herself and her dazed brother, Mora continued. "Look at me and my brother. We may have it all, yet have nothing...nothing but each other and when we meet people like you who take everything they have for granted, it makes me extremely furious.

Do you know what an impure SC drug is infused with? A highly poisonous substance extracted from a seed which if consumed in excess, causes the brain to play a trick on itself as yours is now. You probably can't comprehend anything I'm saying now can you? Soon enough, you'll suffer from severe muscle contractions that I will have to summon someone to rush you to hospital. If my timing is correct, by the time you get there, you'll be in the final stage which is asphyxiation."

Seeing Mijin become further frightened, Mora assured. "Don't worry. The overdose you and my brother took won't kill you, if you two get to the hospital in time that is."

"I won't give up! I'll remember everything!" Mijin closed her eyes tightly shut and shook her head violently, as if to shake off any doubt placed in her conscious state by Mora. "I'm going to fight you! I'm going to make sure you pay for doing this to me!"

"Relax. Do not be bogged down by trivial matters. Once the paramedics get to you, act the way you normally do. Saving yourself only. Tell them what my brother did to you and how you imprinted on me. I do apologize in advance though. It will take days before the drug is completely out of your system so pay no heed to your hallucinations. You'll only see the person you love the most and as far as your imprint is concerned, that person is yourself...or perhaps, that's not what I saw Mijin" Mora giggled, moving closer to her. "You still have feelings for Niel."

"Get away from me!"

"I'm kidding! So feisty..." Standing up, Mora looked up the ceiling and stood with her hands on both sides of her waist. "This world is vast, filled with so many people in it yet I have no one to call my own. Even my useless brother met his fated. No matter. I feed off his suffering- but Yeon....well, he's too innocent that I'd feel guilty keeping him to myself. I always want to hold his hand that sometimes I wonder who he really is to me? I trust that you have no qualms about me watching him from a distance Mijin, I'm I right?"

"Mora..." Mijin could only manage to call her out for she began to feel her strength drifting away.

"Looking at the sight of you, it appears it's time for me to move to the next step." Scrunching down, she came face to face with a drowsy Mijin. "You are quite strong willed to still have your sanity and strength intact." Shifting her gaze to a dazed brother, Mora spoke plainly. "As for my dear brother, I'm afraid he has more to recover from as opposed to you. Every time my father would beat him up despite my mother protecting him, I'd wait outside in front of his room, standing like a mannequin until he opened the door. I'd never leave even when it would take the entire night for him to open the door for me to comfort him. Then I'd think to myself how much I wanted him to disappear for being a weakling. He was always such a hermit mama's boy... until you came along."

"Ple...Please...Yeon... Stay away...from him..." Mijin spoke as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"I told you I won't harm Yeon. Don't you trust me?" Mora watched as Mijin slowly drifted away into slumber, her lips moving from her desperate need to protect her brother.

"So much of a pacifist."