Flowers Are Bait

Chapter 4:

Chapter 4:

Moonlight shone through the window which lighted the stairways to the second floor. A couple of creaks could be heard as a dark silhouette tried to climb the stairs in silence.

The longwall clock which had been in the hospital ever since its opening, struck 12 and chimed loudly.

Making a visit to the second floor every night had become a routine for Lee-yeon. Initially Lee-yeon planned to go just once but now it served as a reminder that as long as the murderer lay there, she was safe.

Like any other day, Lee-yeon pressed the password and turned the door

***

Plants also have spirits, so the more people say nice things, the healthier they grow, and the more people say negative things, the sooner they die. Knowing that, Lee-yeon prayed this could be applied to her life. Words have power so she chanted in her head,

‘Please don’t wake up. You shouldn’t wake up.’

‘Please let me live a peaceful, quiet life.’

As Lee-yeon opened the door in hopes of seeing the frail body lying on the bed like usual, she paused.

‘...He’s not... here?’

She couldn’t believe her eyes. She blinked once, then twice and once again. The person was always here. He was a mere ghost of a human. The bed, where only the hard shell of him remained, was empty.

“Why did you do that?” asked an emotionless voice. The fear in her chest which stopped her from her struggle against the restraints.

“I don’t think he’ll live with his head smashed like that,” continued the man.

Lee-yeon was confused and scared so the only answer she could give was silence.

“The half-dead guy is my brother.” When the light bulb stopped blinking, her senses became suddenly sharp.

Then Lee-yeon realized what was happening here. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she tried to look around to make sense of her surroundings. Hooks hanging from the ceiling that supported the bodies of slaughtered pigs. The blood dripping from the pigs made her stomach churn.

Workers, wearing heavy rubber boots, walked around casually minding their own business. They didn’t throw a look her way even once. They removed the intestines, cut the flesh by part, and washed the bloodstains with a long hose.

She had woken up in the middle of a slaughterhouse in front of a man who stood tall, wearing an expensive looking suit.

The man took a long puff of his cigar and said ““While you were sleeping, I pondered whether I should simply tear you apart, or throw it into the sea.”

He was interrupted by a series of bangs. Lee-yeon looked around to find that it was coming from a drum at the far end of the room and froze at the desperate scream that echoed in the closed space.

“My brother is dying, and someone must pay for that,” said the voice again with an uncomfortable edge.

Lee-yeon by now started panicking. She could hear her heart beating in her chest.