Linked To You

They say that just before the moment of death, your life flashes before your eyes. 

Whether you lived a fulfilling or a pathetic life, you get a last chance to re-evaluate it. Whether they were good or bad memories, it didn't matter much, as long as they were life-changing in and of itself. 

You saw it and relived it, relived through everything that made you happy and shaped you to be the way you are, and everything that broke you and made you hurt in secrecy. All the people that had been important to you appeared one-by-one. People who conquered the worst of times and are still by your side. 

Even the people that didn't make it to your present-day but still played a crucial role in your life, they were vividly in sight. Like a silent film strip rolling by, moments after moments of tears shedding in happiness, joy, sadness, regret and desperation, they were all captured and stored in the hidden recesses of your memory vault, waiting to be reopened, waiting to be seen once again for the last time. 

Kyunghee saw it. She saw the flashes of her life. 

Her body lunged forward and her neck felt as if it was going to snap off from the force and result of being tossed around inside the car like a rag doll. All the air was knocked completely out of her system and, for a long while, she didn't remember how to breathe. 

The shock of everything made her lose her senses and paralyzed her. Kyunghee couldn't hear anything, couldn't smell, couldn't see, but somehow she could feel. She could still feel pain, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, desperation—intense emotions swirled inside of her. Everything she felt for this shitty life multiplied by a thousand folds and she just wanted to lie down and rest where nobody could find her. 

She had to remind herself to breathe and, slowly, she did. 

The deafening silence turned into ringing and soon, she could hear voices again—distant angry growls and crackles of sparks. She blinked once, twice, then her vision started to come back. Reality started to seep in and her senses began to return, but there still wasn't enough air to breathe in. There was something wet on her cheeks. She reached up and wiped it with the back of her hand. For some reason, there were tears on her face. 

She was alive, but she wanted to faint. Her entire body was cold. It took everything she had to stay calm and rooted to reality. Kyunghee tried to make sense of the surrounding. The car's airbags were deployed but the driver seat was empty with its door wide open. She also saw broken lights, the back of a red Corolla, smashed windows, and plumes of intoxicating smoke diffusing into the air. She could smell it too—gas, seared metal and burning rubber. 

She coughed, covering a hand over her nose. 

Fumbling with the seatbelt, Kyunghee shook it off and pushed the door open. She stumbled out of the car. Her legs were shaky and weak like jelly. The fact that she was wearing heels didn't make it easier. She ended up leaning against the side of the car with one hand trying to steady her balance while the other hand was rested on her hip. She grimaced with her shoulders hunched over, hoping the nausea would subside. 

God, she really wanted to vomit but couldn't. 

She took another deep inhale and looked up, surveying the scene. The cab and red Corolla hadn't exactly ran into each other head-on per se. She didn't know what happened or how it happened, but the Corolla had ran into a lamppost. In return, the cab had rammed its head into the back of the Corolla to corner it. It was definitely a nasty sight of an accident. 

Hearing a buzzing sound, she tilted her head back to see the light from the lamppost eerily flickering on and off. She jumped in surprise when a spark flew out and then, the lamp light shut down altogether. Quickly she took a step backward. 

Her attention shifted from the scary lamppost to where Detective Hothead had wrestled the driver out of the red Corolla. The driver of the red Corolla was thrown on top of the Corolla's hood and had his arms restrained behind his back. The man struggled, but Detective Hothead had a good hold on him, firmly pinning him down. 

"Pil Jungshik, you are under arrest for three counts of murder, aggravated sexual assault, and sexual assault of a minor," Detective Hothead began his Miranda warning, extracting his police badge and flashed it in front of the man's face for a fracture of a second. Not even long enough for a person to read anything, but she didn't think he cared. He was doing it for the sake of doing it. "You have the right to remain silent, but anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law." Then the Detective added with a spiteful spat on the side, "Be prepared to rot in the slammer until the day you die, you fuckhead." He slapped the man's cheek angrily. " I'll make sure all the top dogs in prison know what a pedophile you are. I'm sure they'll have their fun with you." 

For a moment, there was a look of fear on Pil Jungshik's face before it warped into rage. "Let me go! Let me GO! I'm not going to prison. To hell with you!" 

"Should've thought about that before you assaulted a minor, huh?" 

Kyunghee's face distorted in disgust as she heard the charges against the criminal. No wonder Detective Hothead was so pissed just by looking at him. Sexual assault of a minor? He definitely deserved to rot in prison. Just then, the criminal caught her eyes and the disgusted look on her face. There was something evil lurking in his depths that had chills running down her spine. 

Holding Pil Jungshik's wrists with one hand, Detective Hothead used the other to reach into the back of his pocket, searching for his silver handcuffs. Within that split second of opportunity , Pil Jungshik freed himself from the cop's loosened grasp. 

Everything happened so fast. 

Pil Jungshik swiftly pushed himself off the car's hood, shoved Detective Hothead aside and ran toward Kyunghee. 

She saw him coming, but she couldn't react fast enough. In a flash, Pil Jungshik had a hold of her as a bloodcurdling scream escaped her mouth. Meanwhile Detective Hothead caught his balance and looked up in alarm. Pil Jungshik slipped behind her as he wrapped a hand around her neck in a strangle hold. 

"Help—" she choked. 

"Stay still or I'm going to break off this pretty neck of yours and you don't want to test me either." A chilling hiss came into her ears and she forced her mouth closed. As a demonstration of his words, Pil Jungshik tightened his grip around her neck causing her breathing to become strangled. A sense of impending doom overwhelmed her. 

"Let the girl go!" 

Her quivering eyes skirted over to Detective Hothead as he pulled his pistol out of the holster and pointed it straight at her. Technically, he was pointing it at Pil Jungshik who was hiding himself behind her, but she couldn't quite focus at the time. The only thing she could see was the muzzle of the gun staring back at her inauspiciously. 

"There's nowhere you can run. You fucker, I've got you surrounded. My men are going to be here in seconds and you'll be the one outnumbered, so let the girl go," Detective Hothead warned. The muscles on his face were taut and there was no hint of resignation on his part. His eyes were blazing red but straining to stay composed. 

"As long as I have her, you won't pull the trigger because you know why, Detective?" Pil Jungshik spat mockingly, at the same time he began to take small steps backward, dragging Kyunghee along with him. "You'll hit her instead. Every bullet you fire, I'll have her as my human shield. Then you'll be just the same as me. A murderer. So what are you doing to do huh, Detective? Hahaha!" To spite the cop, Pil Jungshik squeezed Kyunghee's throat again, causing her to cough from the compression of windpipe. 

Panic and fear rushed through her body. Her eyes locked with the Detective's dark gaze, silently pleading him for help. A muscle twitched on his face, but the pointed gun remained steady in his hands. 

"I'll say it one more time," Detective Hothead snarled, his chest was heaving irregularly and it looked like he wanted to explode. Yet he didn't waver from his spot, remaining his proper shooting stance. His gaze was transfixed on Pil Jungshik with bottled fury. "Let. The. Fucking. Girl. Go." 

"What if I don't?" 

"You're going to regret it." 

Pil Jungshik snickered, "What's a few more years in the slammer?"